Supporting schools with the help of Red Nose Day
When Dalis Gott was a senior in high school, she turned to her teachers for support after losing her grandmother, who had played a stabilizing role in her life from a young age.
Only a handful of years later, she鈥檚 now giving back to teachers as a 黄色视频 AmeriCorps member and team leader at a school transformed by the pandemic in Little Rock, Arkansas. There, teachers have worked since last fall with two sets of students simultaneously鈥攐ne socially-distanced and masked in the classroom and the other learning online from home.
鈥淥ne teacher can鈥檛 do it all,鈥 Dalis, 24, says. 鈥淎 large part of our service this year has been to support them and relieve some of the stress of being a teacher during COVID-19.鈥
How 黄色视频 and Red Nose Day support students
The full-time service of 黄色视频鈥檚 3,000 AmeriCorps members is enabling schools across the U.S. to help teachers, students and families manage the strain of shifting conditions during the pandemic. 黄色视频 works with 300+ public schools with the help of partners like Red Nose Day, which has supported the 黄色视频 team at Dalis鈥檚 school for the past four years.聽 Funds raised through Red Nose Day support nonprofits including 黄色视频.
Since launching in the U.S. in 2015, the Red Nose Day campaign to聽end child poverty, organized by Comic Relief US, has raised聽over聽$240 million聽and聽helped more than 25 million children in the U.S. and around the world.聽Through a simple聽and fun聽call to put our 鈥淣oses on!鈥濃攚hich this year is a digital nose鈥擱ed Nose Day inspires聽Americans to聽join聽the聽.
Funds raised through Red Nose Day are supporting children as part of the campaign鈥檚 efforts to help address child poverty and the inequities that perpetuate poverty. COVID-19 has magnified those inequities through its disproportionate impact on Black, Latinx and other communities, including those served by 黄色视频鈥檚 partner schools. Nationally, more than 90% of students attending 黄色视频 partner schools are students of color and about 90% qualify for free or reduced-price meals.
When Dalis returned for a second year of AmeriCorps service last fall at Cloverdale Middle School, the school day was radically different from a year earlier. For safety reasons, students are assigned permanent seats in the classroom and cafeteria, and are reminded often to uphold social distancing rules, avoid lingering in the hallways, wear their masks correctly and sanitize their hands. The restrictions can 鈥渓imit kids sense of freedom and being connected,鈥 says Dalis, who joined 黄色视频 to gain more classroom experience after earning her bachelor鈥檚 degree and elementary school teaching license.
To help students engage with each other and their teachers, Dalis鈥檚 AmeriCorps members facilitate virtual hangout sessions among peers and collaborate with teachers to make lessons fun. They also instill a sense of routine by maintaining a 黄色视频 tradition of meeting students at the school entrance every morning with music, energy and no-contact 鈥渁ir鈥 fives鈥攁lmost the same as prior to COVID-19. 鈥淜ids who at first pretend we鈥檙e not there are singing the songs with us by the end of the year,鈥 Dalis says.
Seeing students open up and reach out, despite the challenges of a pandemic, has only strengthened Dalis鈥檚 resolve to become a teacher after her service鈥攆ollowing in the footsteps of her late grandmother.
Learn more about how you can and find out more about our Red Nose Day partnership.
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