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Author: Steve Amick

My Why: Serving From Behind the Scenes

Most people in the expanded learning field would be able to answer the question, “Do you know your why?” without much trouble. But I’ll be really honest with you. I didn’t find my “why” until I had worked in this field for a while. I got my first job in an after-school program by answering a classified ad in January of 1992. Why did I apply? Mostly because I had...

Catching Grit

Grit is defined on paper as “courage and resolve; strength of character.” My son, Oliver, turned 13 a few months ago and recently received an opportunity to demonstrate what it means in practice. He has played Irvine Pony League baseball since he was seven. I never asked him if he wanted to play. I signed him up because I wanted to share the experience with him. I threw him a thousand pitches in t...

The Year without Hugs

2020 began with a shock for me. I learned that Mary Jo Ginty had died in her sleep December 29, 2019. A month later, I was among the friends and family who gathered in Long Beach to celebrate her life. I was grateful to be in a room with others who loved her. We shared our grief, our treasured memories, and a lot of hugs. My friend Michael Funk shared a story about how Mary Jo was not a hugger. Sh...

Wear a Mask and Vote

On September 24, my son attended school in person for the first time since March 13. We were grateful for the opportunity to resume classroom learning and more than willing to adhere to all mandated safety protocols, including wearing masks and social distancing. We have all learned to incorporate these practices into our daily lives for the benefit of our neighbors, our families, and ourselves. Y...

Existential Crisis

“Feelings of loneliness and insignificance in the face of nature are common in existential crises.” This is the sentence I tracked when I Googled “My job is being disrupted.” I saw a picture of a man in a suit standing on a rock on the edge of an ocean. In this case, the ocean is not the force of nature that makes us feel insignificant. It’s each other. This virus that we may or may not be carryin...

The Smartest Person in the Room

My candidate for President just suspended her campaign. I made my decision to vote for Senator Warren well before the first primary. She articulated her plans clearly and of all the candidates, her platform most closely aligned with my own political ideology. That’s how voters are supposed to make up their minds, right? In 2020, Democrats were offered a variety of options, but rather than making t...

All You Need Is Love

A couple of years ago I bought a new car. It came with a 6-month free trial for a satellite radio service. I don’t typically listen to the radio. I actually enjoy the moments of peace and quiet I can have when I’m driving. It’s an opportunity to think. But when my son Oliver is in the car with me, he always insists on having something to listen to. He is 11 years old, so his first choice is hip ho...

Why I Don’t Have Time To Write A Blog

      February 12, 2019 Dear BOOST Breakfast Club Executive Chef, I understand that I committed to providing you a blog post as of February 11th, but I regret to inform you that this is no longer possible, given my current workload. As you may know, the California Expanded Learning field, of which I have been a proud member for 27 years, is facing unprecedented challenges that threa...

Alternative Facts

Does anyone else remember the days when you had to watch the news at 6 pm because dad was home and you only had one TV? I am old enough to remember Walter Cronkite concluding his nightly newscast with the number of US soldiers killed in Vietnam that day. I learned about the world from Harry Reasoner, Chet Huntley, and David Brinkley. Reporting the news was a sober responsibility, entrusted only to...

A New Year’s Resolution

Today is the last day of 2017. It’s been a strange year. I feel like we’re living in some Bizarro World version of America. It’s as if one day we will wake up and realize this was all just a bad dream. A year ago I thought, “Well, I lived through eight years of W, I’ll get through this.” I didn’t think it would affect me personally, but it has. It does, every day. I live in Irvine, a diverse subur...

Part 2: The Great ASES Augmentation of 2017 – A Children’s Story

In 2015, Sir Mark Leno from the village of San Francisco introduced a bill to increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour. By now, the full resources of CA3 were focused on the issue, but that still amounted to very little in comparison to the magnitude of the quest. The Partnership for Children and Youth, a longtime member of CA3 led by Lady Jennifer of Peck, was called upon to lead the campaign an...

Part 1: The Great ASES Augmentation of 2017 – A Children’s Story

Gather around, children, and I’ll tell you a story. What kind of story, you ask? Is it a scary story? Is it a funny story? A magical story? No. It’s better than that. It’s the best kind of story there is. It’s a story about policy change. ASES to be exact. Our story begins way back in the year 2006. Do any of you remember that year? Some of you may have been quite young. A traveling minstrel named...

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