Sesame Street Characters Help Teach Long Island Kids How to Cope with Emergencies
PSEG Foundation, Sesame Workshop launch 'Brave, Strong, Resilient' in partnership with St. Joseph’s College
(Uniondale, NY – July 16, 2019) — It’s much easier for children to deal with the stress and uncertainty of an emergency like a natural disaster if they already know they can be brave and strong like Super Grover, Sesame Street’s adorable, fuzzy blue superhero. That’s why the PSEG Foundation and Sesame Workshop have partnered to create the new Brave, Strong, Resilient curriculum, which is being issued for the very first time to teachers in training at St. Joseph’s College in Patchogue.
Brave, Strong, Resilient gives teachers new, carefully developed exercises featuring beloved Sesame Street characters that help young children build confidence and:
- Label, express and manage feelings
- Understand the feelings of others
- Calm down when they are frustrated or have a problem
- Identify a problem and come up with ways to solve it
- Ask for help from caring adults
It also provides parents with supplemental materials that let their children continue these fun activities at home, so they can build the behavioral habits that will equip them to cope with an emergency situation if it arises.
“PSEG Long Island spends all year making sure the electrical grid is as resilient as possible for when a natural disaster occurs, and we want to give every parent the chance to accomplish the same thing with their little ones,” said Dan Eichhorn, president and COO of PSEG Long Island. “Thanks to the PSEG Foundation, Sesame Workshop and St. Joseph’s College, we will soon have teachers in our schools who can use this innovative new program to help children handle the feelings, stress and challenges they may face during a severe storm — and over the course of their whole lives.”
"I believe that one of the secrets of SJC’s sustained excellence in preparing teachers is the College's emphasis on providing a foundation for lifelong intellectual, spiritual and personal growth," said SJC President Donald R. Boomgaarden, Ph.D. "Our new partnership with the PSEG Foundation and Sesame Workshop aligns perfectly with this; by having our aspiring educators adopt this new curriculum with its emphasis on developing emotional resilience, we are ensuring that these students will have the personal foundation they need as they form and work towards their dreams."
“We’re thrilled to launch Brave, Strong, Resilient to give children across Long Island the tools they need to cope with life’s challenges, big and small,” said Sheila Kelly, Chief Development Officer at Sesame Workshop. “Together with PSEG Long Island and St. Joseph’s College, we can build the resilience young children need to overcome obstacles and adversity — all with a little help from our friends on Sesame Street.”
The curriculum will first be taught to student teachers at St. Joseph’s College in Patchogue so they can facilitate the program in school districts throughout Long Island. The coursework will also be shared with other educators through a series of workshops.
Brave, Strong, Resilient is the third program that the PSEG Foundation has partnered with Sesame Workshop to develop. To learn more about these programs, visit pseg.com/sesamestreet.
Sesame Workshop is the nonprofit media and educational organization behind Sesame Street, the pioneering television show that has been reaching and teaching children since 1969. Today, Sesame Workshop is an innovative force for change, with a mission to help kids everywhere grow smarter, stronger, and kinder. We’re active in more than 150 countries, serving vulnerable children through a wide range of media, formal education, and philanthropically-funded social impact programs, each grounded in rigorous research and tailored to the needs and cultures of the communities we serve. For more information, please visit sesameworkshop.org.
Founded in 1916 by the Sisters of St. Joseph, the mission of St. Joseph's College is to provide a strong academic and value-oriented education at the undergraduate and graduate levels, rooted in a liberal arts tradition that supports provision for career preparation and enhancement. The Child Study program at SJC Long Island provides an outstanding education that is consistently ranked among the best teaching programs in the New York Metropolitan area and is the only program in the Long Island area that prepares students for New York State teaching certification in four areas within one department. To learn more about St. Joseph’s College, visit www.sjcny.edu/long-island/.
PSEG Long Island is committed to giving back to the people and communities it serves by actively supporting hundreds of local charity events each year through the company’s Community Partnership Program. ACLD is one of those organizations. Last year, PSEG Long Island employees logged 26,000 service hours volunteering at 1,145 fundraising and community events to support more than 400 organizations. For more information on how PSEG Long Island supports the communities it serves, visit www.psegliny.com/community.
PSEG Long Island operates the Long Island Power Authority’s transmission and distribution system under a long-term contract. PSEG Long Island is a subsidiary of Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. (PSEG) (NYSE:PEG), a publicly traded diversified energy company.