Beacon Way Day
By Crystal Cervantes, Program Manager
Every January, Beacon Way Day (BWD) is dedicated to gathering our community and unplugging from normal programming to enhance professional development. Beacon leaders across the city had the opportunity to mingle with the larger network and strengthen bonds within their teams at San Francisco State University. In light of our unpredictable school year, our Beacon Bridge planning committee wanted to create an invigorating environment with the theme of Bridges to Power: Let’s talk about it, Let’s be about it. Our workshop offerings encompassed this theme through topics that supported staff at all levels with the resources and skills to strengthen their programs and face community-related challenges head-on.
Our opening plenary sparked inspiration as our guest speaker and DCYF Chief of Staff Sherrice Dorsey-Smith presented our long-standing Bret Harte Elementary School Beacon Director, Merita Kaulave, with the well-deserved Beacon Legacy Award. We also celebrated Alexsandra Padilla from Charles Drew Elementary School, Gabriel Castrillo at Visitacion Valley Middle School, Oliva Benun at John Muir Elementary School, and Beacon Bridge’s very own Sergio Sanchez-Molina from Willie Brown Middle School with awards of recognition for their unrelenting dedication to the Beacon Way at their respective school sites.
This year also marked the launch of our first Beacon Way Day Resource Fair organized by SFBI’s Program Manager, Jibraan Lee, in partnership with Coleman Advocates, Latino Task Force, Melanin Unlimited, and Parents for Public Schools. These resources ranged from information on community partnerships to policy advocacy and reinforced the impact of our entire event.
After our second session of highly informative workshops, we gathered to close out with a Beacon staple of team building through a trivia competition. The crowd roared as the first-place champions for Bay Area-based trivia were determined. Congratulations to A.P. Giannini MIddle School staff for holding the BWD trophy for the rest of the year. Stay tuned to find out who next year’s BWD champions will be! Huge shout out to the Charles Drew Elementary School Beacon team for all the event decorating and supply donation support! Our event was as powerful as the community that helped bring it to life.
