The Unity Scoop – June 2
Dear Families of Unity,
I hope that you have been able to enjoy the beautiful spring weather we have had this past week and weekend.
This coming week, we officially enter the last month of the school year. With the month of June comes a strong and festive finale to the year with Roundtable presentations at our middle school, Regents exams for students in grades 8-12, end-of-year trips, and, of course, graduation ceremonies for our 8th graders and seniors!
A comprehensive June calendar is now available – see the updates below. In addition to the new month’s calendar, this edition of The Unity Scoop celebrates the college graduation of a number of our founding students, shows off some festive photos from our 8th grade and senior proms, and congratulates our recent Students of the Month at Unity Middle!
Well wishes to all in the week ahead! In particular, I want to commend our students and staff who have worked extremely hard over the past several weeks and over the course of the year in their Regents courses. Congratulations on your hard work and preparation for your Regents exams, which kick off this week!
Best regards,
Josh
Josh Beauregard
Head of School / Co-founder
Unity High students getting in some additional practice after school as they prepare for their Regents exams this month!
Updates as of June 2, 2024:
Updated – June 2024 School-wide Calendar: For your family’s convenience, here is a complete school-wide calendar of events for the month of June – print it out and throw it on the refrigerator door! It is possible that events could change and new events could be added. An up-to-date events calendar can always be accessed on our website.
New – Alumni Spotlight of the Month – Tyrek Beckles, Unity’s Class of 2020: We are thrilled to share with our entire community the accomplishments of our alumni whenever we can. This month, we proudly provide an update on the postsecondary success of Tyrek Beckles, who graduated this spring from Ithaca College! Congratulations, Tyrek, on your college graduation!
We are so thrilled for our founding students and their families who are receiving their undergraduate degrees this month! These are students and families who began with us in 6th grade in the fall of 2013 – our founding year! One member of our Great Class of 2020 is Tyrek Beckles who graduated from Ithaca College this past month with a degree in Sports Media.
Tyrek grew up in Bedford Stuyvesant and was an excellent student and community member at Unity. He was also very active in athletics. His mother, Ms. Beckles (pictured above), was a terrific partner and resource to our community (and still is!). Mr. Coleman (also pictured) along with our entire faculty and staff are so proud of Tyrek and his fellow Unity classmates on their college graduation!
New – Middle School Families – RSVP for Your Child’s Roundtable Presentation Now!: We are excited for our students’ Roundtable presentations, which will take place over three days: June 18th, 20th, and 21st. An RSVP form for your child’s Roundtable presentation was disseminated last week. RSVP at your earliest convenience if you haven’t already done so!
New – Congrats to our Middle School’s Students of the Month!: Kudos to our Students of the Month from March and April for showing exemplary scholarship, citizenship, and growth – we are proud of you!
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New – Unity’s 8th Graders and Seniors Celebrate in Style During their Proms!: Our 8th graders and seniors had a great time as they danced the night away during the proms last week. Thank you to our staff who coordinated the events and thank you to our staff chaperones who, as the photo below shows, took full opportunity to dress up and have fun with our soon-to-be graduates!
8th Grade Prom Photos:
Senior Prom Photos:
New – 2024-25 School Calendar of Key Events and Vacations for Families: Calendars for the 2024-25 school year are now ready to share. Note that we have two versions this year – one version for our middle school (grades 6-8) and another version for our high school (grades 9-12).
- Grades 6-8 School Calendar of Key Events and Vacations for Families
- Grades 6-8 School Calendar of Key Events and Vacations for Families
Recap – Thank you, Families, for Taking Part in Last Week’s Family Ambassadors Meeting!: We are grateful to our families who participated in our Family Ambassadors meeting last week. As always, the meeting was productive, energizing, and, of course, fun! Here are the slides from the meeting.
Recep – Unity Family Ambassador Spotlight of the Month!: We are thrilled to resume an exciting feature to the Unity Scoop, a monthly profile of our amazing Unity Family Ambassadors. The Unity Family Ambassadors are a group of caregivers who meet monthly and serve as thought partners for many of our school’s initiatives. If you are interested in learning more about or joining the Unity Family Ambassadors, please reach out to Mr. Beckford.
Full Name: T’Lyssa Connell
Student Name: TriniTee Connell, 6th grade
Grade level: 6
Profession: Office Manager
Favorite Restaurant in Brooklyn: Olive Garden
Why did you choose to send your child to Unity? Unity has so much to offer these kids that other charter schools don’t offer until high school.
What is the best advice you could provide for an incoming caregiver? Once you attend an info session in person, you see the love, care and dedication the staff has for these kids… you will feel it in your gut that you are making the right decision.
What is your favorite aspect of Unity? Community. Unity does so much, not only for their school community, but as well as the community in which the school serves.
What inspired you to ‘give back’ to our community by joining the Unity Family Ambassadors this year? I will always be one of those parents that tries their best to be at every event or try to contribute in any way possible. Once you show up for your kids, and kids in the community; they know that they will always have support. This leads to success in many ways. Not only for my child but any kid I cross paths with.
