The Renaissance Fellowship
Beginning the Great Conversation across the Ages at an earlier age.Mission
The mission of the Renaissance Fellowship Initiative is to acquaint children with great minds, thoughts and deeds in human history and to deliver a first call to community service.
Target Age Group
The target age group is 11yr to 13yr olds attending Grades 5 through 7: i.e. upper elementary and middle school. One reason for setting the lower limit at around 11 years is that School children gain reading and writing facility by then. We set the upper limit at middle school for two reasons. First, it is difficult to establish a single program that encompasses the interest and skill levels that span upper elementary to high school. Second, it is clear that curricular exposure to Literatures and the Arts is happening at high school levels much more so than earlier grade levels – the need is higher at lower grades. Of course, expanding the Renaissance Fellowship Initiative to early elementary as well as to high schools remains a viable possibility.
Eligibility
The Initiative will be open to all school children enrolled in public, private, and charter schools or undergoing home schooling in the specified target age range, in the US and abroad. The number of applicants allowed each year is to be determined.
Program Flow
- The program will span 2 summers and 1 mid winter break.
- 5th, 6th and 7th graders will be eligible to apply. This ensures that participants graduate from the program before entering high school
- Readings and activities will take place in July and August (Approx 6 weeks)
- The first summer will focus on readings as well as writing assignments.
- In the Fall semester, the focus will be on community project proposals
- Roundtable with local mentor happens during school year at some point
- Community Project work will take place during the second semester i.e. spring semester of the school year and must be completed by June 01
- During the 2nd summer, each fellow will work on a report on the community project which will discuss the experience and impact of the project. These will be due by August 15.
- During the second summer, the Fellows will also conduct online learning events similar to ones they attended in their first summer
- “Graduation” certificates will be mailed out at the end of second summer
- All Student Fellows will, upon graduation, be referred to as “Renaissance Fellow”
The Renaissance Fellowship program will be a hybrid offline-online experience.
Online Work
Participants apply online, attend online events and complete several activities online. The online events will take place within a virtual world landscape in a venue customized for the program.
Offline Work
Participants will also do various readings offline and design and implement a real world community project.
Participants will also attend a roundtable hosted by a local mentor.
Program Requirements
- Students apply and are selected after online application review
- Participants must do assigned readings (offline) primarily in Summers
- Participants must attend Online Events and Activities
- Virtual Seminars Webinars for reading discussions and project discussion
- Other Online events and activities
- Participants must attend One Roundtable Seminar with other Fellows – hosted by a local mentor
- Participants must design and implement a Community Project
- Community Project Reports must be submitted and published online
The purpose of the Renaissance Fellowship Initiative is early exposure to the great thoughts and minds in human history with a view to instill the ideals and ideas that define a good society. To this end, a selection of readings of Children’s classics, paraphrased extracts of other writings, as well as select biographies of writers, artists, musicians scientists and philosophers will be included in the required readings. Most of the readings will be summer readings.
Online activities will supplement the readings as will webinar-based discussions.
Local Mentors
All program participants must attend One Roundtable Seminar hosted by a local mentor.
Local mentors will be civic and business leaders associated with the Aspen institute (www.aspeninstitute.org), including all fellows and alums of the various Apsen leadership and fellowship programs.
The local mentors will provide a role model of civic and professional leadership to the Fellows, and to discuss and provide guidance on their Community Projects.
Student Fellows who do not live near a mentor and are not able to travel to the nearest mentor roundtable will attend a nearby mentor roundtable via conference call.
