TomTod Ideas

Our Adventure Curators are connecting and learning alongside other middle level educators today at the #AMLE24 Conference in Nashville! With 300+ sessions from leading experts and educators, AMLE is an opportunity for our team to explore new strategies and best practices in middle level education. Zane Sanders is most excited for today’s session, “Who Am I, and Why Don’t We Discuss It? The Positive Effects of Conversations on Identity.” Check out the session description! “Young adolescents experience multiple identity changes - often unrecognized - including reflections on their race, ethnicity, socioeconomics, sexuality, gender, and academic abilities. Learn why students are searching for identity, and what influences their choices. Discover how and why identities can and should be addressed in curricula, advisory, or socioemotional learning (SEL) activities; and the positive influence that teachers have on healthy identities when they purposely focus on them.” We are incredibly grateful to Sisters of Charity for funding our team’s participation in the AMLE conference through a capacity building grant. This opportunity allows us to deepen our organizational infrastructure by connecting with peers in middle level education, exploring new strategies, and gaining inspiration that we’ll bring back to our community.

Four TomTod team members are on their way to Nashville today for the Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE) Conference! AMLE is an international organization for middle school educators, serving as the go-to source for peer-reviewed research, best practice, and professional development. #AMLE24 is an opportunity for our Adventure Curators and Executive Dreamer to explore new strategies and best practices in middle level education, meet peers who share our passion for middle schoolers, and gain inspiration and motivation to bring back to our community. Team Guide and Lead Adventure Curator Patrick Gerber is most excited for the Panel Session, Empowering Young Voices: Build Your Middle School Toolkit for Civil Discourse and is eager to connect what he learns to the collaboration we facilitate in classrooms every week! We are incredibly grateful to Sisters of Charity for funding our team’s participation in the AMLE conference through a capacity building grant. This opportunity allows us to deepen our organizational infrastructure by connecting with peers in middle level education, exploring new strategies, and gaining inspiration that we’ll bring back to our community.

Today we celebrate six amazing years with Kayla DeVitto, our Lead Story Guide at TomTod Ideas! ?? Kayla’s dedication to crafting stories that reflect our heart and mission has shaped who we are. She’s the reason our communications - whether internal or external - are so deeply rooted in the TomTod ethos. But beyond her role, Kayla brings warmth and a spirit of collaboration to everything she does. In her words: “I love coming to work every day. We have an incredible team culture at TomTod. In so many ways it feels like a home.” Beyond her role here, Kayla is a force for good in the community. She brings her energy to organizations like Leadership Stark County, YStark!, Women's Impact INC., Cleveland GiveCamp, the Canton Symphony Orchestra, and many more. When she’s not volunteering, you’ll find her adventuring with her three kids - Ellie, Sophia, and Ronan - or discovering treasures while thrifting for vintage home decor. We’re so grateful for you, Kayla! Happy six years! ??

Over three days this month, we led three Field Discovery Labs for Oakwood 7th graders to explore the needs of Stark County youth and to create ideas for new camps, clubs, and youth programs. We partnered with 25 unique guests representing 15 different youth development organizations in Stark County. Wow! Through interviews and ideation games, these youth development experts and middle schoolers learned from each other and created new ideas to help kids in our community thrive. When thinking about the impact these three days had on the students, Adventure Curator Pat said, “I was so truly grateful for how each adult listened to and invested in each group of student researchers. Students not only felt heard, but they also left these experiences feeling connected to the guests and like they have partners to help them create and launch their ideas.” Shout out to all our partnering organizations for collaborating with us and the Oakwood 7th graders! Thank you for believing middle schoolers matter! ?? Stark Parks ?? Kent State University at Stark ?? Walk With A Purpose ?? First Tee Canton ?? Project REBUILD, Inc. ?? The Ohio State University Extension Stark County ?? Malone University ?? Enrichment of Stark County ?? Stark County District Library ?? YMCA of Central Stark County (Ohio), Eric Snow YMCA ?? MentorStark ?? Stark County Prosecuting Attorney Office ?? Camp Wakonda ?? Foster Grandparent Program ?? Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health ?? Plain Local Schools ?? The Well Community Development Corporation & The Vincent House Akron What If 101 at Oakwood Middle School is free to families thanks to: ?? Plain Local Schools ?? Huntington National Bank ?? Employers Health And individual supporters who believe middle schoolers matter

