The TEAK Fellowship

Saturday was TEAK Class 27 Mentor Match Day! We had an amazing time introducing our Class 27 Fellows to their mentors, who will work with them formally over the next two years, serving as an additional support system, role model, advocate, and friend. TEAK mentors have played an impactful role in the lives of Fellows since the program began over 25 years ago. We are excited to be welcoming our largest?cohort of mentors to date and are grateful for their commitment to TEAK and our Fellows. Thank you so much to TEAK Board Member Kim Koopersmith and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP for hosting our event at their beautiful NYC office.?

We are excited to recognize TEAK Class 11 Alum?Fernando Fernandez, who was recently included in the NextGen Collective's?30 Under 30 list for Hispanic Heritage Month.?Fernando?is a Growth Senior Product Manager at Yelp, where he leads the company's?Latinx employee resource group.?Fernando?was born and raised in the Bronx, is a?a proud Dominican, and?graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and The Taft School. Read more about?Fernando?and his story here?https://lnkd.in/egdyYRgB.?

We are excited to recognize our TEAK Class 25 Fellows, who have officially completed Middle School Academy and will be heading to high school in the fall! We are very proud of all the hard work and dedication they have demonstrated throughout middle school and look forward to seeing what they accomplish in the years to come. Class 25 will be attending some of the top high schools in NYC and across the country, including Avenues The World School, Bard High School Early College, Berkeley Carroll School, The Brearley School, Brooklyn Technical High School, Church Farm School, Dana Hall School, Deerfield Academy, The Ethel Walker School, Fordham Preparatory School, Frank Sinatra School of Arts, The Frederick Gunn School, George W. Hewlett High School, Greenwich Academy, Horace Mann School,The Hotchkiss School, Hunter College High School, The Madeira School, Manhattan Center for Science & Mathematics, Phillips Academy, Phillips Exeter Academy, Poly Prep Country Day School, Queens Gateway To Health Sciences Secondary School, Regis High School, Riverdale Country School, Rye Country Day School, The Spence School, The Thacher School, The Browning School, The Lawrenceville School, The Peddie School, and Xavier High School. Congratulations, Class 25!

Today, the TEAK community is remembering our dear colleague and friend Marc Becker, who passed away one year ago. For more than a decade, TEAK had the privilege of Marc’s service as a Board Member and Chair. Marc was a passionate community member, visionary?leader, thoughtful mentor, and kind and generous friend. Marc's profound impact is felt by our staff, students, alumni, and families everyday and we are committed to honoring his legacy this year and in the years to come.

Our Class 23 Fellows are participating in TEAK’s 6-week Summer Of Service (SOS), an immersive volunteer experience at NYC-based nonprofits and community based organizations. SOS engages students as civic-minded leaders in their communities and is required for all rising 10th grade Fellows. We’re fortunate to be working with 10 amazing community partners this year: Association to Benefit Children (ABC), The Battery, New York Botanical Garden, Carter Burden Network, LSA Family Health Service, New York Common Pantry, Chashama, The Clemente Soto Velez Cultural & Educational Center, Kingsbridge Heights Community Center, and play:ground. TEAK’s Summer of Service program was established in 2002 for Fellows to engage in volunteerism in their home and communities.

We are excited to kick off TEAK's 3rd Annual Changemakers Internship Program. This five-week rotational program begins today and will provide TEAK Fellows in Classes 21 and 20 (rising college first-years and sophomores) with the opportunity to work and learn at six amazing corporate partners: Apollo Global Management, Inc., CHANEL, CIFC Asset Management, General Atlantic, Microsoft, and RBC. Changemaker Interns will explore different industries, job types, and company cultures and present culminating projects on their learnings each week. We are grateful to our six partner hosts for making this opportunity possible and to Apollo for hosting our kick-off lunch!??

We had an awesome community engagement day at CLEAR in June. Employee volunteers in CLEAR’s NYC office joined us for a TEAK Lunch & Learn and assembled backpacks for our newest 50 Fellows in TEAK Class 27! Thank you so much to CLEAR for hosting us, and TEAK Board Member and CLEAR Co-Founder Caryn Seidman Becker for helping make this awesome opportunity possible.

TEAK hosted its spring College Launch Series for Fellows in Classes 20, 19, and 18 (Rising college sophomores, juniors, and seniors). The week's programming included a?networking session and etiquette luncheon hosted by Neuberger Berman, career conversations and speed networking at Blue Owl Capital, and?a visit to KITH for a behind the scenes look into the fashion industry and operations. Thank you so much to our corporate hosts for partnering on this exciting week of programming and for introducing TEAK's college Fellows to new industries, professional journeys, and expanding their networks.

May is #MentalHealthAwarenessMonth, a time to raise awareness about mental health, fight stigma, and provide support. TEAK believes in supporting students holistically and is fortunate to have a full-time Director of Counseling Alyssa Alexander on our team!?Alyssa oversees the incorporation of social-emotional learning into TEAK’s programming model and shared some?of her thoughts on the importance of mental wellbeing here.?

Last week, TEAK Fellows James (Class 21, Trevor Day School), Dhruv (Class 23, Bronx High School of Science), and Tsering (Class 22, Bronx High School of Science) were recognized for their participation in Columbia University's Youth in STEM Program! James, who will be attending Columbia in the fall, participated in the program last year and was selected as a Student Ambassador and speaker at this year’s closing reception. Dhruv and Tsering completed the program this year, where they took courses on topics like neuroscience and programming, attended workshops on resume writing and college interview skills, and heard from leaders in STEM such as Greg Robinson, former director of the James Webb Space Telescope Program at NASA. We are proud of James, Dhruv, and Tsering for their hard work and commitment to the program and grateful to Columbia University School of Professional Studies for this amazing initiative. We would also like to thank the The Hg Foundation for its STEM support and partnership and for making opportunities like these possible for our Fellows!