A Day in the Life Series: Tobin K-8 School Team Newsletter

Happy New Year from City Year Greater Boston’s Team Tobin!

We hope you’re having a happy and healthy 2023 thus far! As usual, our Tobin Team has been busy the past two months participating in school activities, service days, and training days.

Throughout the past couple of months, Team Tobin’s Impact Manager, Team Leader and Americorps Members have been hard at work. In partnership with the Tobin school’s Music Department, we put on a winter concert for the whole school. Students practiced for months in advance and even received VIP passes to track students’ participation! The theme of the concert was “Identity,” and the hallways were lined with student’s self-portraits. Students loved the night and overall, it was a great success!

Next, we distributed hygiene kits for students and teacher kits for Tobin staff members. The hygiene kits included hairbrushes, deodorant, hand sanitizer, feminine products, and other items. Students appreciated receiving essential items and some used the products even before leaving the classroom. Teacher kits for staff included items for them to enjoy in their personal and professional lives, such as candles; fidgets; expo markers; pencils; tissues; hand-sanitizer; journals; coloring books; and – of course – a holiday card from our team. Teachers were so surprised by the gifts and expressed their appreciation to the whole Tobin team.

At Tobin K-8 school, we are working hard to support and encourage student attendance. With the support of school funding, we organized a pizza party for students who maintained perfect attendance. Also, right before Boston Public Schools’ winter break, Tobin middle school students were rewarded with a field trip to see the new Black Panther movie. They could only go if their attendance reflected almost 100% for the two weeks leading up to winter break. We worked hard to encourage perfect attendance and were happy with the results!

Time off from school was restful and enjoyable for students, staff, and our team. The new year is already flying by! So far Tobin sixth graders went on a field trip to a Harvard women’s hockey game, and AmeriCorps Members – Mr. Max and Ms. Mary – attended to help teachers as students cheered on the Crimson!

Although students had school off on MLK day, Team Tobin was busy painting murals at a local middle school. The hallway mural our team worked on dedicated the space to inspirational quotes spoken by celebrated People of Color.

See pictures of the finished product below and follow us for more updates at @cygb_tobinschool and @cityyeargreaterboston on Instagram.