Recep – Unity Athletics – The Spring Season is Upon Us!!: There have been a number of recent highlights worth sharing with Unity’s athletic teams this spring season. Here are a few!
Unity Middle Student-Athlete, Sariah Wilson, being interviewed by the MSAL league commissioner during yesterday’s meeting. Click on the image to hear the interview. Unity’s 4×4 girls’ team won their race!
Unity High’s volleyball teams recently honored all 12th grade team members during their Senior Farewell Ceremony. Congrats to the seniors of both teams. We applaud you for always representing our community with pride – go Panthers!
Members of the middle school volleyball teams before a recent match (clearly with the game faces on!)
Recap – Free Admission to NYC’s Finest Museum through Unity Middle’s Partnership with Urban Advantage: Unity Middle students were given vouchers to attend some of the best museums in NYC free of charge. See the details below and contact Ms. Diaz, our MS Science Department Chairperson, with any questions.
Recap – College Acceptance List for Unity’s Class of 2024!: We are excited to share with our community the full list of colleges to which members of Unity’s Class of 2024 have earned admission. Congrats to the entire class and their families as they now decide which college they will attend this fall! Enjoy the photo below of members of Unity’s Class of 2024 visiting SUNY Stony Brook on Thursday and being greeted by members of Unity’s Class of 2023 who now attend Stony Brook. Kudos to our alumni in supporting our seniors as they weigh their options!
Recap – Unity Calendar for the 2023-24 School Year: The table below reflects our key events and vacations calendar for the 2023-24 school year. In addition, here is the updated PDF version of the table for your convenience.
Relevant Information from Past Editions of The Scoop:
Free Resources for Unity Families: Unity’s social work team is always looking for resources that may be helpful and of interest to our families. A host of resources are provided below. Reach out to Ms. Del Purgatorio, Unity’s Director of Social Work, with questions.
- Introducing 988, The New Mental Health Hotline: The Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, which launched last week, is a new way for anyone experiencing a mental health crisis to quickly reach out for help. Anyone in the US can now call or text 9-8-8 to be connected to a trained mental health professional at one of more than 200 local crisis call centers around the country. Learn more here.
- INCLUDEnyc Presents: How to Talk to Your Children about Sexuality: This webinar will help parents and guardians of children with disabilities become more comfortable discussing sexuality and relationships, and cover some of the most effective ways to talk about this sensitive topic. Learn more and register here.
- Free Summer Meals for Students – begins Tuesday, June 28th: NYC’s Summer Meals program offers free breakfast and lunch throughout NYC for anyone age 18 and under. No registration, documentation, or ID is required. Visit here for details on time, locations, menus and other helpful information.
- Free Book Giveaway for Kids and Teens: As part of our largest summer program ever, The New York Public Library is giving away 500,000 books for kids and teens to take home and keep. Drop by one of our neighborhood branches to choose yours—plus, explore free events, our summer writing contest for kids, the opportunity for teens to contribute to a new magazine, and more with Summer at the Library. Visit here for more information.
- DOE’s Beyond Access Series Presents Self-Regulation Techniques: This workshop will provide parents, caregivers and students strategies for reducing stress and improving the ability to self-regulate, with simple routines and activities that reduce anxiety and reactivity and promote calm and happy students and families. Spanish and Mandarin interpretation available. Learn more and register here.
- DOE’s Beyond Access Series Presents How to Access Supports for Students with Behavioral Challenges: This workshop covers the educational rights of students who face behavioral challenges in school, including different kinds of behavioral supports and interventions , along with the opportunity to share advocacy tips. Learn more and register here.
- The Child Mind Institute offers great (free & remote) caregiver workshops on a seasonal basis! Take a moment to visit their site and appreciate their offerings.
- The recent events in Ukraine may be a source of stress and anxiety for some children. Below are four resources that may be helpful for families:
- Helping Kids Cope with Frightening News from Child Mind Institute
- How to Talk to Kids About War from verywellfamily.com
- How to Navigate Difficult Conversations with Children from The Relation Station
- How to Talk to Children about War: An Age-by-Age Guide from Today.com
- Below are flyers for lists of low-cost dental providers in each borough:
- Free Child Nutrition Webinar Series: Register for the “An Alarming Rise in Excess Weight and Diabetes in Children: Strategies and Solutions” webinar on Monday, March 7th. The webinar is presented by French-American Aid for Children as part of the new Child Nutrition Webinar series. Parents and educators will learn about practical nutrition tips and accessible information to encourage children to adopt good eating habits in school—and at home—through an interactive dialogue between Dr. Juliana Cohen, nutrition epidemiologist and associate professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Dr. Ileana Vargas-Rodriguez, a pediatric endocrinologist at the Children’s Hospital of New York. A Q&A session will follow the webinar. Check out previous recordings of past webinars, including:
- Engaging Children in their own Nutritional Journey
- Smart Summer Shopping and Cooking
- Nutrition’s Powerful Impact on Children’s Physical and Mental Health