Yale Alumni Help Thurgood Marshall Academy Students with Portfolio Presentations

This past Saturday, May 12th, Thurgood Marshall Academy hosted 20 volunteers from the Association of Yale Alumni, who spent a few hours working with juniors and seniors on their portfolio binders and presentations. The volunteers were participants in the AYA's fourth annual Yale Day of Service, which connects Yale Alumni with service sites all over the world. Experts in a range of topics from Excel to Public Speaking, these volunteers used their many skills to help students craft strong end of semester presentations. 

For those who don't know, all Thurgood Marshall Academy students are required to build a portfolio, a binder documenting their academic and civic achievement, and to hold themselves responsible to high standards. Each student compiles a record of his or her academic work, behavioral performance, and community service and prepares special academic projects in core subjects for inclusion in their portfolios.  

Each year Thurgood Marshall Academy students give—and are graded on—formal presentations of their portfolios before a panel of faculty, staff, parents, and other volunteers. In their portfolio presentations students make their case to be promoted to the next grade using their academics and citizenship work as evidence.

Because Portfolio is one of the most demanding aspects of the curriculum at Thurgood Marshall Academy, many of the students who attended the portfolio help session with Yale Alumni noted that they now feel much better prepared to present their portfolios in June. Thank you to the many alumni who volunteered their time to work with students! We hope to see you again next year!