This #GivingTuesday, St. Louis’ underserved youth need your help. Education is one of the strongest predictors of future career success, upward mobility, and health. But under-resourced schools, poverty, and toxic stress (like abuse, neglect, and other violence) hinder the ability of the most at-risk students to learn and succeed, […]
#GivingTuesday 2021 is approaching!
In the past 20 months, all of humanity has had to grow and adapt in order to keep going. In March 2020, YWSTL had to quickly grow from 2.5 hours of tutoring per week to 3 hours of virtual tutoring per day. We’ve since quadrupled our tutoring pool, created a […]
Volunteer Spotlight
YWSTL is excited to profile the work of Olivia DePaul, one of our most dedicated, patient, and engaging volunteers! Olivia tutors the young people at Marygrove Children’s Home, a residential facility in Florissant, MO, for children who have been placed in foster care or experienced trauma. Our “on-call” tutor, Olivia […]
Words in the Time of COVID
By Lydia Paar, Summer Creative Writing Workshop Leader
It’s been awhile since I read Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s classic epidemic novel, Love in the Time of Cholera, but what I recall about it is distance: correspondence over letters–words which keep two lovers in contact over years of circumstantial separation. I think
Why I Tutor
Guest blog from YourWords AmeriCorps Vista, Kim Daniel
From elementary school until sophomore year of high school, regardless of applied effort, punishment, or parental lectures, I failed to produce anything more than individual “A” grades, never cumulative “A’s” for the quarter or the semester. Therefore, to my amazement, when my
Those Who Can’t Do
Guest blog from YourWords STL Development Manager, Dr. Michelle M. Haberberger
Every educator I’ve ever known has heard this old phrase: “Those who can’t do, teach.” Even though most people use it as a lame attempt at humor, I’ve always been insulted by it.
American teachers, as a whole, are
Crossing Delmar 2020: Moline Elementary & New City School
Guest blog from AmeriCorps VISTA, Grace Cunningham
2 schools. 5 days. 61 students. 18 workshops. 21 teachers. 5 volunteers. 4 locations. 1 culminating event. Hello Crossing Delmar 2020!
The 5th graders of Moline Elementary and New City School participated in Crossing Delmar 2020, YourWords STL’s collaborative writing project designed to
A New Decade Full of Expansive Programming & Partnerships!
YourWords STL has a lot to be proud of!
In 2019, YourWords STL experienced the following accomplishments:
Co-founder and Program Director Anna Ojascastro Guzon, was selected as an EdHub STL Fellow. The EdHub STL fellowship empowers those who are employing entrepreneurial approaches within an education organization to develop and/or expand
A Year in Review!
In 2019, YourWords STL provided:
Weekly tutoring at The Drury House for 16-20 year old young men and at The Sequoia House for 16-20 year old young women at Marygrove Children’s Home, a therapeutic residence in Florissant, MO for children who have experienced abuse or have nowhere to turn.
Year-round creative writing workshops at
Paint with Your Words: An Interactive Exhibit
Join YourWords STL for an interactive art exhibit in the Cortex, on Sunday, Dec. 16th from 3 PM to 5 PM. With guidance from teaching artist Aysia BerLynn, the young women of Marygrove Children’s Home have created paintings in response to mindfulness exercises, then used their artwork as prompts for creative writing. Participants will have