Together We… Keep Going!

Meet Nona Carter, a Thinker going on four years in the Southeast Los Angeles County region. Nona started as a program leader, then a site coordinator before briefly leaving Think Together to finish her master’s degree in Kinesiology to get closer to her goal of one day becoming a physical therapist. After achieving her master’s, Nona returned to Think Together to serve as a Quality Assurance Coach to Think Together sites in the Compton Unified School District. Nona is known for her deep commitment to the community and is consistently on a mission to bring creative solutions to challenges her team faces on the field. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to share more about Nona with you! 

What inspires you to work at Think Together? 

What originally attracted me to working for Think Together, was the middle school program leader position. This role gave me the opportunity to coach basketball, my favorite sport, as well as cheerleading and soccer. As I started to build connections with the students, my capacity expanded beyond just being a coach, but a mentor. I’ve had many conversations with kids about the importance of taking their education seriously and not letting life circumstances determine who they can be in the future. Day after day I’m finding more purpose in the work that I’m doing here.  

What would you say to encourage a student who is struggling at the beginning of the school year? 

I would tell them that it may be hard right now, and it’s okay to acknowledge how hard it is! At the same time, I would also let them know that they are strong enough to make it through whatever challenges life may bring. Each day is a new opportunity and another chance to do better.  

Do you have a student story that has stuck with you all this time? Why? 

During my time as a site coordinator, I had a student who shared with me that she wanted to be a teacher when she grew up. After that conversation, it made it easy for me to hold her accountable for doing her schoolwork and following the agreements.  

One day, I noticed she was sad. When I asked her what was wrong, she told me that some of the other students were making fun of her name and that she didn’t like her name. I reminded her that her name is beautiful, and I asked her, “What are your students going to call you when you become a teacher?” She smiled and laughed, realizing that her name was special and was excited to introduce herself to her students one day. I want to be the adult that students remember for encouraging them to keep going. We can’t control how others behave and treat us, but we can control our responses.  

As a Quality Assurance Coach, what is one of the pieces of advice you give to a Site Coordinator who is just starting on your team? 

To take everything day by day. Each day has its own challenge, but that doesn’t mean we are failing. We are constantly growing and evolving in our positions; you can’t fail if you’re always willing to learn. Lastly, always ask questions. It’s better to be safe than sorry.  

What has been one of the best pieces of professional advice that has helped you in your career here at Think Together? 

To “let it be easy.” I am my worst critic, so when things are hectic or not going right, my initial response is to question what I’m doing wrong. When I hear those words, it encourages me to find a solution instead of magnifying the problem.  

Outside of work, what do you do for fun? 

I enjoy playing/watching basketball, hanging out with my friends, trying new foods, and traveling! 

Thank you, Nona, for changing the odds for kids!

Trubify, a music livestreaming app, and Flowermouthe, an artist collective, will be hosting benefit concerts to raise funds for academic and enrichment programs including Think Together.

The concert benefitting Think Together will be hosted at the Black Marlin in Old Town Tustin on Sept. 1 and will feature an array of family-friendly musicians including performances from Mike Wilson, Shea Givens, The Groovlers and Gabriel Soriano. The event will also be livestreamed on the Trubify app starting at 5 p.m., with a suggested donation of $15 per in-person and livestream attendee. All proceeds raised through the Trubify app will be directly donated to Think Together.

“We’re thrilled to partner with a nonprofit like Think Together to help kids get back to being kids,” said Trevor Zinn, Director of Artist Operations at Trubify. “Music has always been a catalyst for community building and we know programs like this can provide a safe and supportive place for kids.”

Think Together, Trubify, and Flowermouthe share a similar passion in strengthening their communities through music and the arts. The partnership is a first for the trio of organizations looking to make a profound impact on youth in their communities.

Trubify is a rapidly growing music streaming technology platform that will disrupt the legacy industry.  Trubify’s artist-first philosophy means it’s only natural for them to collaborate with like-minded individuals, such as Flowermouthe Collective, a group of independent artists based out of Minneapolis, Minnesota who are the inspiration behind the “100 Backpacks” benefit.

“100 Backpacks is an opportunity to merge cultures, inspire education in and out of the classroom,” shared artist and musician Formerly “CAM” of Flowermouthe Collective.

Learn more about the performers ahead of September 1!

Mike Wilson

Mike Wilson is a singer-songwriter from Orange County, California. He has 3 independent releases: one self-recorded album (2003) and a five-song EP recorded with Sound Playground Records (2013). Prior to embarking on a solo career, Mike experienced early success in music as lead singer of the Indie Rock band Simple Green, sharing the stage with bands such as Blink 182, No Doubt, and Naked Aggression. Over the past 15 years, Mike has compiled a catalog of over 30 original songs and nearly 100 covers.

