Feb24

Carver to Celebrate Black History Month with Youth Performances, Saturday, February 25, 6-8PM

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Carver to Celebrate Black History Month with Youth Performances, Saturday, February 25, 6-8PM

Greens Farms Academy award winning a capella groups, the boys Beachside Express and the girls Harbor Blues, each with some 16 students, will be performing.  Norwalk’s Calvary Baptist Church Praise Dancers and the Macedonia Church Choir will perform. Carver’s own singing artists, including the winner of the recent Norwalk High School Talent Contest, Carve instrumentalists and Step Dancers will also be performing.

The event will take place in the George Washington Carver Community Center gymnasium at 7 Academy Street, Norwalk.

We will pay tribute to and celebrate the generations of African Americans who struggled with adversity to achieve full citizenship in American society. As a Harvard-trained historian, Carter G. Woodson, founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, conceived and announced Negro History Week in 1925. The celebration was expanded to a month in 1976, the nation’s bicentennial. The 2012 theme is “Black Women in America: Culture and History.”

Feb22

We Can Be Heroes: a video created for a different charity and call-to action, but the message is nevertheless the same as Carver Heroes!

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We Can Be Heroes: a video created for a different charity and call-to action, but the message is nevertheless the same as Carver Heroes!

We Can Be Heroes | Join the Justice League in fighting the hunger crisis in the Horn of Africa.

Feb14

The Bruce Museum Partners with Carver

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The Bruce Museum Partners with Carver

"Floating Marbles" by Walter Wick

The Bruce Museum just joined the Maritime Aquarium, Sound Waters and other great area resources in providing afterschool experiences for Carver kids.

During the months of March and April, the Museum’s new exhibitions titled Walter Wick: Games, Gizmos and Toys in the Attic and Coming Full Circle: Greenwich Art Society Celebrates 100 at the Bruce Museum will open new worlds of discovery to Carver kids.

Through the Walter Wick exhibit, Carver students will have the opportunity to see the wide range of works created by Walter Wick, the co-creator of the beloved I SPY series and the Can You See What I See? books. Students will explore themes of optical illusions, imagination, experimentation, and the artist’s process through the exhibit.

Through the Greenwich Art Society exhibition, students will have the opportunity to discuss artwork produced by the members of the Greenwich Art Society in a variety of forms of media, including watercolor, pastels, pen and ink, sculpture, and collage. Caver kids will then have the opportunity to experiment with these materials in a related workshop activity.

Feb10

Education Gap Grows Between Rich and Poor, Studies Show – NYTimes.com

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Education Gap Grows Between Rich and Poor, Studies Show – NYTimes.com

Carver students are determined to succeed.

This front page story in today’s New York Times addresses many of the issues that Caver seeks to mitigate with its after school programs, summer learning programs, college tours and many other offerings and strategies designed to help struggling families gain access to the same opportunities and support as enjoyed by their more affluent peers.

We at Caver have more hope than is expressed in the concluding comment in this article. Since 2005, 100 percent of Carver’s high school students have graduated on time. Last year, 88 percent of Carver’s high school students and 82 percent of our middle school students improved their GPAs. This 2011-2012 academic year, first quarter grades show 24 percent of our 695 students earned high honors and 25 percent of our students earned honors.

We have many to thank for this success, and mostly we thank our students for giving their all to become lifetime achievers — despite the odds.

Education Gap Grows Between Rich and Poor, Studies Show – NYTimes.com.

One reason for the growing gap in achievement, researchers say, could be that wealthy parents invest more time and money than ever before in their children (in weekend sports, ballet, music lessons, math tutors, and in overall involvement in their children’s schools), while lower-income families, which are now more likely than ever to be headed by a single parent, are increasingly stretched for time and resources. This has been particularly true as more parents try to position their children for college, which has become ever more essential for success in today’s economy.

Feb8

Malloy Demands End to Failing Schools in Conn. | The Daily Norwalk

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Malloy Demands End to Failing Schools in Conn. | The Daily Norwalk

Malloy Demands End to Failing Schools in Conn. | The Daily Norwalk.

Stefan Pryor, Connecticut’s commissioner of education, was even more blunt.

“Our state has the dubious distinction of having the largest achievement gap in the nation. This situation cannot be remedied through patient rationalization and modest tinkering. Instead, we must get involved – immediately and vigorously – in the places where students’ performance and life prospects are severely limited by their schools’ struggles,” Pryor said. “The Commissioner’s Network will attract and bolster transformational leaders and teachers, provide critical flexibility to enable innovation, and offer the resources and services needed to improve student learning.”

Feb6

Norwalk girls basketball uniforms honor Richard Fuller, as reported in The Hour

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Norwalk girls basketball uniforms honor Richard Fuller, as reported in The Hour

By Tom Evans, February 4, 2012

Those in attendance at Norwalk High School’s Scarso Gymnasium on Friday evening were the first to see the patches the Bears wore on the left shoulders of their uniforms to honor the late Richard Fuller, the father of Norwalk head coach Rick Fuller.

There was no formal announcement of the addition to the uniforms, so fans would have had to look very closely — or wait for the happy postgame mingling after the Bears’ 66-53 victory over Darien — to see that the white patches were stitched with “in memory of RNF Sr.”

