The Extra Yard, Vol. 1, Issue 9

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MAY 3, 2018 | VOL. 1, ISSUE 9

FULL STEAM AHEAD The College Football Playoff Foundation and Bay Area Host Committee are making a difference nine months before game day.

BY JAIME ARON

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s much as the upcoming College Football Playoff (CFP) National Championship is about football — and, of course, the game is all about crowning the top team — the buildup to the event and its legacy are rooted in education.

For the 2019 CFP National Championship at Levi’s Stadium in the Bay Area, that focus is specifically on STEAM. The acronym stands for curriculum based on science, technology, engineering, the arts and math. The acronym STEM is used in school districts where the arts are not part of the focus.

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It’s hardly a surprise that folks in the forward-thinking, tech-focused Silicon Valley are STEAM advocates.

Among the proponents are the San Francisco 49ers who’ve built an entire education program for students from kindergarten through eighth grade using specially designed classrooms inside Levi’s Stadium.

Since the CFP Foundation is all about education — and, historically, supporting the education initiatives that mean the most to the host community — it’s also no surprise that the organization’s focus this year is supporting STEAM programs in the nine-county region.

The CFP Foundation outlined those plans at the kickoff news conference for the 2019 national championship game held, fittingly, at the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose on April 11. Also fitting: The guests of honor included two dozen third-grade students from Kathryn Hughes Elementary School in Santa Clara and their teacher, Jennifer Erickson.

Ted Robinson, the “voice of the 49ers,” emceed. He was joined on stage by a parade of special guests: CFP Executive Director Bill Hancock, Executive Board Member of the Bay Area Host Committee (and former

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Stanford coach) Tyrone Willingham, Bay Area Host Committee Executive Director Patricia Ernstrom, and then CFP Foundation Executive Director Britton Banowsky and 49ers Education Director Jesse Lovejoy.

Sourdough Sam, the 49ers mascot, and SJ Sharkie, mascot of the San Jose Sharks, also were in attendance, much to the delight of the third-graders. But it was their teacher, Jennifer Erickson, who got the biggest treat: a $10,000 check from the CFP Foundation and Bay Area Host Committee to Kathryn Hughes Elementary in the name of Erickson and her fellow teachers.

The money can be used to pay for whatever classroom needs school officials choose.

While that magic moment underscored the connection between the CFP Foundation and Bay Area education, the news conference also was an opportunity to lay out an overview of the plans for the four-day championship weekend (Friday, Jan. 4, through Monday, Jan. 7).

ALL ABOUT THE STUDENTS: SJ Sharkie and Sourdough Sam had a blast with Ms. Erickson and her third-graders.

“Championship Campus is the name of the area that encompasses the many public events during the weekend prior to the national championship game,” Hancock said.

“Yes, the national champion will be crowned Monday night. But the weekend will be much more — it

THE FUN BEGINS: The students had prime seating at the College Football Playoff news conference that was held within the Tech Museum of Innovation.

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will be an opportunity for fans of all ages to sample what college football is all about. With the help of the Bay Area Host Committee, we have developed a fan-friendly, walkable campus that thousands will enjoy come January.”

More than 100,000 fans are expected to flock to San Jose for game-related events Friday through Sunday and then head to Santa Clara for the pre-game fun and, of course, the showcase title game.

“When we talk about bringing mega events to the Bay Area, the College Football Playoff National Championship ticks all the boxes; it’s more than a football game,” Ernstrom said. “The entire Bay Area will feel the effect of this event, as well as the huge impact that will be made in the region’s classrooms via the College Football Playoff Foundation’s Extra Yard for Teachers program. The championship weekend events

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will allow us to shine a spotlight on Silicon Valley to a national audience in a way that few events can.”

As great as those four days will be, the more far-reaching impact of the CFP coming to the Bay Area is the work being done by the CFP Foundation to work with schools, educators and students, with much of it coming under the umbrella of its Extra Yard for Teachers (EYFT) platform. The host committee has donated $1 million to help EYFT’s impact on the region.

