AmeriCorps Appreciation Week: Coach Michael

  1. Updates

This week, we are celebrating our amazing AmeriCorps members during AmeriCorps Appreciation Week. All of our AmeriCorps members are getting things done on playgrounds across the Bay Area and they all have truly unique and inspiring stories.

Coach Michael is an exemplary AmeriCorps member and a great asset to the Playworks Silicon Valley team. He is dedicated to his program and the school that he serves. Not only does Michael run a great program during the school day, he continues to serve his community by spending his extra time volunteering to support middle school girls basketball.

Work in a school with a diverse population, Michael has truly embodied Playworks’ core values of inclusion and respect. Since he has been at Willow Oaks, he has transformed the culture at recess; kids always give high fives and encourage one another with “good job, nice try!” With his compassion and leadership, Michael has increased positive culture—for which the kids love and respect him.

Here is one story from Coach Michael about how Playworks has made an impact at Willow Oaks:

Since I’ve arrived at Willow Oaks it has been a personal quest to help enforce a more positive culture. I have strived to make sure that kids were using proper conflict resolution tools to solve their problems on the playground.

This story involves a second grader in class one day and was relayed to me by a teacher. The class was having social studies and they were discussing how people in different countries go to war. When asked to describe why the students felt these nations went to war and what could possibly be done to stop this in the future one of the girls raised her hand and replied with this,

“I think they should just ro-sham-bo. When I argued in Foursquare, Coach Michael told me to ro-sham-bo and we were able to keep playing and there were no more problems.”

Ro-sham-bo, also known as rock, paper, scissors, is a tool students use to solve conflicts on the playground. This comment highlights the innocence of a child, but it also makes me feel like I am doing something right that they would remember this and try to apply it in real world situations. Hearing stories like this show that Playworks is changing things more than we can see.

Thank you for all that you do, Michael!

 


Interested in becoming a Playworks AmeriCorps member?

Learn more!

 

More Updates


January 12, 2023

Golden State Warriors Community Foundation & Salesforce partner with Playworks ›

We are grateful for our continued partnership with the Warriors Community Foundation and Salesforce during the 2022-2023 school year. With their support, Playworks Northern California has delivered safe and healthy play to over 41,200 elementary school children of promise this year! Check out this inspiring video showcasing our work together:      

A boy and girl holding basketballs on a playground.
A boy and girl holding basketballs on a playground.

November 16, 2022

2021-22 Annual Report ›

We are excited to share with you a look back at everything we accomplished in the 2021-2022 program year. It was a year focused on rebuilding after the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and we are proud to share that we served 41,200 students in the Northern California Region.  We are thankful for your continued…

three people with Playworks shirts
three people with Playworks shirts

July 28, 2022

A year of social and emotional learning ›

“You can’t do SEL, trauma, or equity work without each other,” Jennette Claassen, Head of Evaluation, Playworks. As Playworks continued to progress on our equity journey, we explored a critical question: what are the intersections between play, social and emotional learning, physical activity, and trauma? A working group focused on this question decided, among other…