Earlier this year, a group of TEEN DAY Model United Nations (MUN) team members worked together on a leadership curriculum called Lead4Change. The program required them to do marketing, fundraising, outreach, and culminated with their applying for a grant.
We are pleased to announce TEEN DAY MUN was awarded $10,000! These funds will be used to reduce financial barriers many students face when trying to participate in MUN (including costs related to registration, lodging, and travel) by creating a scholarship fund and purchasing necessary materials, such as laptops, that could be used by team members. Funds were also identified for use in community outreach and training.
Please join the team for a award presentation followed by a small reception on Monday, July 28 at 2pm at 120 Third St., Ithaca, NY 14850. Team members past, present, and future, TEEN DAY participating families and instructors, members of the Ithaca community, and local news media have all been invited to attend.
For a short video about the project and the team’s experiences, CLICK HERE.
Though this grant goes a long way toward meeting the team’s long-term fundraising goals, donations are still needed to facilitate all the team has in store. Consider making a tax-deductible donation to support informed citizenship and confident communication for teens!
TEEN DAY Ithaca is in the process of hiring teaching staff for 2025-2026, and we’d love to connect with YOU!
There is typically no demand for specific credentialing. Classes are/have been taught by professors, graduate students, undergraduate students, professionals, and enthusiasts of all stripes. We strive to find people who are, yes, comfortable in a room full of teens and confident in offering instruction on a subject. However, what we look for most of all are people who are passionate about what they’re doing. Whether it’s Algebra or Art, we’re after people who ware willing to share their excitement about a topic with our participants. Most of our courses are offered 1 day/week on Tuesdays or Thursdays. Contact admin@teendayithaca.org for more info or to apply.
LOWER-LEVEL SCIENCE INSTRUCTOR:
Most of our educational areas at TEEN DAY operate in a three-year rotation, allowing most participants to take most classes, regardless of when they enter the program. Our lower-level science rotation consists currently of Life Science and Physical Science, with Earth Science being an overlapping year between our upper-level science courses. (Though from a teaching perspective, Earth Science is included in our lower-level course rotation.)
The ideal candidate will move through this rotation each year, teaching the relevant coursework. There is ample support for lesson planning and some existing infrastructure for labs and course planning. There is a lot of room for creative interpretation and outside-the-box instruction in all areas. Instructor applications will also be accepted for next year’s Earth Science course without the intention of teaching for TEEN DAY for the full rotation.
It’s hard to believe we are in the last hour of the Fall semester at TEEN DAY! There’s been so much going on, it’s hard to find the time to capture it. Here’s a look back at what we’ve been doing with ourselves.
We have 3 new instructors this year (Danielle Angie, Pan Angelopoulos, and Joel Baird), 4 new courses (Spanish III, Latin II, Precalculus, and Reacting to the Past), and several new participants. In classes, we’ve had cricket experiments, Hemmingway rap battles, literal horror stories, bookplate designs, low-friction racecars, constitutional Jeopardy, algorithmic programming, and – maybe most surprisingly – the loss of the Patriots to the Loyalists in a little reconstructed history.
Outside the classroom, we’ve orchestrated 5 fundraisers to cover the cost of new supplies and provide scholarships to those in our community that need them as well as 1 specifically to help Model United Nations team members cover travel expenses. We’ve hosted a stone soup lunch, participated in Secret Santa, and more!
TEEN DAY Model United Nations team has participated in 3 conferences so far this year with another coming up the week before classes resume! (A more detailed MUN post is up-and-coming.)
We’re only halfway through the year, with much more to come. Wishing all our TEEN DAY participants, families, instructors, and directors a restful winter break and a happy New Year.
The TEEN DAY Online Auction is officially live! Bidding will begin at NOON on Sunday, November 3. Hop on the website to preview the items available, so you’re ready to go when the bidding opens.
Select from a wide array of items, perfect for holiday shopping or a treat for yourself.
Original artwork and quality craft items: from local artists such as Josh Swartwood, Tony Serviente, Julia E. Dean, Perfect Mug Pottery, and more
Entertainment items: theater tickets, puzzle rooms, climbing passes, even tickets to Seabreeze amusement park, and more
Delicious eats: fresh-baked doughnuts and bread, farm-fresh produce, and a Wegman’s gift card
Events: host a private trivia game at your next big event, play a roleplaying game with a seasoned DM, get a guided bird walk with a local birder, and more
Museum entry: MOST, Strong, Rockwell, and more
…and So. Much. More.
