The Thomas C. Giordano Middle School/MS 45 Partnership

Already the most familiar name in textbooks and teaching tools, The McGraw-Hill Companies sought to enter the classroom in a new way.

When one of our senior vice presidents first partnered with Middle School 45 in the Bronx, he realized that what the school needed most was a class of volunteers as diverse as its students. Over the past two years, he and his team have met that demand by rallying their colleagues in The McGraw-Hill Companies’ Hispanic Heritage Network (HHN) to support their partnership with Principal Anna Giordano and MS 45, whose student population is 70 percent Hispanic.

Today, a team of twenty HHN members supports an array of student opportunities at MS 45. The McGraw-Hill Companies’ Legal Department has collaborated with HHN and BEAM (Black Employees at McGraw-Hill) to participate in a mock trial session involving students in the school's Law Academy, and hosted a field trip for the students to The McGraw-Hill Companies’ corporate offices. The corporation’s employees have also hosted students at BusinessWeek magazine, participated in MS 45's annual Read Aloud Day and rolled up their sleeves at the school's Garden Project.