Shea Givens

Shea Givens was born and raised in Missouri where she grew up singing, songwriting, playing piano, and performing at a very young age. Her broad musical tastes growing up allowed her to have a very open mind to songwriting in different genres and unafraid to try new sounds. Her debut album “Moonlight” is a unique blend of poetic influence, R&B-Soul, and Electronic Dance Music. The production of “Moonlight” is predominantly accredited to Evan Palmer of Southern California. Her track “I.N.U.I.M” from this album is a combined production effort between Evan Palmer and Karats, also of Southern California.

The Groovlers

The Groovlers are a new Orange County cover band celebrating music from the 60s to the present, with influences from The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, and Tom Petty.  This dynamic trio has decades of music under their belt but brings a fresh sound to familiar tunes.

Gabriel Soriano

Gabriel Soriano is a phenomenal talent based out of Orange County, CA that seamlessly blends rock, funk, and latin influences into his own sound.  This multi-instrumentalist can literally do it all, from guitar and piano, to drums and bass, this one man band is truly unique.  

For the last six years, Jasmine Ramirez has worked with Think Together, and has become an expert in providing services to children, school partners, and communities. Today, she uses her knowledge to provide technical assistance to Think Together program staff as the Program Coordinator for Basset High School in the Santa Fe Springs region. When not supporting Bassett, Jasmin offers her expertise across the region and to neighboring regions within Think Together. Jasmin approaches all projects with a can-do attitude and looks for learning opportunities in all she does. We are so excited to share more about Jasmin with you!

What inspires you to work at Think Together?

What inspires me to work with Think Together is our mission. When pursuing a career with Think Together, the statement “we change the odds for kids” really stood out to me. Think Together provides so many opportunities that I, and many others, did not have in school growing up. Making a difference in the lives of youth is my motivation to come to work every day.

​​​​​​What is the moment you felt most connected to Think Together’s mission?

In my second year of being a program leader, one of my 5th grade students had a huge impact on me. He looked forward to attending the afterschool program every day and was always happy and engaged. On the last day of school, the student made it a point to say goodbye to me and thank me for the memories he had made that year. As he was walking away, I noticed him crying. I stopped him and told him that this wasn’t a “goodbye” it was a “see you later!” He smiled so big! This experience motivates me to go above and beyond for every student I meet!

​​​​​​What qualities do you think make a strong team?

Communication, transparency, kindness, and culture. It is so important to have all of these qualities in a team. I am also a strong believer in the saying “work hard, play hard.” A team should strive for success together and celebrate successes together.

​​​​​​What is one of the pieces of advice you give to site coordinators as they lead their teams and programs?

I find that some site coordinators can be afraid of trying new systems and routines that they believe would work best for their team because they are afraid it will not meet their expectations. I tell them that you never know until you try! I remind them it is okay to fail if you do not see it as a failure, but instead as a lesson. The lessons you learn can benefit you when trying again!

​​​​​​Do you have a favorite summer 2022 memory?

This summer, I was fortunate enough to support various districts and regions with Think Together. My favorite summer memory was a field trip to the Los Angeles Zoo with Bursch Elementary School from the San Gabriel Valley region. I explored the zoo with a group of 10 students. Seeing their smiles and watching their horizons expand was amazing!

​​​​​​What are your professional goals for the coming school year?

My professional goal is to continue to progress my knowledge as a Program Coordinator. My hope is to transition into a Quality Assurance Coach or Learning and Development Facilitator at Think Together. I am eager to continue to support my teammates across the organization.

​​​​​​Outside of work, what do you do for fun?

I love to attend concerts! I am a huge music lover. I love all genres, but Alternative Rock is my ultimate favorite! Concerts are my happy place.

Thank you, Jasmin, for your dedication to changing the odds for kids.

Think Together’s Early Learning programs, with support from AmeriCorps members, quickly adapted in the spring of 2020 to create meaningful learning experiences virtually. 25 Families enrolled their newest learners, ages 0-5, into the virtual program. Twice a week for 15 weeks, our instructors met with our early learners and their families offering a blend of child-only and parent-child components.

Samantha Mora started working in early learning as an AmeriCorps member in 2016 and became a Think Together Early Learning site facilitator in 2021. Alongside her team, Samantha developed the early learning program at Paul Revere Elementary in Anaheim online. Not only was no one sure how distance learning was going to work, but early learning instructors, like Samantha were not sure if the young students would have the attention span for distance learning. In a surprising turn of events, the students loved it and stayed engaged throughout the sessions!

Encouraged by successes

Samantha’s team of teachers provided instruction through reading, music, and used break-out rooms for small group activities on topics like shapes, letters, numbers and operations, phonics, nursery rhymes, patterning, and writing.

