Something I’ve always strongly believed is that a city’s education system wholly reflects the
city itself – and Baltimore is no exception. My time at the Baltimore City Public Schools’
district office has been a lot like my time in the city: eclectic, unpredictable, and different.
I think that, just like the city itself, Baltimore’s school system has a lot of negative stereo-
types, but also similarly, it’s because most people don’t get to see the complicated, yet
deeply compassionate network that runs through.
I think my time at the office hasn’t been marked by just one or two things; strangely
enough, it hasn’t even really been marked by the projects I got to lead. Instead, when I
think about this internship, I think about the people I was able to work with and how each
of them was able to let me see what engagement really looks like through their eyes:
sometimes it’s a school visit that ends with chasing after a runaway student; sometimes it’s
a caffeine-buzzed crawl through the office trying to get through your third meeting of the
day; sometimes it’s sitting in a 90-degree (plus humidity!) evening giving out free books…
but a lot of the time, it’s feeling like you put so much work into something, yet still end
up only half a step from where you started. Even so, it was often impossible to feel upset
because within a second, my coworkers would be bouncing around new ideas, asking new
questions, and getting excited about all the possibilities to come.
Through the ups and downs of my experience at BCPS, I have always admired my cowork-
ers’ tenacity to embody this all-important job our office holds of being the link between
communities and schools. And no matter how complicated everything in the school sys-
tem is, and how frustrating that can be at times, I am so thankful I got to learn from them
what it means to be part of a team and what it looks like when you’re truly unafraid to do
the work others might be too scared to do.
• Designing block party layouts,
including logistics such as set-up,
assigning shifts, and contacting
exhibitors and volunteers
• Creating relevant literature on par-
ent engagement in Baltimore City
schools
• Recruiting and engaging volunteers
for upcoming events in the new
school year
7
Community Partner: Baltimore City
Public Schools - Office of Engagement
Intern: Grace Ren
Site Supervisor: Monique J. Simms
What is BCPS - Office of Engagement?
The Baltimore City Public Schools Office
of Engagement implements and supports
district policies, practices, and opportuni-
ties that enable families and community
partners to engage with schools; mobilizes
and aligns public, private, and philanthropic
resources within identified neighborhoods
and school communities; helps coordinate
responses to the community around issues
and concerns; provides ombudsman ser-
vices for resolving concerns and complaints.