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Join us for the annual Winter Art Show, with a feature video presentation and follow up conversation on Zoom with the artists, on Thursday, March 4, starting at 7 pm.

There are several ways to view and enjoy the 16 participating Seniors' work:

• The feature video will include artist presentations highlighting their creative process, inspirations and ideas. Viewers will see a wide range of artwork and mediums, ranging from painting, crochet and stitching, to animation and sculpture.

• Following the 7 pm screening of the Winter Art Show video, we encourage you to visit with the artists on Zoom, and ask questions about their work and learn about their process. The link will be sent to families and will be posted on Schoology for the school community.

• Finally, the WAS page features links to each student's website where you can see their pieces and learn more about each of the artists.

Senior artists include: Emilia CB, Tess C, Isabella D, Isabel D, Tay F, Cate G, Maddie H, Alex H, Ruby J, Lucas L, Dinah L, Sofia MG, Mackensie P, Ellie P, Elizabeth R and Zack W.

Please visit the Winter Art Show page for more information. We look forward to seeing you!

Urban's Service Learning curriculum is a critical part of our students' multicultural education. The foundational courses help underpin a broader understanding of social, political and racial context, and the hands-on community service projects required in Grades 10-12 deepen their appreciation of activism and citizenship.

Last summer, Urban Senior Ethan K saw a need and created a specialized tutoring program for local middle schoolers. Covering mostly math and English, Virtual Tutoring SF provides 1:1 tutoring for students adapting to distance learning during the pandemic. According to Ethan, “Our mission is to help students grades 3-8 stay academically engaged in math and English by providing free online tutoring during this unprecedented pandemic. As students who witnessed the loss of learning in online classes due to the pandemic, we recognized the need to close the learning gap.”

Ethan's Virtual Tutoring SF partners include his brother Evan (Urban '24) and Hayden G, a student at another San Francisco independent high school. Many Urban 12th graders volunteered as Virtual Tutoring SF tutors for their service projects this year, helping the program grow to more than 100 students served! 

During Virtual Urban, students have worked with both national and local organizations, including Achieve Academy, The Beat Within, Vote Forward, 826 Valencia and many others. Learn more about Urban's integrated Service Learning program.
 

The Urban Parent/Guardian Association (PGA) invites the school community to a special UrbanConnect event featuring Dr. Susan Wilkens and Olivia Morgan, on Tuesday, February 9, at 8:30 am. Olivia will share recent research on teens from the California Partners Project. Susan will keynote UrbanConnect with an in-depth look at how parents and families can cope with and navigate the current pandemic.

Please join us for an event that will nourish you and help you to connect more deeply with your values and your children.

What Do We Do Now?
Parenting teens in a normal year is stressful, but this past year has posed unprecedented challenges for our kids and ourselves. The anxiety, frustration and uncertainty have left us feeling overwhelmed and weary. Susan will provide updates on how teens and parents are faring and share strategies for supporting our students and coping skillfully with our emotions.

The pandemic has forced parents to step up our game to navigate this exceptional time. If we are willing, we can use "the great pause" as an opportunity to reflect and zero in on what's most important to us as parents.

Are the Kids Alright?
In March 2020, schools across California and the nation abruptly closed in response to COVID-19 and shelter-in-place requirements. Since that time, the lives of adolescents have been disrupted and reshaped in rapid and unprecedented ways. The internet and electronic devices are now where social, educational, professional and developmental activities all take place. Olivia will describe the research done by the Child Mind Institute in partnership with the California Partners Project to understand how teens are coping with the uncharted realities of social isolation and constant virtual connectivity during COVID-19. Read the resulting  Are the Kids Alright? report.
 

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Dr. Susan Wilkens is a clinical psychologist in San Francisco, specializing in anxiety management, mindfulness and parenting. She has worked with local schools, hospitals and community clinics with children and families for over two decades. She supervises graduate students and provides teaching and consultation to licensed therapists. Her private practice focuses on adolescents and adults. She is also a mom of two Urban students.

Olivia Morgan has created, developed and led a series of innovative programs to center marginalized voices in US public policy and society. In 2020 she co-founded the California Partners Project with Jennifer Siebel Newsom to advance gender equity and child wellbeing through California leadership. In 2017 she established Common Sense Media’s Gender Equity is Common Sense initiative to study the impact of media on children’s understanding of gender and make the findings easily accessible to content creators, parents and Common Sense’s media reviewers. Olivia is honored to have served on the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities and guided its creation of the National Student Poets Program, under Michelle Obama’s leadership. She is the mom of an Urban 10th grader.

 

January at Urban means the Month of Understanding: a longstanding Urban tradition! At the start of the new year, student multicultural club and affinity group leaders (MultiCulti) host daily events that give our community an opportunity to explore topics of interest.

This year's theme is Changemakers, spotlighting myriad changes students want to make within themselves and in our world. Among other events during opening week, MOU will feature a Cross the Line activity, screening of the film El Canto del Colibri, affirmative action discussion from an API perspective, and a presentation from local progressive activist Jackie Fielder at the first All School Meeting of the new year.

Watch videos, review presentations slides, and see book lists updated weekly and curated to reflect Month of Understanding curriculum here. You can learn more about the history of Month of Understanding here.

Complete MOU calendar available here.