During mid-May, we were ecstatic to be awarded a grant from NewSchools Venture Fund to improve the lives of more children. Timocco’s CEO, Eran, had been encouraged to apply for the challenge, and our office in Akron was filled with excitement and joy when we discovered we 1 of 15 chosen winners. The purpose of the challenge was to innovate and bring a diversity of educational technology into classrooms in alignment with NewSchools’ mission.
NewSchools Venture Fund is a not-for-profit organization working to close the achievement gap by funding and supporting entrepreneurs who are creating innovative solutions to the problems in public education so that all children have the opportunity to succeed in college and beyond.
The summit that Eran and JT attended lasted for 3 days in sunny San Francisco, California. It took place on May 15th through the 17th. On Monday, there were 2 sessions to meet and start working with some of the other 15 winners in our same cohort. There were presentations and critiques to get feedback on each other. There were also product demonstration and the opportunity to ask questions to other winners. On Monday night there was a pitch to educators who were attending the event followed by an ice cream social. JT mentioned, “Monday was a great opportunity to get our feet wet and learn with all of the other talented and creative award winners”.
Tuesday was dedicated workshop time where Eran and JT had the opportunity to work more intensively with our cohort. The ELL (English Learning Language) cohort was just wrapping up so JT and Eran got to speak with some of them as well. After Tuesday the actual NewSchools Conference took place which was filled with tons of amazing administrators, educators, and entrepreneurs. There were some great panels that Eran and JT were able to attend to listen and ask questions to some of the top minds in the education field.
After the conference on Wednesday, Eran and JT had the chance to visit Cloris Henry from SFUSD who runs special projects. We very much look forward to working with San Francisco schools. Our last stop on Thursday was our friends at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, who are current Timocco clients. Eran and JT met with Dr. Mitul Kapadia and his team and everyone was excited about the continued relationship.
This experience was invaluable for the Timocco team and we cannot thank NewSchools and everyone we met throughout this trip enough. Looking forward, we will continue expanding our impact improving education and inclusivity in schools to make a positive difference in the lives of many more children.
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