If you really want to give the young Bay Area populace an opportunity to work and live in the area once they grow up — and not feel forced to move elsewhere to better afford to live — it’s very important to enhance their capabilities around STEAM concepts.”

TEACHER APPRECIATION WEEK May 7 – 11, 2018

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eacher Appreciation Week is a national celebration of teachers which takes place the first full week of May each year.

Check out the @CFPExtraYard social media channels to see how the CFP Foundation will honor teachers next week.

ROGER HACKER “If you really want to give the young Bay Area populace an opportunity to work and live in the area once they grow up — and not feel forced to move elsewhere to better afford to live — it’s very important to enhance their capabilities around STEAM concepts,” said Roger Hacker, Director of Corporate Communications for the 49ers.

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May 8

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(Note: Last year, the CFP Foundation boosted literacy programs, as that was the primary emphasis for its host-region education partner, Atlanta Public Schools.)

The STEM/STEAM concept began in 2001 and has been growing in popularity, its rise boosted by a 2005 government report that said U.S. students were lagging behind other nations in science and math.

President George W. Bush enacted a law emphasizing advancements in these areas in 2009, and in 2013, President Barack Obama launched a five-year STEM Education Strategic Plan.

Around that time, the 49ers were building Levi’s Stadium. They carved space to teach hundreds of students per day and 60,000

BIG PERSONALITIES: Ted Robinson interviews students during the news conference. Their favorite subject in school? Math.

BAY AREA 2019

January 5-6, 2019

San Jose Convention Center This is a VIP teacher-only space within Championship Campus that brings together CFP Foundation partners to build an experience like no other: handson workshops, relaxation stations, speaker sessions, give-a-ways, free food and beverage, celebrity appearances and MORE.

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› Visit www.cfp-foundation.org for more information.

January 6, 2019

January 6, 2019

Downtown San Jose

Tech Museum of Innovation

The official 3.1 mile race to support teachers during championship weekend. Registration includes two tickets to Playoff Fan Central, a participant shirt, finisher’s medal and entry into a drawing for tickets to the national championship game.

Taste of the Championship is a foodie’s dream. Ticket buyers will sample gourmet food and beverages from San Jose’s most notable restaurants and breweries while celebrating teachers from across the United States.

Proceeds from the event support the College Football Playoff Foundation and its Extra Yard for Teachers platform.

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per year and built an entire program for it. They also offer enriching videos via Khan Academy, a leading source of online learning. All of this — the in-person and online lessons — is free.

Best of all, the lessons are fun and engaging, built around football.

For instance, we get kids to think more deeply about the construction of a helmet or the physics principles required to throw a football a certain distance.”

ROGER HACKER “For instance, we get kids to think more deeply about the construction of a helmet or the physics principles required to throw a football a certain distance,” Hacker said. “This inspires kids to look at STEAM concepts as approachable and relevant to their everyday life.”

For the next eight months, the CFP Foundation will be part of that winning formula, too.

MAY HONOREE

NICOLE MATHIS-BERMAN

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icole Mathis-Berman, a dance teacher at the ArTES Magnet (Art, Theatre, Entertainment) school outside of Los Angeles, teaches her students more than classical dance technique: “The quote I often give to my students,” she says, “is ‘Stand firm in your beauty.’”

It is a lesson Mathis-Berman, a classically trained ballerina, has learned in a lifetime of studying the arts: her father was a composer, and she studied ballet and violin from early childhood. After attending the Westside School of Ballet in Santa Monica, Nicole danced professionally with the Pacific American Ballet Theater, among other companies, before beginning her teaching career.

Nicole teaches her students to articulate and manifest their own unique artistic vision, both by her steadfast support and encouragement in the classroom and studio and by the example she sets with her own life and work.

