Culturally & Linguistically Responsive Initiatives

Global Scholars

Purpose:

The Buffalo Public School District is a participating city in the international Global Scholars Program. Multiple schools in the Buffalo Public School District are represented in this international program. Through a variety of multimedia communication methods, scholars connect with other peers from around the world to learn about each other's cities, a common global problem they are studying, and investigate solutions for solving this problem. All scholars participating in this program benefit by exploring connections with each other, advancing their digital literacy skills, and improving their communication skills. Participating schools: 67, 74, 79, 80, 81, 89, 92, 93, 94, 156, 195.

Global Scholars District Implementation Team:

• Dr. Fatima Morrell, Associate Superintendent of Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Initiatives
• Dr. Kelly Baudo, Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum, Assessment, and Instruction
• Dalphne Bell, Director of Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Initiatives
• W. Charles Brandy, Director of Social Studies
• Tatiana Merrick, Director of Science
• Max Grundy, Supervisor of Career and Technical Education
• Pietro Mendola, Supervisor of World Languages
• Brianna Pride, Supervisor of Instructional Technology
• Jeffrey Filippelli, Instructional Technology Coach
• Katherine Rabb, Instructional Technology Coach
• Nicole Buccilli, Data Coach

Global Scholars 2022-2023:  

Buffalo Public School students are shining as they actively participate in the Global Scholars Program. This year Global Scholars students are investigating the impact of water on our global society. The scholars are finding many local connections to water, as the natural world wonder, Niagara Falls, is a short distance away, and the City of Buffalo resides near a large body of fresh water, Lake Erie, one of the Great Lakes.

Global Scholars 2021-2022:

Throughout the 2021-2022 school year, Global scholars students engaged in a five-unit study, featuring buildling health, sustainable, and equitable food systems globally and in the City of Buffalo. The scholars used Microsoft Sway to collaboratively communicate findings of food security in our community and share their reflections with their international peers. The students from Ms. Reiss’ sixth-grade class at PS 195 City Honors had the opportunity to interview Dr. Samina Raja, Associate Dean for Research and Inclusive Excellence at the University of Buffalo’s School of Architecture and Planning. She shared the importance of learning about how food systems work and the need for innovative solutions to increase sustainability and equitability in communities. While all of our Scholars are doing phenomenal work, we are thrilled to announce that the Global Scholars Program highlighted some of our Meet the Global Scholars Unit 1 projects. These projects, designed by students from PS 79 William J. Grabiarz School of Excellence and PS 94 West Hertel Elementary, will be shared with the international community as exemplary work.

Global Scholars 2020-2021:

In the 2020-2021 school year, Global Scholars students investigated the local and global impacts of consumption. Students examined their own consumption, the sustainability of products purchased, and analyzed the effects of their consumption choices. They also investigated how the choices our city makes to produce and deliver resources, such as transportation and the electrical grid, impact public health, ecosystems, and the economy. While examining city-systems students focused on researching Buffalo's transportation system's accessibility and sustainability. Mr. James Morrell, the Deputy Director of the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA) provided scholars with insightful information on the local transportation department. Click here to view Mr. Morrell’s, NFTA interview. To display their learning of the city systems, classes globally and here in Buffalo created community guides about the sustainability and accessibility of the system. Students also thoughtfully, gave recommendations on how to improve the accessibility of the transportation system.

Out of hundreds of projects, four classes in the Buffalo Global Scholars Program were chosen as exemplars by the Global Cities Team:

P.S 79, PFC William J Grabriarz School of Excellence Global Scholars Transportation System Project
School 79's Global Scholars teaching team: Matthew Boyle, Sharon Davis, Rosangela Dexter, Amy Flynn, and Shane Hornquist

P.S. 80, Highgate Heights Global Scholars Buffalo's Transportation System Project

School 80's Global Scholars teaching team: Angela Beathley, Jeffery Filippelli, Atisha Lacey, Todd Robinson, and Stephanie Ventralino. 

P.S. 81, Global Scholars Buffalo's Transportation System Project 1

P.S. 81, Global Scholars Buffalo's Transportation System Project 2

School 81's Global Scholars teaching team: Tara Bukowski and Jennifer Orengo

Sample Scholar Work from the 2020-201 Global Scholars Program:

School 80 Global Scholars Team

Teachers: Angela Beathley, Jeffrey Filippelli, Atisha Lacey, Todd Robinson, Nicholas Santora, & Stephanie Vertalino

School 81 Global Scholars Team

Teachers: Tara Bukowski & Jennifer Orengo

School 92 Global Scholar Team

Teachers: Kathryn Berchou, Taloria Givens, Eric Hecker

School 93 Global Scholars Team

Teachers: Mary Beth White & Eileen Wszalek 

School 156 Global Scholars Team

Teachers: David Milley & Kimberly Zaffram

School 156 Global Scholars Team

Teachers: David Milley & Kimberly Zaffram

Past Global Scholars Experiences:

Global Scholars students gained real-world experiences at the local water authority's water filtration plant.

Global Scholars students engage in a clean-up by the water.