![]()
|
Dear Friend,
It is my hope that this letter finds you safe, warm, and healthy as the world continues to shift before our eyes every few hours. This past year brought a multitude of challenges, joys, sorrows, and successes – all in which required a reliance on my community like never before. As many of you know, I lost my dear husband, Patrick, in October. Thank you for your support during the most difficult season in my life. You showed up! I appreciate you with my entire being. Walking this road has reminded me that humans are made for connection and are designed to support one another through all colors of life.
At Live It Learn It, that connection runs deep amongst our staff, our schools, and our partner destinations. We continue to adapt our model to bring experiential learning at its best to DCPS students in and out of the classroom – both in-person and virtual. I am proud to have a staff that is creative in developing content, flexible in managing operations, and persistent in carrying out our mission. I trust that whatever is thrown at us in the coming months, we will be ready to move swiftly and effectively to serve the students and teachers within our community.
I am excited to share the latest issue of The Progress Report with you, highlighting various milestones from the year, new partnerships, and our most recent hire! We want to especially thank you for making our end-of-year fundraising campaign such a success. Your investment in our work continues to provide experiential learning opportunities in imaginative ways for both students and teachers. As we carry on this spring, we are proud to have you by our side.
Sincerely,
Michelle N. Edwards, Ed.D
Executive Director
P.S. Please mark your calendars for our annual Spring Soirée taking place on May 19th, 2022! We can’t wait to celebrate our wonderful students and teachers with you!
|
|
- January: Began 2021 teaching nine experiential units created for the virtual space.
- April: Partnered with An Open Book Foundation to bring the joy of reading to 3rd-graders at Patterson ES.
- May: Hosted our first-ever virtual soiree. We drummed, we danced, and a good time was had by all!
- July: Offered our first-ever summer programming in a successful partnership with Lutheran Social Service’s summer camp.
|
- August: Expanded the LILI family by adding Maryam and Lakia to our team - just the creative geniuses we needed as we navigate this crazy year.
- October: Re-entered schools for the first time in over a year for fully in-person teaching and did not miss a beat!
- December: Added a talented Program Assistant to the mix to support programming, data collection, and overall operations at LILI.
|
|
LILI Adapts and Grows!
At Live It Learn It, our partnerships mean the world to us. But how do you build and grow valued connections when many physical buildings are closed completely or operating under severely restricted hours?! You lean in and get creative, of course! Our new United States Botanic Garden unit consists of two parts. During Session One, a LILI educator is in the classroom to lead 4th-grade students on an investigation of plant adaptations, complete with hands-on experiments to discover how plants are able to survive in different habitats. During the second session, we return to the classroom but connect virtually with our friends at USBG as they present a remote lesson that includes a talk by a USBG botanist, a look at their production facility, and a virtual tour of the Tropics House within the Conservatory.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
New Year, New Schools
Our family continues to grow! We are excited to welcome Bunker Hill ES (Ward 5) and C.W. Harris (Ward 7) to the LILI community! Students have already learned how artists use symbols and expressions to reveal parts of a subject's identity -just like this self-portrait!
|
|
|
|
Where Do We Belong?
Dr. Edwards and Maryam attended ISEEN's Winter Institute in Sedona, AZ, focusing on heritage and stewardship and dissecting the big question: what does it mean to belong to a place when so much is changing in our world?
Learn more...
|
|
|
|
Believe in Lasso
He may not be Ted, but he is equally as awesome! We are amped to have native Washingtonian Ben Lasso join us as a Program Assistant. He is a senior at UDC majoring in Business Management and has already been a great addition.
Read Ben's bio →
|
|
|
|
Thank You, Thank You, and
Thank You again!
|
|
|
Each and every year, as we wrap up Giving Tuesday and End-of-Year fundraising, we are reminded of the commitment and generosity of our Live It Learn It family. Although we fell short of our ambitious goal on Giving Tuesday, we raised nearly $12,000 from 97 donors — about 30 of whom were donating for the very first time! We truly appreciate each and every donation and love expanding the Live It Learn It family with new donors! The money that you contribute helps us continue our work with DCPS students and teachers, regardless of what 2022 throws at us.
|
|
|
After a couple of snow days and some frigid temperatures, springtime may feel far, far away. But have no fear, because at Live It Learn It we have already begun planning our 2022 Spring Soirée! And because we know you won’t want to miss it, be sure to save the date — Thursday, May 19th — right now! Seriously, go mark your calendars!
|
|
|
|
Did you know?
You can support LILI in so many ways!
|
|
|
February is We Love Our Recurring Donors month!
We are so grateful to the members of the LILI Honor Roll who donate monthly, and there is nothing we would love more than to grow that Roll! Click here to learn more.
|
|
|
Are you an Amazon Shopper?
Looking for the absolute easiest way to support LILI at no cost to you? Go to smile.amazon.com and designate LILI as your charity — that’s it! A portion of all sales will help LILI invest in DC students.
|
|
|
|
|
|
