#370 – Supporting Innovation, Opportunity, and Access in Learning, with Julie Faryniarz and Trish Rohr

In this episode, Julie Faryniarz and Trish Rohr of the Greenwich Alliance for Education join us to discuss how they support public education through programs like Tuning In To Music, Reaching Out Grants, and AVID SUCCESS. Julie and Trish highlight the importance of shared responsibility, community partnerships, and innovative educational opportunities. They emphasize the impact of grants and successful programs like AVID, which they have supported with over $1 million in scholarships. The conversation also reflects on the importance of telling their story of service and impact as a way to raise awareness and generate continued support for innovative school programs.

We believe it is our shared community responsibility to leverage resources and build partnerships to guarantee all students achieve academic success and a promising future.

Greenwich Alliance for Education

Resources

The following resources are available from AVID and on AVID Open Access to explore related topics in more depth:

• AVIDly Adulting™ Podcast (episode collection)
• Open Doors to Hopes and Dreams With FAFSA^® and Financial Aid (article collection)
• Possibility Panel: A Conversation with Recent Graduates (podcast episode)
• Benefits of the AVID Program: Results of a UCLA Study, with Dr. Rebecca Dudovitz (podcast episode)
• College and Career Connections, with Tasha Henderson, Television Writer/Producer, and Her Former AVID Teacher, Ben Solomon (podcast episode)
• Career Exploration with Roadtrip Nation (article)

Supporting Amazing Teachers and Students

Both of our guests, Julie Faryniarz and Trish Rohr, share inspiring stories of innovation and transformation that have come as a result of support provided by the Greenwich Alliance for Education. From supporting under-resourced students through music and theater programs to funding groundbreaking teacher-led initiatives, the Alliance exemplifies what’s possible when a community rallies behind its schools. As Julie says, “Education matters, and we need to value our educators.”

Trish highlights the impact of AVID SUCCESS, one of the Alliance’s programs that not only prepares students for college but also supports them post-graduation. Whether it’s through summer workshops, mentorship, or scholarships, the Alliance ensures that these young people are equipped to thrive. “Every child is a success story,” Trish reminds us, and the passion that both guests bring to their work leaves no doubt that innovation and access can change lives. The following are a few highlights from this episode:

• About Our Guest, Julie Faryniarz: Julie is the Executive Director of the Greenwich Alliance for Education, a position that she has held for the past 15 years of the organization’s 18-year history. Before serving in her current role, Julie had already been a very active community volunteer in the local schools there.
• About Our Guest, Trish Rohr: Trish has been the AVID SUCCESS Program Director at the Greenwich Alliance for Education over the past 2 years. Trish has nearly 30 years of experience in education, having served as a middle school science teacher and a school administrator. She also has experience in teacher mentoring, student advocacy, and nonprofit work.
• Spectacular Young People: Trish says, “We’re seeing these young people who are truly spectacular and truly, truly going to make a mark on the world. How can we continue to tell these stories? How can we share what we’ve learned and what we see?”
• Greenwich Alliance for Education: The Greenwich Alliance for Education is the education foundation that supports Greenwich Public Schools. It began 18 years ago when a local superintendent, Dr. Larry Leverett, brought his experience with education foundations to Greenwich. Through outreach, focus groups, and planning, they developed the first iteration of the Alliance, featuring three main programs: Tuning In To Music (free instrumental music lessons for students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), Reaching Out Grants (funding for educators with innovative ideas), and at that time, an early literacy program called Going Places with Books.
• Greenwich School Community: Though Greenwich has a reputation as being a wealthy community, about 20% of its students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. Julie points out, “There’s much more need within our school community than many know about.”
• Reaching Out Grants Program: Educators can apply to receive funds to pilot innovative ideas. Examples include grants to allow elementary students to visit local museums and the Audubon Center, the development of an esports program at the high school, the funding of makerspaces in the schools, and guest visits from local artists.
• Grant Process: Teachers who have an innovative idea can apply. They fill out a grant application, which is then reviewed. Awarded grants have totaled anywhere from $5,000 to $250,000. Teachers who win grants must submit reports back to the Alliance for review. Julie explains, “Part of the grants process is there needs to be some measures, some assessments, along the way so that they can find out if it’s making the impact that they had hoped.”
• Funding Innovation: Julie says, “We are the R & D [research and development] arm for the Greenwich Public Schools because there’s not flexibility in a school budget to try new things most of the time.”
• Importance of a Champion: It’s important that someone spearheads the grant and brings passion to its implementation. With the most successful grants, this leadership and passion may spread to a larger group of teacher leaders. For instance, a theater arts program at a Title I elementary school in Greenwich was so successful that it has now expanded to all 365 students at that school. Every student there is participating in theater arts in some way. Julie says, “It grew from one or two teachers to now 15 teachers in that building that are part of it. So, if that champion, if the person who started it goes away, there’s now that many more people that really know what’s going on and are excited about it. So that’s very successful.”
• Fundraising: The Alliance hosts two main fundraising events each year. The first is a Turkey Trot 5K Run at Thanksgiving time, which drew more than 1,600 runners this past year. The second fundraiser is a Trivia Challenge. The questions for the event are written by a former board chair who is also a Jeopardy! champion. In addition to those two events, the Alliance conducts an annual appeal to people who have donated in the past. Family foundations also donate funds. Julie says, “We’re always raising money, always looking for a new introduction, always an opportunity to tell our story. I think once we tell our story, it resonates. But I need to get in front of the people to do that.”
• AVID at Greenwich: In 2008, a teacher at Greenwich High School, who had previously been in California, wrote a grant to bring AVID to the school. Greenwich High School had identified that students who were from families whose parents did not go to college were being tracked to lower-level courses. AVID became the solution to this problem, and the initiation of the program, staff training, and membership fees were funded by the Alliance. The school district funded the full-time equivalents (FTEs) from the start and later picked up funding for the program since it was so successful.
• AVID SUCCESS: This program supports Greenwich students in grades 7–12. Trish says, “We take college trips. We volunteer as mentors. We have arts enrichment . . . and we do all of that in collaboration with the AVID teachers and the district leaders.”
• Support Post-Graduation: AVID SUCCESS continues to support AVID students in Greenwich post-graduation. Trish notes, “We really made it our mission about 2 years ago, when I came on, to find ways to support our students beyond our scholarship program.”
• Relationships: Trish says, “We know, too, that all things come from building a trusting relationship with our students, and so, we use that as kind of our guiding light in developing this program.” This extends from the AVID teacher and AVID Elective class to “an amazing group of college consultants” who donate their expertise to alumni who come back to support future classes of AVID students.
• T2C: T2C is the Transition to College program, an intensive summer program for AVID graduates, where students learn to unpack the “hidden curriculum,” referring to “many aspects of entering college that remain a mystery” to students who might be the first in their families to navigate the college-going journey. This can happen through opportunities that range from open office hours to a six-session summer workshop series where the Alliance hosts a new topic each evening, including academic success on college, mental health and wellness as a college student, and financial literacy. Trish says, “We really cover the whole range.”
• Valuing Students’ Time: To show students that their time is valued, the Alliance even pays students in the summer for their time to attend programming. Trish explains, “We want to acknowledge and honor the fact that they may be giving up time at their jobs, and we want to reinforce saving for college.”
• Alumni Involvement: Trish points out that “One of the neat things, too, is that we have a lot of AVID alumni who come back and work as interns during that program, and they’ve come up with their own little add-on series of workshops. So they put together a Google Calendar for college students, and they designed it and taught it. They do AVID alumni roundtables with the ingoing freshmen, and so it’s a really neat community that comes together, and we’re seeing a lot more alumni wanting to come back, and share their experiences, and give back to our organization.”
• Mentorship: Support continues for AVID alumni through the first couple years of college. Trish explains that this is because “we know persistence into your second year of college is one of the greatest indicators of college graduation. And so, we continue through our first year with mentorship.” This might include text messages back and forth, emails, phone conversations, or in-person connections. Trish says, “We’re really here to help meet them where they are in their journey, also acknowledging that they’re independent young adults navigating this life and that when they have the opportunity, or the need, and use those AVID self-advocacy skills, we can help them find the answers that they’re looking for.”
• Highlights: Julie says, “Whenever you’re with the students is the best part, right?” She and others invest time into students, and it’s rewarding to see those students thrive. Julie reflects on a recent conversation with a student who had received music lessons through the Alliance. That student is now seeking a career as a professional musician. To help, Julie connected the student with a current professional in the field and says, “That’s really fulfilling and exciting.”
• More Highlights: Trish adds that the Alliance has now given away a million dollars in AVID scholarships  to AVID graduates. “That is huge, huge,” she says. “When we read our AVID scholarship applications, I don’t think that there’s a point in time that you could feel better about what we do . . . just seeing all these amazing accomplishments.”
• Every Child: Trish says, “Every child is a success story, every AVID student in college that we have the opportunity and the pleasure to be a part of their lives. It’s a true honor, and they are truly all success stories.”
• Trish and Julie’s One Thing: “Trish shares, “Because the stories are so powerful and are so amazing and wonderful, one thing that always sits with me is: How can we continue to tell these stories? How can we share what we’ve learned and what we see to more people? Julie adds, “The bottom line for me is, education matters . . . and we need to value education. We need to value our educators. We need to make good choices and fund education in our districts so that lots of great things can happen for our students.”