All purchases go toward supporting innovative, affordable programming for homeschooled teens in our region and all donations are tax deductible. You have until 9pm on November 9 to put in your bids.
Need your leaves raked? Your bushes pruned? Your garden weeded? Sign up to have your yardwork done FOR YOU Sunday, November 3. Not only will you be able to check those chores off your list, but your financial donation will go toward supporting TEEN DAY’s Model United Nations team!
This March, TEEN DAY is sending a team of high schoolers to participate in National High School Model United Nations Conference in New York City! Conference attendance is not cheap, and, in the case of a homeschool team, members are expected to pay their fees out-of-pocket. To offset these costs and make the program accessible to all those who want to participate, the team is offering their yardwork services NOVEMBER 3!
We offer a flat rate for the following services:
$100 for leaf raking and bagging for city-sized lot (~.25 acres or smaller)*
$180 for leaf raking and bagging for large lots (~.26-.5 acres)*
$60/hr pruning or weeding work (no trees)*
*Homeowners will need to provide leaf bags or a place onsite leaves should be piled. Team will provide rakes and tarps; any other needed tools must be provided by homeowner.
A team of 2-6 people (depending on the size of the project) will be sent to your home on Sunday, November 3 between 12 and 6pm. An adult will supervise the project sites and help liaise with homeowners. Checks made out to “TEEN DAY Ithaca” can be left in an obvious location for collection or paid when the team arrives to do the work. Donations can also be made via PayPal using THIS LINK.
To request a team to help at YOUR Fall Creek or Northside home, contact teendayoldguard@yahoo.com. There are only a handful of slots available, so sign up NOW!
TEEN DAY Ithaca still has some spaces available in 2024-2025 programming! If you are/have a teen ages 12-18 looking for a place to find independence, community, and academic rigor, TEEN DAY may be just the spot. All of our classes begin next week.
We have a spot in the all-day Tuesday program available! Choose from eight classes in four periods to create the schedule that’s best for you. This year we offering Modern Literature, Creative Writing, World History: Our Modern World, Physics of Space, Illustration and Fine Art, Algebra I, Being a Citizen, and Life Science.
Tuesday slots don’t open up often, so you should grab it SOON!
“Reacting to the Past is an active-learning pedagogy of complex role-playing games. Reacting promotes engagement with big ideas, and improves critical, practical, intellectual, and academic skills.”
In the Fall semester, we will run Patriots, Loyalists, and Revolution in New York City, 1775-1776. Patriot and Loyalists forces struggle to control and direct the populace of New York City in an effort to deliver the city to either the Revolutionary forces or the British.
In the Spring semester, we will run Rousseau, Burke, and Revolution in France, 1791. Participants will strive to craft a constitution for a new France, struggling to balance the need for defense from foreign invasion, revolutionary ideals, and the needs of the common citizen.
**We have decided to open up our Latin II class to Latin I students as well with the goal of getting beginning students up-to-speed with our more advanced cohort in advance of offering Latin III in 2024-2025.**
In Latin II, students will expand their knowledge of basic Latin grammar and vocabulary. Major grammar topics that will be covered include five new verb tenses, passive verbs, and the uses of the ablative case. Our Latin readings will describe the day to day life of a young Roman as he explores life in Rome, travels the ancient world, and assumes the responsibilities of adulthood. These readings will also give us an opportunity to explore the tumultuous history of the late Roman Republic and Rome’s complicated relationship to Greece and Greek culture. This course follows the Oxford Latin Course.