Parents fully stepped in with their children during the parent-child portions of the class. Parents also received their very own class time! Think Together staff provide a listening ear to parents as they describe their child’s development and provide them with resources and support when challenges are identified.

That first-day feeling

Students were excelling, and parents grew their engagement in their child’s learning every day. While encouraged by the success of the remote model, the early learning team and parents at Paul Revere Elementary were ready to be the first of Think Together’s early learning programs to return to in-person programming on April 19^th 2022.

As soon as the early learners walked in, they were in awe of the number of toys and materials in the room that they had access to. One student asked, “we can play with anything we want?” Each student got their own seat, a pencil box, and a book to free-draw and practice writing their names in.

On the first day, the class of 10 students broke into small groups to talk about emotions using a paper plate activity. After two years of only exploring at home, Samantha noticed that her young learners were apprehensive to open up in the program. So, to break the ice and get students interacting with each other, the staff set up an obstacle course throughout the classroom!

Crawling under desks, stepping through hula hoops held by parents, and hopping from one spot to another helped each child build confidence in the space and even practice patience and kindness when another student struggled. Activities just like these begin a child’s academic and social-emotional development journey.

Families immediately felt the difference. Parents who had only experienced the remote classes were blown away by the new benefits offered in classroom learning! Some families who were in the program before the class went virtual with their older kids returned to the in-person program with their youngest children. Watching their young learners play like their older siblings had in the program years earlier was a breath of fresh air.

Building to the future

Think Together’s Early Learning programs are taking down barriers like cost and location that many families face when seeking early learning opportunities for their children. That’s why we are excited that starting in 2023, California will begin implementation of Universal Transitional Kindergarten, building to universal preschool in California by 2025. These investments allow Think Together to offer Early Learning Programs in more schools than ever before across the state.

Today, Samantha works to train brand new Think Together teams in our San Bernardino, Riverside, Palm Springs, and Southeast Los Angeles regions to build their skills and expertise in working with early learners. Think Together provides families with a safe space for exploration, scaffolded risk-taking, social skills, and meaningful challenges that prepare them for kindergarten and beyond.

Think Together has had a packed summer full of learning, friendship, fun, and some cool experiences thanks to corporate and foundation partners. This year has been our largest year providing summer programs to students, totaling over 25,000 students participating across the state. Students have been able to go on their first field trips in years, catch up on their learning, and get ready for an equally exciting 2022-23 school year.

Bank of America funds WREP programs in the Inland Empire

Bank of America has been funding Think Together’s Workforce Readiness Education Program (WREP) for the last two decades. Recently, Bank of America has contributed $10,000 to fund WREP for Inland Empire high school students. WREP connects students to internship and career opportunities as they prepare for college and beyond. 

Bank of America’s longtime support of Think Together’s WREP programs goes beyond financial contributions. Earlier this year in 2022, Bank of America was a lead sponsor and keynote speaker at our Inland Empire Education and Workforce Summit. The summit had brought together nearly 200 leaders in the public, education, and nonprofit sectors including superintendents, school principals and community leaders.

The event aimed to create cross-collaboration and constructive solutions to ensure students impacted by COVID-19 are equipped with the necessary academic, technical, and soft skills needed to succeed in today’s economy. 

Robotics Challenge with PIMCO and Child Creativity Lab

Shalimar students tested their innovation and creativity when they were challenged to make a robot using up-cycled materials. Each student partnered with a PIMCO volunteer, and the teams worked together to use materials to make their unique robot. PIMCO also donated $1000 at the event which was part of their global month of volunteering. 

This has been the fifth year that PIMCO and Child Creativity Lab have done this activity with our Shalimar Students. A fun takeaway for the volunteers this year was seeing how students received similar supplies and ended up with very different looking robots. A component of STEM is thinking outside of the box and approaching problems with creative solutions, and these robots were no exception!

Think Together Students are Sporting New Looks Thanks to Adidas

Eleven deserving high school students from our Southeast Los Angeles region were invited to compete in a 5×5 soccer tournament hosted by Adidas. Think Together students received new Adidas soccer jerseys, cleats and gear while participating in skills challenges, drills and more.

The event concluded with athlete appearances, including Eddie Segura of the LA football club, on hand to help deliver a $2,500 donation from Adidas to Think Together. The funds will help Think Together continue its Soccer for Success programs across the LA County area with new equipment.

A Home Run Field Trip with the 66ers

Students in Think Together’s San Bernardino summer program were treated to a field trip to see the Inland Empire 66ers play. Think Together students arrived at the stadium ahead of game time for field practice with the Minor League Baseball team of the California League and the Single-A affiliate of the Angels. To keep with tradition, hot dogs were served for lunch while students cheered on the home team.

College and Career Readiness with the Dodgers

And finally, more than 80 high school students attended the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation’s College and Career Accelerator.

The Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation partnered with the USC College Advising Corps for college workshops. Students heard from college advisors who shared their diverse educational experiences as first-generation students. The panel included a Q&A and breakout space for students to ask specific questions to the advisers. After the panel, students rooted for the Dodgers from the homestands.

If you are interested in hosting an event or opportunity for students, contact Lawrence Gustafson at [email protected].

As the site leader of a first-year Think Together site, Nathalie Sanchez took the opportunity to quickly make her mark. Nathalie is a site leader in Think Together’s Los Angeles Metro region at Camino Nuevo Charter Academy’s (CNCA) Dalzell Lance High School. Her creative events and clubs provide students with a fun and enriching space after school and provide lots of leadership opportunities for students. With Nathalie’s guidance and creativity, students at CNCA Dalzell Lance High School went from leaving right after the bell rang to looking forward to staying after school with Think Together. We are excited to give you the opportunity to get to know Nathalie!

What inspires you to work at Think Together?

I’m passionate about being an active agent of change. As someone who grew up in the same community I now serve, Think Together gives me the opportunity to be a positive catalyst of change for students whose shoes I once filled.

How do you incorporate student voice and leadership into your program?

I prioritize student success which looks different for every student. I regularly take inventory of each student’s goals and interests through student surveys and curate a program to reflect those interests and help guide the student towards their goals.

Is there a student who you have seen especially thrive this school year?

Because this was the first year back from school closures, I’m especially proud of my seniors who were able to finish the year, cross that stage, and either enter the workforce or pursue their academic careers in college. I am very grateful for the relationships that were built, despite having only met the students this year.

What is the number one piece of advice you give to motivate students?

I let my students know that they are the masters of their own life. Everything you do today can negatively or positively affect you tomorrow, so why not make small positive changes today that will add up to more positive opportunities in the future?

What is your favorite memory from this school year?

As a first-year site, the main challenge was to successfully implement the afterschool culture. At the same time, our community was coming out of quarantine. My favorite memory in the program is when our attendance numbers reached their highest peak mid-year! Afterschool at Dalzell High School became the hangout spot!

On an average day, Think Together has volleyball and ping pong games, music playing, and our cheer girls out practicing their moves.

What is one thing you hope your graduating high school seniors will take with them from Think Together as they move on to college and careers?

I hope my students realize that there are always lots of people supporting them and rooting for their success. I hope they know that anything is possible with the help and support of a village.

What are you most excited to accomplish in the upcoming 2022-2023 school year?

For this upcoming school year, I am looking forward to supporting even more students than this past year. I hope to establish stronger connections with the school admin, grow professionally at Think Together, and as a person to further change the odds for kids.

Outside of work, what do you do for fun?

Outside of work I like to take my dogs to the beach and practice yoga on the weekends as my weekly mindfulness ritual.

Nathalie, thank you for all that you do for our students and for changing the odds for kids!

Think Together’s $2000 Good to Great scholarships are given yearly to outstanding students who, through their hard work, have improved their grades and have ambitious aspirations for college and career. This year the scholarship was given to Abigail, Gabrielle, Marina, Isaac, Erik, Andrea and Kathya.

As they are gearing up for their first year at college, they’ll be meeting their college and career mentors who will support and guide them through the transition. Moving from the highly structured high school environment to the much more independent college experience can be a challenging obstacle for most freshmen. It’s Think Together’s hope that the mentors will give our scholarship recipients the encouragement and insight to make that transition as smooth as possible.

This year’s seven recipients will be attending an impressive lists of schools including University of California, Riverside, California State University, Long Beach, California State University, Los Angeles, California State University, Channel Islands, and University of La Verne.

These seniors were excited to be able to be back on campus after several years of remote or hybrid learning. Most of our scholarship recipients spoke about how the last few years have been incredibly isolating for them. But Think Together provided them with consistency and social interactions that kept them connected with their peers. 

“The pandemic secluded me from my peers, which has affected my quality of work and the time that I take to complete it. Think Together has given me the confidence to ask for help and reconnect with the people that I needed to be able to talk to during quarantine with social skills and time management skills,” shared Kathya.

Think Together’s high school programming is very different from our traditionally formatted elementary and middle school afterschool programming. High school programs are drop-in, with clubs, academic tutoring, and college and career support.

“Think Together has not only given me the resources of tutoring, but programs also that prepare me for the workforce, etc. It has become a place where I feel supported and welcomed,” said Marina. 

From helping with course credit recovery to college tours, scholarship application assistance, and internships through our Workforce Readiness Education Program (WREP); our high school students are equipped with resources as they look towards the future while also having time to hang out with their friends and participate in a custom-built program that fits the needs of their school campus.

Please join us in congratulating these seniors and their accomplishments and wish them well as they begin their first year of college this fall!