During the remainder of Spring Break, Fivers are going to be taking over the FiverFocus Twitter account! Look for special tweets from Fiver participants all next week with the hashtag #WeAreFiver as they talk about all of the exciting activities that are planned for over the break.

Monday, April 9th:

Elementary School: Fiver Media Moguls!

Fivers will learn how to recognize and understand media messages, and then work together to create their own advertisements for Fiver’s upcoming 10th Annual Benefit!

Middle School: Making Proud Choices!

Monday kicks off a 5-day interactive experience to learn about HIV, sexually-transmitted infection, and pregnancy prevention in a SAFE and HEALTHY environment. This week-long program will include workshops and outings in the city. On Monday, the city-outing will be to High Line park!

High School: Teen Career Day!

Fivers will be participating in an exciting day of career-focused fun!

Tuesday, April 10th

Elementary School: Dog Days, Part 1!

Fivers will get to spend the morning meeting and playing with trained service dogs from “A Fair Shake for Youth,” here in the Fiver office. In the afternoon, they’ll be hitting up a local pool for some swimming!

Middle School: Making Proud Choices, Day 2!

Along with the Making Proud Choices workshops and activities, Fivers will be hitting the park for a game of Ultimate Frisbee and/or friendship bracelet making. 

High School: Career Day!

The teens will be heading over to South Street Securities to meet the 2012 Fiver Benefit Honoree Jim Tabacchi.

Wednesday, April 11th

Elementary School: Dog Days, Part 2!

It’s Fivers second chance to meet the wonderful service dogs from “A Fair Shake for Youth,” this time followed by a trip to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. 

Middle School: Making Proud Choices AND/OR Parks and Recreation!

The dedicated Making Proud Choices middle school group will have their third day of workshop sessions and activities, and will be joined by other middle school Fivers who will be coming from a tip to Central Park for a fun afternoon of swimming!

High School: Tour in Philadelphia!

A group of high school students will be spending all day going on a tour of colleges in Philly and get a chance to meet with a Fiver Board member!

Thursday, April 12th

Elementary School: In My Own Words!

On the last day of elementary school activities, Fivers will learn how to use different media tools — including video, blogs, and photos — to spread the message of community building and tell their own stories as Fivers!

Middle School: Making Proud Choices, Part 4

The dedicated Making Proud Choices students will continue their learning workshops and activities, be treated to a special lunch, and also enjoy a trip on the Staten Island Ferry!

High School: Teen Career Day!

The Fiver teens will get to head on over to Deutsche Bank for another great career day!

Friday, April 13th

Middle School: Making Proud Choices, Part 5 OR Fiver Dance Crew

While the Making Proud Choices group will be finishing up their week of workshops and activities, other Fiver middle-schoolers will be hitting up Union Square’s Farmer’s Market to pick up supplies for smoothies. Then both sets of kids will be able to come together to participate in a Fiver Dace Crew practice and performance!

High School: High School Social!

The high school students will get to finish up their Spring Break filled with career- and college-opportunities with a day-long social outing!

FT: Where are you from?

Hello everyone.  I’m  Asma. The “s” is soft! :)

I’m a new intern in Fiver. So excited to be with you in this wonderful place.

I come from Jordan which is located in the Middle East and I am Bosnian too. Bosnia is almost in the heart of Europe. Two beautiful countries.

FT: What do you do?

I go to Columbia University School of Social Work. It is my second semester there.

I have a bachelor degree in English and Italian language and literature and a master in American Studies. Both obtained from University of Jordan.

I have worked with Diabetic children and their families back in Jordan for 7 years. I was recognized for my work by the International Diabetes Federation as a young symbol in changing the world of Diabetes. I was supposed to be honored in Dubai this past December by the International Diabetes Congress, but Columbia was faster!

All my Diabetes awareness work was voluntary. Professionally, I was an HR manager and worked in training before that. I am lucky for such a career shift after getting a scholarship from Columbia University.

FT: What’s the best thing about living in New York City?

There is always something going on. I love the beat of this city though NYC is sometimes too loud for me!

FT: What got you interested in Fiver?

I have always loved working with children and always will :)

FT: What are you most excited about in your time at Fiver this year?

I am so excited about all the great children I will meet and all the activities that I will help to plan.

FT: What are your top three favorite books?

What a hard question! I would say The Holy Quran, The Secret by Rhonda Byrne and The Prophet, a book of 26 poetic essays written in English by the Lebanese artist, philospher and writer Kahlil Gibran.

FT: What do you do when you are not at Fiver or at school?

I study, go to the gym, Skype with my family and fiancé, watch movies, and go to museums and some events happening around the city. So much to do, so little time!

FT: Any hidden talents? Anything you’d like to share? 

I’m a creative writer. I have a winning published short story and a published children’s book. Both are in Arabic. I write in English too. Creative writing is a passion I have. It will be no surprise that one of my projects at Fiver will be about creative writing.

Let me tell you something about my beloved country Jordan. It is a small lovely kingdom. We are 6 million people and we are so hospitable. The capital is Amman. Petra is one place you must visit. It’s an ancient city totally engraved in rose rock mountains!!! It’s one of the new world wonders. You are most welcome in Jordan.

Can’t wait to meet with you all :)

We’re inspired and excited about a new nationwide initiative called SummerQamp. Their goal is to introduce Quality Assurance (QA) as a potential career path to American youth (ages 18-24) who are unaware of the opportunity by allowing them to gain valuable work experience as summer interns at software companies.

SummerQamp is being led by Aneesh Chopra, former CTO of the White House, musician Jon Bon Jovi, Steve Martocci, co-founder of GroupMe, and Kevin Haggard, Vice President of Quality Engineering at Gilt Groupe.

It’s quite an impressive group of people and our very own, Christie Ko, had the pleasure to meet some of them. Fiver is helping to develop and guide the growth of the SummerQAmp movement. 

They’re hoping to create 1,000 internship positions across the software and mobile app industry and are currently looking for companies to sign up. More to come about how youth can get involved!

The New York design community is coming together again to support Fiver in a big way. Now in its fourth year, the IIDA’s Sustainable Design Forum hosts monthly quilting bees. In the tradition of quilting guilds the aim of this group is twofold: to find new homes for fabric that would have been discarded and to offer a fun gathering for design professionals. A dozen teams of designers and architects have spent months working on incredibly creative quilts made from discontinued and discarded fabric memo samples. All of the quilts are being auctioned and the proceeds will benefit the Fiver Children’s Foundation.   

When: Thursday, February 9th

Time: 6:30pm

Where: Haworth Showroom 125 Park Avenue, Second Floor

Purchase Tickets: http://iidany.ticketleap.com/2012_quilt/

Here’s a special sneak peek of one of this year’s quilts - inspired by Fiver. Do you know what it is?