Say hi to our newest team member (and familiar TomTod face), Jacob Cook! ?? Jacob graduated with a bachelors from Ashland University and a master’s in counseling and human development, specializing in school counseling from Walsh University. Since then he has worked in various roles in the community including the YMCA and substitute teaching, as well as joining TomTod as a pathfinder for their summer camps. He joins us this fall as a seasonal Adventure Coach, focused on implementing What If 101 at Crenshaw Middle School, STEAMM Academy, and Oakwood Middle School. As an Adventure Coach, Jacob brings his experience and passion for human growth to the middle schoolers around the area. He believes that each person has a unique story to tell, and when invested in on a holistic level, those stories will positively impact everything around them. ?? What does he love about working with middle schoolers? “I love the authenticity middle schoolers bring to conversations. They are old enough to have important and difficult conversations, but still young enough to simply speak their mind without inhibition.” ?? What is he excited about when it comes to being a part of the TomTod Team? “I’m excited to work at TomTod because it is a team of driven, creative, purpose-oriented people who are empowering middle schoolers - an often overlooked population.” ?? What does he like to do outside of work? “I love to play games, my favorites being Legend of Zelda and Pokemon Go. My favorite show is Avatar the Last Airbender, my favorite movies are Lord of the Rings, and my favorite author is Thich Nhat Hanh. I am also passionate about health and implementing different strategies like mindfulness into physical activity like running!” We’re so excited to have Jacob back with us this fall. Give him a warm welcome in the comments below! ??

One of our students’ favorite parts of What If 101 is SIP! What is SIP, you ask? Speedy Interview Plunge! Middle schoolers interview community leaders and local professionals, “speed dating” style! The community guests sit at tables while groups of middle schoolers rotate for 7-minute “blasts” of questions. Middle schoolers create questions about their community, learn the difference between open-ended and close-ended questions, and get real-life experience with a primary research method - interviewing! Are you interested in being interviewed by middle schoolers this fall? Whether you run a business, volunteer on a board, or just enjoy living/working in the community, your perspective is valuable to our middle schoolers! Opt in to become a community guest on our website and we will invite you to SIP opportunities during the school year! https://lnkd.in/gKkEPvuC

We hit 500 donors! ?? Those 500 donors unlocked a $3,000 grant from Employers Health Thank you, Employer Health, for sponsoring 500 donors!

We hit 400 donors yesterday! ?? Those 400 donors unlocked a $2,500 grant from SoL Harris/Day Architecture. Thank you, SoL Harris/Day, for sponsoring those first 400 donors! Less than 100 to go! ??

Middle schoolers are energetic! When given the right opportunities, that energy results in innovative thinking and positive community change. Adventure Curator Pat shares a story of Lamareon who came to Camp What If: Canton this summer. When Lamareon learned of the kinds of needs his community has, he put all his energy into finding a way to help. Act like a middle schooler. Be like Lamareon. Be energetic! Less than 100 donors until we hit 500! Give $6 today.

When we asked one of our team members to share about a resilient middle schooler, Alex came to mind. Meet Alex, a middle schooler who participated in the Changemaker Challenge with APS and Camp What If: Akron. “Alex is a middle schooler who I imagine is often overlooked or seen as weird by other kids. He is quiet, doesn’t talk to his peers, and prefers having conversations with adults. I met Alex earlier this spring during the Changemaker program. He stood out to me because although very shy, he arrived ready to pitch his idea about helping foster children who have aged out that he had worked on entirely by himself. With full confidence, he stood up in front of community leaders, school officials, and more to share his ideas. It was like a glimmer of what this kid is capable of. Alex didn’t win the highest amount of money awarded, but he walked away feeling confident in making a difference with what he was awarded – the experience, and that others took his ideas seriously. This summer, Alex attended Camp What If: Akron, and I was delighted to see him again. It was clear early on at camp that the week was going to be a successful one for Alex. There was a new side of him coming out in our camp environment. Pathfinders and campers brought an energy where he felt the camp was a safe place to be himself. As the week went on, he started to develop an idea of creating an art studio that collected recycled materials from the community to avoid going into the landfill. These items would be offered to local artists at a low cost because artists often do not have the money to buy supplies to create their work. He elaborated on how it could offer coffee and workshops for the Summit County community and bring creatives in the area together. This idea was born from his lab experiences at Summit Artspace and Northside Marketplace.” Alex is just one of countless resilient middle schoolers. Act like a middle schooler. Like Alex. Be resilient! If you believe in middle schoolers and the power of acting like one, will you give $6, $12, or more to our Act like a Middle Schooler campaign? Visit tomtodideas.org/act-24 to give today!