Can you please tell me a little bit about yourself Rob and your involvement with America Scores? I am a 23 year old recent college graduate of Northeastern University where I studied Interna-
tional Affairs and Economics. As a Presidential Scholar, I was fortunate enough to study abroad five times, do four co-ops and work abroad twice during my undergraduate career, which enabled me to further my goal of becoming a global citizen.
Underlying everything that I do is a belief and passion in the ability of the sport that I love, soc-
cer, to create positive youth development in our world, especially among those that come from un- derprivileged backgrounds. Having worked for Soccer4Hope while I studied at the University of Cape Town and been part of a startup soccer nonprofit called Soccer1 in Boston, I knew that I wanted to seek a career in the field of sports-based youth development.
When I learned about Up2Us’ Coach Across America (CAA) Americorps program, which plac-
es sports coaches in nonprofits that work in underserved areas across the country, I knew this would be the perfect start to a career in this field. The way that I best describe the CAA program is that it’s like Teach for America, but with sports coaches. It was perfect symmetry that I was able to do my CAA year at America Scores New York, where my experience has exceeded all expectations that I may have had.
When you sign up for a year of service with Americorps, you learn about how you will be giv-
ing back and doing work for the community that you serve in. While this is true, throughout this ex- perience I have gotten just as much back if not more in return for the time that I have given to the students of America Scores New York. I am truly grateful for the experience that I have been able to have this past year and would not trade it for anything.
Our program employs soccer as a building block for teaching academics, social skills, and
teamwork among urban youth grades 3-5. To play on their soccer team, students must commit to literacy workshops every other day after school: writing and performing original poetry in the fall, and designing and executing their own service-learning project in the spring. America Scores New York currently serves 100 students in three public schools in West and East Harlem.
My role has been to serve as the West Harlem Program Manager in P.S. (Public School) 192 and
P.S. 325, while also being the PS 192 girls’ soccer coach and the PS 192 boys’ writing coach. I have been responsible for student recruitment, coach training, evaluation and ensuring program quality at both of these schools, in addition to working on building very important external relationships with other organizations.
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