Even as she teaches dance, chairs the Dance Department at ArTES, and finishes the dissertation for her MFA in Choreography, Nicole has realized a lifelong dream by founding her own dance company, the White Crane Dance Theatre.

As she tells her students, “Dreams are the seedlings of reality.”

Visit www.honored.org to read Nicole Mathis-Berman’s full story.

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READY TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Mandy Manning Named 2018 National Teacher of the Year

BY DAVID LEE

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n April 20, Mandy Manning was named the 2018 National Teacher of the Year. Manning works with refugee and immigrant students as an English Language Arts teacher and a Specialist/ Interventionist at Joel E. Ferris High School’s Newcomer Center in Spokane, Wash. Orchestrated by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), Manning will advocate for more than three million teachers and more than 50 million public school children over the next year.

She is the first teacher many of her students have when

2018 NATIONAL TEACHER OF THE YEAR: Mandy Manning, Washington State Teacher of the Year

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coming to the United States. With students from countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan, Uganda, Ethiopia, Malaysia and others, it’s not uncommon to have 12 different languages represented in one class.

“They are wanted and welcomed, and they are capable of anything,” Manning said of her students during a CBS News interview. “They’ve been through experiences that no young person should have to go through. They’re extremely focused. They want to learn, and they want to be here.

It’s amazing.”

Teaching English is a basic focus for her class, but Manning also wants to equip her students with a mentality that will serve them the rest of their life. She says she wants them to be brave when confronting uncertainty and failure. In addition, Manning wants to use her new title to encourage educators to teach their students to overcome their fears and seek out new experiences. Another goal is to invite district leaders, campus resource officers, community members of color, and professional writers to visit her classroom.

“I want to encourage people to have experiences outside of their understanding,” Manning says. “I want educators to provide students that opportunity. We fear what we don’t understand, so experience is really important.”

NATIONAL TEACHER OF THE YEAR RUNNERS-UP The following three teachers received the honor of being finalists for 2018 National Teacher of the Year along with Manning.

AMY T. ANDERSEN The 2018 New Jersey Teacher of the Year, focuses on nurturing students to help them reach academic achievements. She began the American Sign Language program at Ocean City High School in New Jersey and now teaches ASL 1, ASL 2 and ASL 3 Honors. Amy goes beyond the normal classroom atmosphere by arranging paint nights with world-renowned deaf artists and signing opportunities with the National Association of the Deaf. Her students have even interpreted for former First Lady Michelle Obama and Madonna.

KARA BALL The 2018 Department of Defense Education Activity Teacher of the Year, uses science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) to spark

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interest in her students. She currently teaches military-connected students at Camp Lejeune for the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) and has taught multi-age, special education, STEM and advanced mathematics. Kara organizes an annual, school-wide Cardboard Arcade where students use the engineering design process (EDP) to make creations out of a single cardboard box.

JONATHAN JURAVICH The 2018 Ohio Teacher of the Year and an awardwinning artist and art educator at Liberty Tree Elementary in Powell, Ohio. He encourages his students to make the world a better place through art. He also serves as the Building Environment Team leader at Liberty Tree and as the district Elementary Visual Art Department Chair. In addition to those duties, Jonathan coaches middle school crosscountry and track.

The four finalists and the rest of the 2018 cohort will participate in Washington Week, May 1-4.

Washington Week provides workshops such as media training, refining communication, storytelling, and the discussion on policies surrounding education.

After that, the teachers meet with lawmakers on Capitol Hill from their home state to talk about those policy issues. It’s a time for teachers to learn, hone their skills, and improve the education profession on a larger scale.

SAVE THE DATE September 15 – 22, 2018

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xtra Yard for Teachers Week is an eight-day period dedicated to celebrating teachers across the country. Over the past four years, the college football community has recognized educators at home games, donated funds to classroom projects, and supported the initiative on social media. We look forward to continuing the celebration in 2018!

Stay tuned for more information headed your way this summer. @CFPExtraYard

#ExtraYardWeek

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