Join us in preparing for and participating in Model United Nations conferences. These conferences are a simulation of the United Nations and other international bodies, which allow students to take on the roles of diplomats around the world. They seek to promote awareness of the many issues facing the international community, and to give students the opportunity to engage in critical thinking about how to address those issues. Students or “delegates” must step into the shoes of the country or position they are assigned. Participants research their assigned country, write a country position paper for submission, get to know their particular role/committee, and finally, spend the weekend as a part of a simulated delegation! (highschoolers only)
Spanish III will continue to build on the foundational blocks of Spanish I and II. Participants will continue to develop their proficiency in speaking, listening, writing, and reading by interacting with each other and the instructor. Through practice in class and homework assignments, participants will grow their vocabulary and move forward into other verb tenses. There will be a key focus on reading and writing proficiency in Spanish as well. We’ll try to use Spanish as lingua franca of the class and enhance the learning process out side of classes limits.
We will be doing algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and even some calculus. We will not be applying theorems and formulas handed down from above. Instead we will make our own conjectures, prove theorems, and use these core concepts to study new types of mathematical objects like fractals, matrices, and dynamical systems. We are also not restricted to the traditional pen and paper used for mathematical reasoning (or even our TI-89s and phone calculators). We will program with Python and use it as a tool for computational thinking.
We need your help to keep educational options open to ALL the youth and families in our community that rely on them.
This year, TEEN DAY has received more applications for financial aid than we have available through our scholarship fund. For the first time in our history, we are having to tell applicants we are unable to meet their requests. For some, this has meant eliminating courses they had hoped for in 2024-2025. For others, it has meant facing the possibility they cannot participate at all.
The Board is committed to finding ways to bolster our scholarship fund over the summer to enable a second round of funding for families that really need it. There are several ways you can support these efforts:
Have dinner with us…TWICE!
Sunday, June 30 between 4 and 8pm: Head to Panera Bread at 728 South Meadow St. in Ithaca, NY. Present a copy of our fundraising flyer (below or from social media) or enter the code “FUND4U” on any kiosk when ordering, and TEEN DAY will receive 25% of sales!
Sunday, July 21 between 4 and 7pm: Head to the Loyal Order of Moose at 367 Elmira Rd. in Ithaca, NY. Your choice of chicken or eggplant hot off the grill with salt potatoes and coleslaw…all for $15/person! For tickets, keep an eye on the website and social media, or email admin@teendayithaca.org.
Make a direct donation. Your one-time donation of $25, $50, $100 or more OR a recurring monthly donation of $20 or more would go a long way toward securing accessible programming for all. Checks can be made out to “TEEN DAY Ithaca” and mailed to 120 Third St., Ithaca, NY 14850 or donate online.
Encourage friends and family members to donate. Forward this email and/or share our social media posts (Facebook/Instagram), telling people why YOU value TEEN DAY.
If you haven’t taken the time to flip through TEEN DAY’s full-day offerings for 2024-2025, you are MISSING OUT! We fine tune our offerings every year, and this lineup could be our finest yet. Choose from history and civics courses to science and math to English and Art.
Wanna… – Plan your next mission to Mars? Gotcha covered. – Brush up on your modernist literature? Absolutely. – Illustrate your autobiography? On it. – Start earning credits toward college? May as well.
We’ve decided to open a few more slots for next year to try and accommodate anyone who’s interested in joining TEEN DAY for 2024-2025. If you haven’t registered already, now’s your chance!!
Set your next year on the right track by joining TEEN DAY for the all-day Tuesday program or for a la carte classes on Thursdays in 2024-2025!
Tuesday participants pick four of eight amazing classes: from a two-in-one course of Academic Writing available for college credit to our popular Being a Citizen course to your academic basics like Algebra I and Life Science.
Thursdays at TEEN DAY allows you to pick anywhere from one to four classes, but YOU choose just the ones you need to supplement your academic plans. Step into one of our foreign language classes, join our award-winning Model United Nations team, or try on one of our new courses this year: Reacting to the Past (a role-playing based exploration of historical events) and Precalculus!
submitted by Pat Sewell, Introduction to Philosophy instructor
The Tompkins County Board of Elections has announced a contest to design a 2024 “I Voted” sticker for students in grades 6-12. The winning design will be placed on thousands of stickers to be handed out to all voters in Tompkins County this November.
Last year’s winner was created by Dakota Tseng from New Roots, pictured here.
Given the incessant doodling I have seen on notes and homework, I am certain there is a winning design within the TEEN DAY ranks. Submissions are being accepted until May 1st.
Rules for entry and link to submit your art can be found here.
TEEN DAY Ithaca 