Fall Celebrations!

October 17, 2023

THE 30th ANNIVERSARY OF AMERICORPS is cause for celebration at The Civic Circle in more ways than one. We are excited to welcome Cassidy Little to our team in a new role as Program Specialist, an AmeriCorps position sponsored by Project CHANGE Montgomery. Cassidy has been doing a wonderful job teaching in our after-school workshops, and now she will help administer our programs, as well. Congratulations, Cassidy, and thank you, Project CHANGE!

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WE ALSO CELEBRATED HISPANIC HERITAGE this month with a student-led Hispanic dance showcase at a workshop offered through Montgomery Housing Partnership. Students learned about Hispanic/Latino/Latina cultural and civic leaders like Frida Kahlo and Roberto Clemente through the song “Join the Celebracion!”, then worked with a visiting teaching artist to choreograph dances to accompany the song. Choreography, dance and movement will be a growing part of the Civic Circle’s program offerings this fall, and we are excited to welcome three new choreographers to our team: Marissa Barnwell (below), Carolina Hernandez and Rio Liu. Welcome!

Marissa Barnwell leading children in song and dance

EXCEL BEYOND THE BELL WORKSHOPS are also in full swing, at JoAnn Leleck, Weller Road and Wheaton Woods Elementary Schools. Students are already hard at work writing civic songs with songwriters Gabrielle Zwi and Munit Mesfin. Another new teaching artist, Damon Modarres, will soon lead songwriting workshops at Arcola Elementary School, and Civic Circle favorite Nick Newlin will be doing the same at the Pembridge Square Apartments. We are also pleased to welcome a new teacher, University of Maryland graduate student Lucy Ramos, to our team. She will join Civic Circle teacher Italia Massalla in helping teach the Civic Circle workshops we offer through Excel Beyond the Bell.

THANKS TO JACK & JILL OF AMERICA for hosting a Civic Circle show featuring Munit Mesfin in October! Munit sang songs about the seven “steps to democracy” at the heart of our program, and students enjoyed asking questions about respect and civility (Listen!), understanding the news (Learn!) and voting (Choose!), among other civic topics.

Munit Mesfin singing outside in front of a group of children, with a poster behind her that reads: "Listen Learn Choose Join Speak Act Lead"

OUR “CIVICS IN SEVEN STEPS” CURRICULUM is now live, and we invite you to contact our team if you would like to share our innovative, arts-based lesson plans with your students. Slide decks, classroom activities, facilitator guides, handouts and standards of learning all make this multi-media curriculum both inspiring and user-friendly. If you would like to learn more about how Civics in Seven Steps can help advance your students' civic, artistic and social and emotional learning, please contact info@theciviccircle.org.

Civics in Seven Steps: Arts-based learning: Collaborate with art, drama, and music teachers to help students explore seven steps to democracy through arts- and performance-based learning. Student Inquiry: Ask students to reflect with questions like: What do you already know about this topic? What did you learn about this topic? What are you curious to learn more about? Collaboration: Help students to work in small groups to write songs and poems, research and answer Social Studies questions, and brainstorm action plans for service-learning and advocacy.