Welcoming Schools Advocacy Day

Last Monday, April 27th, Meg and one of our Youth Steering Committee members, Aalia, traveled to Harrisburg for Pennsylvania's Welcoming Schools Advocacy Day. Meg and Aalia attended legislative meetings and raised awareness about "welcoming schools" legislation which would require schools to adopt policy to protect immigrant students' and limit ICE enforcement on school property.

Aalia delivered a speech where she shared her experiences and the safety that this legislation would provide immigrant students. To read more about this "welcoming schools" legislation and a quote from Aalia's speech, check out this WESA article.

Remake Learning Moonshot Grant: ARYSE Storytellers

After receiving our first Moonshot Grant from Remake Learning last year to support Erica's counter-storytelling librarianship initiative, we were honored to receive a second Moonshot Grant to develop a youth media cohort: ARYSE Storytellers. Starting in December, this cohort of four students has met monthly to learn and develop skills related to different counter-storytelling mediums. Thank you to our partners who have led sessions with our cohort about photography and videography, journalism, and social media: Randall Coleman, Jamie Wiggan from Public Source, and the community behind the documentary 'Taking Root'.

Photo taken by one of the storytellers during their fieldtrip to Ohiopyle.

To learn more about the work we do from our first round of Remake Learning Moonshot funding, check out this article from Kidsburgh.

Program Updates

After School Club

"April is always the month when we start to wind down for the year at After School Club. This year, we spent the first few weeks of the month finishing up our college and career exploration unit by focusing on the cost of local colleges and universities, learning about the ways that students pay for higher education, and searching for scholarships that students can apply to when they are ready to explore their post-secondary options.

In the final weeks of the month, we began to shift our focus toward reflection. One of the mentors from After School Club led us through a discussion about community, both in how we know when we’ve found it and how we can create it around us. Donay did a fantastic job and it was one of my favorite sessions of the year! Over the final few weeks of the program, we will shift our focus toward assessment and gathering students’ feedback so we can continue to adjust and meet the needs of the students next year!"

Mike and our faculty partner at Duquesne University, Dr. Jennie Schulze, close out a
program session in April.

-Mike Sirera (he/him), Program Manager

Girls Art and Maker Group

"With Spring in full swing, we had a warm Girls Group session full of good conversation and creativity. We were happy to welcome Zuly who led us in an overview of boundaries and the limits we set around sharing about our cultures. She then taught students some somatic practices that can keep us grounded in difficult situations.

The second half of the day we started our mosaic group project and finished our quilt pieces. I’m looking forward to our final session and preparing for summer! Thank you to all the students, volunteers and ARYSE staff that make this possible."

-Erica Hughes (she/they), Program Manager

Youth Steering Committee

"This month, YSC members were invited to write for the ARYSE Blog, which will be forthcoming! As we continue building our leadership skills in public speaking, we took time to reflect and expand our own understandings to include forms of writing for public audiences within that definition. We had a great virtual session learning about the importance of asking questions in leadership roles and then applied those skills to coming up with our own questions to answer in the ARYSE Blog. Shout out to Sophie for leading a great workshop at our in-person meeting to support students in reflecting and writing about their experiences for the blog. Keep your eyes peeled to read the next issue!"

Meg leads a writing activity for our YSC members to generate ideas for the blog.

- Meg Booth (she/her), Youth Education and Advocacy Specialist

Post-Secondary Support

"The warm weather has been a welcome visitor as excitement ramps up toward the end of our program year! Soon, we’ll be celebrating not only another class of graduates, but our students who are finishing their first year of college strong.

In the meantime, we’ve had two financial empowerment events on navigating money culture in the U.S. and building a budget toward your future financial goals. Both sessions were facilitated by financial consultant Annahid Samiljan, who was back by popular demand after her visit to our inaugural financial empowerment event last year! Thanks again to Annahid and her team—and to you all reading this for sending good vibes to our students as they make their decisions about the post-secondary pathways they’ll embark on next year."

-Dakota Rottino-Garilli (she/her), Program Manager

PRYSE Academy

"As we gear up for summer, we’ve been busy laying the groundwork for what’s shaping up to be a really dynamic and engaging PRYSE Academy season. It’s been great to welcome our junior counselors to the office for orientation, and we’re looking forward to our co-directors beginning their training next week, along with continued coordination with our ESL teachers to make sure everyone feels aligned and supported.

We’re especially excited to bring back creative workshops like printmaking with the Andy Warhol Museum and performance with City Theatre, while also introducing new offerings like Cultural Cosmetology, Indian Classical dance, and music-making. We’re also grateful to have our partners at UpStreet joining us full-time at camp to support student wellness through additional resources and activities. As we continue home visits with students and families to connect around details for this summer, we’re gathering supplies for camp.”

-Parag S. Gohel (he/him), Program Manager

April 2026 Recap