Alex S. › SmartSitting

Family Application

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I am a recent graduate of Columbia University with extensive childcare experience both here in New York and in Chicago, my hometown. I am a guitarist and composer and majored in music composition and jazz studies. I am an energetic, fun, and engaging sitter and I like to incorporate my love of music into my childcare practice whenever I can. My hope is ultimately to become a teacher one day.

My childcare experience began with sitting in high school for neighborhood families. My summers were spent working with campers at YMCA Camp Fuller. At Columbia, I immersed myself in the campus and the city's musical culture. I DJed jazz and new music at WKCR 89.9 FM before rising to a management position as Director of Operations and Engineering. In this position, I am the primary station educator on equipment use and station etiquette. The station at that time began its “Youth Mic” program, which brought Harlem youths to the station, a program with which I became involved. I performed in the jazz ensembles as well as with my own groups, at venues at campus and around the city. I also became associated with the New Amsterdam Record label, a non-profit “indie-classical” record label promoting the work of young, New York composers whose work straddles popular and classical forms. All the while I sat for Columbia families in my spare time.

Education

Columbia University, 2010

B.A. Music and Jazz Studies
King’s Crown Leadership Award Recipient (2007-2008)
Dean's List, 2010

Childcare experience:

1 school-year, after-school sitter for 2 SmartFamilies (one, Monday-Thursday, and the other on Fridays)
6 years, after-school and summer sitter
1 year, camp counselor

Availability:

Currently working with a SmartFamily
All day Friday (though I can be flexible for temporary engagements on other days)
Also available for occasional weekend sitting

Long-term availability:

Available until June 2012

I will be SmartSitting while...

Working at New Amsterdam Records, composing for new music ensembles, applying for graduate programs, promoting and performing with my band, and studying world cultural trends and political movements.

My childcare expertise lies in working with…

School-aged children - but I am also comfortable with toddlers.

Activities and skills I love to teach and share with children:

Guitar, music technology, sports, reading, and math.

Most memorable childcare experience:

One recent memory that sticks out was with a child who needed help with a school project. The assignment was to change the lyrics of an existing popular song in a way that would reflect a concept being studied in math class. He chose Norwegian Wood and adapted the melody to an explanation of how to use Factor Trees. We used our time together to discuss meter, stress, and the elements of rhythm. It was a wonderful way to combine my background in math and music, and, in the end, he ended up having his song chosen by his classmates as the one to be performed at a school-wide performance.