We are delighted to share that Level Up Village team member Nicki Brill has been named a NAA 2017 Next Generation of Afterschool leader, an award that highlights the contributions made by emerging professionals active in the afterschool community. Nicki was profiled in the Winter 2017 issue of NAA’s AfterSchool Today magazine and will be recognized for her achievement at the National AfterSchool Association (NAA) Conference on March 19 in Dallas, where Level Up Village will also be exhibiting.
“Level Up Village Account Director Nicki Brill possesses passion and a commitment to youth — embodying NAA’s core competencies,” wrote NAA in its recent newsletter.
Nicki began working for Level Up Village (LUV) in 2015 and quickly realized after school is an extraordinary and even unchartered space for educational innovation. In just over one year at LUV, Nicki has played an essential role at the company as a teacher, a curriculum developer and Account Director. She has taught eight out of LUV’s 20+ global STEAM courses, on topics including CAD & 3D printing, coding and video game design at more than 15 public and private schools. She is an innovative curriculum developer who wrote and developed two Level Up Village courses (Global Web Designers and Global Explorers) and helped revise the curriculum for several others.
In each LUV course, students communicate via shared project files and video letters using LUV’s global communication platform. Nicki contributed to the relaunch of the platform in the summer of 2016 with specific ideas on how to make the interface appealing and motivating for students.
Nicki not only teaches LUV courses, she also administers them. As Account Director, Nicki manages multiple responsibilities for our network of 250+ schools across the country, setting up logistics for each course, providing a strong support system for teachers and reaching out to schools to renew courses for the following sessions. Our partner schools tell us her customer service is exceptional and detailed. Nicki also plays an active role in the professional development of LUV teachers by providing specific, knowledgeable input that has helped improve our online training.
“Nicki is always there to answer any email or direct me to the person who can help me with technology issues. I ran three Level Up classes at my school last year, and because of Nicki, I am now running seven Level Up courses at my school this year,” said Jill Driscoll, Educational Technology Specialist at The Pingry School.
In April 2017, Nicki will visit one of LUV’s Global Partners, an after school provider in the barrios of Nicaragua called NicaPhoto to experience firsthand the afters classroom in another country. As a volunteer Advisor with Builders Beyond Borders, Nicki will also help lead the project for this trip: to build an additional classroom for NicaPhoto. On previous trips with Builders Beyond Borders, Nicki has helped build community centers, water systems, and nursery care centers.
In sum, Nicki has been instrumental in shaping the direction of global after school programming at Level Up Village, a nimble, innovative and fast-growing social impact company. To request more information about LUV courses, click here.
Nicki’s blog articles:
Five Practical Tips for Level Up Village Teachers
Three Reasons to Enrich Your Science Curriculum with Global Explorers
Courses Nicki has developed:
Global Web Designers
Global Explorers
