CORE | Coalition for Residential Education

Maya Aguilar and Kassim Mbwana

Who is Kassim Mbwana?

He often reminisces with great fondness about his own boarding school experience in his native Kenya. It is this personal connection with residential education that first sparked Kassim Mbwana’s interest in CORE in January 2006. A graduate student pursuing a Masters Degree in Public Policy at American University, Kassim is from the beautiful coast of Mombasa, Kenya; “A place where they like to think of themselves as a city, but after being in America, I know now it’s really just a town.”

Kassim has been living in the U.S. since 1998, and graduated from Bowdoin College in 2003. He found CORE while looking for internship opportunities that intersected his interests in research and statistical data, education, and public policy. CORE stood out because since age 6, Kassim has been attending boarding schools.

“My parents traveled a lot, and they wanted their children to become acquainted with the national education system early on, because in Kenya everyone must take standardized tests to get into secondary schools and college.” In Kenya, 30% of primary schools (K-8th grade) and 70% of secondary schools (9-12th grade) are boarding academies.

Located in the rural outskirts of Nairobi, Kassim’s alma mater – Alliance High School – is the top-ranked public boarding school in the country. On the campus of 500, there were about 40 different languages spoken, most native to Africa, and though the school has a quota system of selecting the best students from various regions around the country, Alliance’s students come from different backgrounds and different academic abilities.

“The most important lesson I’ve taken away from my boarding school experience: If given the opportunity, anybody can excel. Kids came from all over, and they were the brightest in their city/region, but those scores are relative. When put in Alliance, though, we all were scoring in the top 90 percentile in standardized tests.”

This lesson resembles CORE’s mission as well, where member residential education programs give disadvantaged youth another chance at life and a second home.

“I didn’t know anything about residential education, and my concept of boarding schools was completely different from the programs CORE works with. My notion of boarding schools in America was places like Exeter. But CORE works with a whole different facet of residential education. I know now just how valuable a role it plays in the lives of these kids, and the issues they’re struggling with.”

At CORE, Kassim’s primary responsibility is conducting, monitoring, analyzing, and compiling the results of the “Overview of Residential Education in the U.S.” survey, a national study of residential education programs that serve disadvantaged youth. With the survey’s invaluable results, CORE will disseminate quantifiable data on residential education to legislators, social workers, programs, and the public to make the case about the effectiveness of this option for youth.

Kassim’s most memorable experiences at CORE so far has been attending our National and Student Conferences and meeting in-person the supporters of CORE’s work, whether it be Dr. Susan Orr, Head of the Federal Foster Care System for the Dept. of Health and Human Services, Dr. Cassie Bevan, foster care expert for Congress, or the CORE member program executives and staff.

“It is really inspiring to see so many adults care about tiny kids – ‘little brats,’ as most would call them. We are constantly bombarded by stereotypes and teenage problems by the media, and the main message they send out is that these kids can’t be taken care of. But that is not true – there are so many people out there dedicated to residential education and bettering these kids’ lives.”

CORE Staff Spotlight: Who is Maya Aguilar?

Visit CORE headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland and you are likely to be greeted by the warm smile and welcome of Maya Aguilar, CORE’s Communications Associate. Maya joined CORE in February 2006, and has since adeptly immersed herself in CORE’s programs and values.

Born and raised in Southern California, Maya graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 2005. She majored in International Relations, and has always had a strong interest in journalism and communications. Her present career goal is to raise public awareness of social issues. She hopes to expand this goal in the future to take on an international focus. Why did she choose to work with CORE?

Maya confesses that she was not familiar with the concept of residential education or foster care issues prior to joining CORE, but was intrigued by the prospect of an intimate working experience with a small non-profit organization. CORE’s environment and culture is friendly and casual, yet it provided her with the opportunity to take on a high responsibility level. In the six-month period she has been at CORE, she has learned and embraced CORE’s mission to represent, advocate and strengthen residential education in the service of disadvantaged youth. One of her goals is “to make the public aware of this valuable option [for youth]. I want to spread the message. Everyone should know about residential education!”

At CORE, Maya is responsible for writing and compiling monthly bulletins and the annual newsletter, maintaining CORE’s website, and advancing public relations, advocacy, and media outreach. Of all of these, she is most intrigued by advocacy. She marvels that her first day on the job was marked by a trip to Capitol Hill to help make the case for residential education to House staffers. She has been delighted by how the different facets of networking, research, and outreach came together to enable CORE to testify on the Hill on child advocacy issues. This was, and continues to be, a testimony for her on how non-profits can make a difference on social issues.

Maya’s experience with CORE’s first ever Student Conference at the Milton Hershey School further solidified her work: “Our mission is around the kids. The conference connected students’ stories to that mission.” The conference has been Maya’s favorite experience yet. Seeing and sharing conversations with the students CORE serves was both heartwarming and fulfilling. Although all the kids came from different backgrounds and each had their own unique story, they all shared a common thread: living in residential settings with the goal to improve and enhance their personal and academic lives.

June 2006