BEAM Summer Away Faculty Reflections

BEAM is currently hiring summer faculty for Summer 2022. If you are interested in working at one of our programs, please apply here.

BEAM’s summer staff members are what make our summer programs special. Knowing how much we get from our staff, we recently asked some of our long-time Summer Away faculty what they’ve gotten from working with us. The answers we got were resoundingly encouraging.

What we consistently heard was that our faculty learn from our students just as our students learn from them. Our staff learn how to be flexible, how to connect with students in a way that makes them more excited about math, and how to bring the spirit of mathematical exploration and discovery back to their year-round jobs. Here’s what our faculty have to say:

Tanya Finkelstein  

For Tanya, one of the most special things about BEAM students is how much they can figure out on their own. With only a definition, they can really run! Of course, letting students run requires curricular flexibility and a willingness to be confused that most teachers are taught not to have. It’s a learning experience:

“The most important way you’ll grow as a BSA faculty is learning not to have expectations, which so many teachers come in with. Teachers are taught to have expectations of themselves that they’ll always have the answers and know how to guide their students to the solution. The most important thing kids need from you is to guide them along their own path to the answer without an expectation of what that path will look like. Some of the best teachers I’ve had in my life were kids. A teacher should be ready to feel challenged. It’s important to be confused yourself and make sense of things in front of the students so they can see a model of exploration. This is how you grow over time with BEAM.” – Tanya Finkelstein

Siddhi Krishna

Siddhi has taught both Cryptography and Knot Theory every year she’s been with us, but her classes have never looked the same twice. Siddhi attributes this to the fact that the direction the class goes depends on what the students are buzzing about any one summer. Bringing the exploratory culture of BEAM classrooms to her year-round teaching has ultimately translated to better outcomes for her year-round students. In her own words:

“I’ve learned how to listen much more closely to what students are saying. I’ve also learned to ask better questions. When a student says something, you want to draw the best thing out of them without telling them the answers. What BEAM does well is create a culture where students aren’t expected to know the answers. Trying to inject that spirit into my teaching at the university level has been important. Making it clear I don’t expect you to know the answers, but I do expect you to ask questions and try to bridge that gap, has made a difference in what my students get out of my college classes.” – Siddhi Krishna

Andre Mathurin

For Andre, teaching with BEAM was a stark contrast to the formulaic, almost sterile culture of mathematics education that exists in most high schools. Being able to think about big concepts and problems without the overhead of midterms or standardized exams was not only personally motivating for Andre, it also helped him learn to better connect with students in his year-round position. 

“My first summer I had this idea that it would be super structured. I realized that you can have a game plan and that’s fine, but the need to be flexible and meet students where they are is important. That’s one of the big learnings I got from BEAM, how to leverage students by getting them to work together and make it about discovering math versus me being the one to point things out to them. One of the incredible things about BEAM students is that they really can do this. They leave the summer program being better thinkers and better communicators.” – Andre Mathurin

Cory Colbert

Cory has worked with BEAM every summer since 2014, and he’s taught topics ranging from Analytic Number Theory to Aviation Theory. Working with BEAM has not only given Cory the same tools for leading a discovery and exploration-based classroom as other staff, it’s given him a vehicle to reflect on how he thinks about equity in STEM more broadly:

“I used to not think very explicitly about equity, diversity and inclusion, especially in 2014. I think I had gotten so used to being the only Black person in a classroom (or one of the only), and one of only 2 Black graduate students in math at my school (out of over 100), that I think I grew numb to how much STEM struggles with diversity… Recently, with regards to teaching, my focus has been on combating bias and micro-aggressions in the classroom. For example, my women students are less likely to volunteer an answer than their male counterparts. So, I'll make extra efforts to encourage women to share their results with the class, which are usually right, by the way... My hope is that maybe BEAM faculty can learn how to be effective anti-racist teachers both at BEAM and elsewhere.” – Cory Colbert

BEAM is currently hiring summer faculty for Summer 2022. If you are interested in working at one of our programs, please apply here.

Announcing BEAM NYC High School Results!

High school admissions were turned upside down in New York City this year.

The pandemic forced major changes in the admissions process and meant families faced delays and uncertainties. Under-resourced middle schools, still struggling with online learning, were often unable to help students.

That’s where BEAM stepped in, to fill the gaps and provide the support students and their families needed to successfully navigate the process.

BEAM 8th graders, with our help, earned admission at great high schools this spring!

