Boston Resident Awarded Family Engagement Award from Boston Partners in Education

June 8, 2015 (Boston, MA) - Today, Boston Partners in Education honored Boston resident William Gordon with the Boston Partners in Education Family Engagement Award for his dedication to the education of students in the Boston Public Schools.

Each year Boston Partners in Education hosts the AMP! Academic Mentoring Party, delivering awards in seven categories to honor the committed volunteer academic mentors, teachers, and corporate partners who serve Boston’s public school students. The Boston Partners in Education Family Engagement Award is presented to a parent or guardian who has demonstrated a commitment to being interested and involved in the education and development of their own child, their children's peers. The recipient demonstrates leadership for other parents by volunteering their family time to the Boston Public Schools.

William Gordon has lived in the Boston area for 20 years. He has three children, who all attend the Boston Public Schools. William is an Accelerate Math academic mentor in a third grade class at the Jackson Mann K-8 School, where his youngest daughter is a student. He is currently studying paraprofessional education at Urban College of Boston, will continue his degree at Endicott College, and is on track to begin his new career as a teacher.

“I love volunteering. In fact, I learn more from my mentee than she learns from me! If I can, I will continue volunteering with Boston Partners, even after I become a teacher,” said Gordon. “There’s no doubt that I will use mentors in my classroom in the future.”

Since 1966, Boston Partners in Education has provided tens of thousands of children who are struggling in school with the tools necessary to become better learners, by mobilizing and training community members to serve as volunteer academic mentors to K-12 students across the BPS district. Teachers nominate individual students who could use additional academic or socio-emotional support, and Boston Partners in Education pairs a mentor to work independently each week with the student throughout the school year.

“We are so pleased to honor William for his continued dedication to our mission of ensuring students in every neighborhood of the city are receiving the academic and socio-emotional support they need to stay in school and graduate,” said Pamela Civins, Executive Director of Boston Partners in Education. “The personal rapport that he’s built with his students has made him an effective academic mentor and will serve him well as he leads his own classroom. Without volunteers like William, a piece of our foundation would be missing.”

To learn more about how to get involved as an academic mentor, please visit www.bostonpartners.org or fill out a volunteer application.