Mobilizing The Village

Creo College Prep is a new charter middle school serving students in the South Bronx. 2022-2023 is our first year with graduating seniors since our 2019 founding. We got here by:

• Collaborating with families through successes and challenges

• Listening to teammates to create a space that allows for co-creating aspirational careers

• Seeing the whole child we get to work with so that we continue to go back to the drawing board until something works

Middle school is an infamously challenging time. The hormones. The pressure. The cliques. We often ask our young people to calm down, mind their own business or “get over it”. At Creo, we offer the daily SEL lessons to show our students how.

Circle

An active listening circle helps build community within the classroom and ensures all students have a voice.

Movement

The physical poses of yoga offer students the opportunity to challenge themselves and develop grit and determination as the come to embrace with their achievements and challenges.

Silence

A range of meditation exercises are explored that allow students to choose the technique that works for them. These include mindfulness meditation, mantra repetition to deep breathing.