Results to date:*

• 86% of BEAM 8th graders earned spots at high schools BEAM rates at Trusted+. These are schools we think have good course offerings and support.

• 54% of BEAM 8th graders earned spots at high schools BEAM rates as Tier 1. Tier 1 high schools offer Advanced Placement calculus or its equivalent (like the opportunity to take a college-level math course), and more than 85% of graduates are prepared for college. BEAM counts only about 40 high schools citywide, or about 7% of New York City high schools, as Tier 1; all are highly selective for admissions.

• 12 BEAM students were admitted to Specialized High Schools, including Stuyvesant, Brooklyn Tech, and Bronx Science.

In New York City, what high school you attend determines a lot about what opportunities you’ll have in the future. So, we know it’s important to find a strong, good-fit high school. Given all the uncertainties right now, finding a strong school was even more vital this year.

BEAM provides individualized support to our students and their families throughout the admissions process. This year, we also built an online high school admissions portal to connect students and their families to even more resources.

Here’s what Brandon C. said about his admissions experience:

“The high school admissions process was smooth for me. BEAM made this possible. They were able to give me a list of top schools that fit my interests. From there I looked through the schools and made a list and then ranked them based on what they offered and what I liked. My first choice was Bard High School Early College. They required me to do essays on humanities and STEM [to apply]. Elyse [BEAM’s Enrichment Coordinator] was very helpful in this process. She helped me review my essays and gave me feedback on what to change and what to add. I am very pleased to say that I got into my first choice. I am very grateful for BEAM’s support. I felt very happy and delighted when I got my results. When applying I was very nervous but at the same time felt confident because BEAM helped me in the process.
”

Brandon is looking forward to attending Bard High School Early College Queens in the fall, where he hopes to play on the basketball team.

Way to go BEAM 8th graders! We’re incredibly proud of you. <3

Want to learn more? Check out this article in Chalkbeat featuring BEAM 8th grader Nevaeha Giscombe, and BEAM’s own Elyse Mitchell.

Here’s a complete list of high schools admissions for BEAM students to date:*

• A. Philip Randolph Campus High School (2)

• Academy of Software Engineering

• Academy of American Studies (2)

• Art and Design High School

• Aviation Career & Technical Education High School

• Bard High School Early College (7)

• The Beacon School (2)

• Bedford Academy High School

• Benjamin Banneker Academy

• Benjamin N. Cardozo High School

• Bronx Early College Academy

• Brooklyn Secondary School for Collaborative Studies

• Central Park East High School (4)

• Civic Leadership Academy

• Coney Island Prep

• East Side Community High School (2)

• Eleanor Roosevelt High School

• Energy Tech High School

• Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School

• Francis Lewis High School

• Frederick Douglas Academy

• Frederick Douglass Academy VI High School

• High School of Economics and Finance (2)

• Hostos-Lincoln Academy of Science

• Leaders High School

• Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics (6)

• Midwood High School (5)

• Millennium Brooklyn High School (2)

• Millennium High School

• Morris Academy for Collaborative Studies

• NYC Lab School for Collaborative Studies

• NYC Museum School

• Park East High School (3)

• Pathways in Technology Early College High School

• Science, Technology and Research Early College High School

• Thurgood Marshall Academy for Learning and Social Change

• Townsend Harris High School (3)

• University Heights High School (7)

• The Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice

• Urban Assembly Maker Academy

• Washington Heights Expeditionary Learning School

• Williamsburg High School for Architecture and Design

• Young Women's Leadership School of Brooklyn

BEAM students also received admissions offers from the following Specialized High Schools:

• Bronx High School of Science

• Brooklyn Latin

• Brooklyn Technical High School (4)

• Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts

• High School for Math, Science and Engineering at City College

• High School of American Studies at Lehman College (2)

• Queens High School for the Sciences at York College

• Stuyvesant

Students admitted to Specialized High Schools will choose between these schools and other admissions offers they received.

We are incredibly proud of our students!

Ange was admitted to Beacon High School.

Brandon was admitted to Brooklyn Technical High School.

Estefani was admitted to Midwood High School.

Mansour was admitted to Bard High School Early College.

Yeshua was admitted to Central Park East High School.

Precious was admitted to Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics.

Yasong was admitted to Townsend Harris High School.

*We say to date because every year a few BEAM students are under-matched in this process. We are currently working with students who were not admitted to high schools that meet our standards to make sure that they can navigate the appeals process and find a good fit for the next four years.