Rick Fuller said he and his mother, Carolyn — who was at Friday’s game — had wanted the patches sooner, but they wanted them to be just right.

“Basically my mother did the design, and it took some time to get the design together,” Rick Fuller said. “It took Cook Printing in Norwalk about two weeks to get them to us.”

Richard Fuller Sr., a Brien McMahon High School graduate, “had been a big supporter of Norwalk High School basketball,” according to his son, who is in his eighth season directing the Norwalk girls.

“At the beginning of the season I told the girls I wanted to dedicate this season to my dad, and the girls were on board,” Rick Fuller said. “He followed them and was often at games. He’d be on the bottom bleachers, yelling at the officials. He’s a big supporter of athletics in the city, and he was very excited when I got this job.”

Fuller Sr. was a community organizer and leader who served as the head of the George Washington Carver Center for close to 35 years, and also sat on the Norwalk Board of Education for nearly 25 years.

“For me, this is personal,” Rick Fuller said. “I say a word or two to him before every game. He would always tell me to keep all this in perspective. First, they’re teenagers. Second, it’s a game, and you’re really preparing them for life. My dad always had advice on how to get to the girls and how to make them better people.”

Jan30

The Hour reports on Shakespeare on the Sound’s great contribution to Carver afterschool programs

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The Hour reports on Shakespeare on the Sound’s great contribution to Carver afterschool programs

Through after-school program, Shakespeare on the Sound promotes theatre, learning

By DANIELLE CAPALBO Hour Staff Writer

NORWALK – With its tiled floor and marked-up whiteboard, Room 2093 at Brien McMahon High School hardly passes for Verona.

Yet every Wednesday for the past 10 weeks, it has staged the classic tragedy of “Romeo and Juliet,” played out in segments by ninth-grade students under the direction of Shakespeare on the Sound.

The Fairfield County theater company, known for its free, outdoor performances, ran the free after-school program in partnership with Norwalk’s Carver Foundation, bringing to life the Bard of Avon for dozens of teenagers.

The group ran a similar program at Roton Middle School. Both were designed to help students understand the complicated text and its compelling, underlying themes.

“We are in the business of making people like Shakespeare,” said Emily Bryan, director of education for the group. “We want the kids to get the text, up and on their feet.”

At Brien McMahon High School on Wednesday, students did just that, delivering the fateful words of Frier Laurence as he cautions Romeo from committing suicide. Each teenager was instructed to choose a line, then pinpoint the most powerful word.

It was a well-known acting, allowing the students to intepret and memorize the text, imbuing it with feeling.

“‘Take heed, take heed’,” said Tiera Herring, 14, cluthing her sheet of paper. “By doing damned hate upon thyself,” said Jacquez Morris, 15, gesturing to add strength to his performance.

Moments earlier, Scott Bartelson and Ashley Olson – both educators with Shakespeare on the Sound – had posed a series of questions to Room 2093, instructing the dozen students to agree or disagree and, accordingly, stand in a specially-designated corner of the room.

Each question was masterfully chosen and touched upon a major plotpoint in the story of the star-crossed lovers.

“Is blood thicker than water?” Bartelson asked. Students shuffled around, some undecided and standing in the middle of the room. Should you be judged by the nature of your friends? Is suicide a sin? Can you change your destiny?

“An hour of Shakespeare a week – I truly believe in its ability to help people with critical thinking skills, and addressing essential questions,” Bryan said. Young people who participate in the arts for at least three hours on three days each week through at least one full year are also four times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement, according to a report commissioned by Americans for the Arts.

“This program helps eople stay out of trouble and stay focused on school,” said Kayla Roberson, 14. “Shakespeare can be fun if you’re trying, and you make the effort.”

Ninth-grade English teacher Sarah Molinelli agreed. “The program is more valuable than most people recognize first-hand,” she said. “If you believe in kids and you show them, they start to see it, too. This gives them a real place to do that, with a lot of communication.”

Jan28

Nancy Guenther Chapman of The Daily Norwalk reports on Youth Forum – Mind the Gap

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Nancy Guenther Chapman of The Daily Norwalk reports on Youth Forum – Mind the Gap

Norwalk’s Teens: High School Should Be Tougher 

NORWALK, Conn. – A group of Norwalk teenagers weren’t afraid to give their elders some advice Thursday.

“A lot of teachers feel like they don’t want to invest the time with students. They just kind of pass them along,” said Melissa Rojo, a Norwalk High School senior. “(They think), ‘Let the next teacher deal with you.’ It’s not smart. It eventually catches up with the student.”

Edwin Rosales, a Norwalk High junior, said, “I think besides raising the bar for students, we also have to raise the bar for our teachers.”

The students were part of “Youth Forum – Mind the Gap,” a panel assembled by the George Washington Carver Center to discuss the educational achievement gap. Listening at Brien McMahon High School were members of Norwalk’s educational community, including Superintendent Susan Marks, Board of Education member Mike Barbis, Norwalk Federation of Teachers President Bruce Mellion, West Rocks Middle School Principal Lynne Moore and Brien McMahon High Principal Suzanne Brown Koroshetz.

Although Connecticut’s best school districts and students remain among the nation’s top performers, the state’s minority and low-income students are falling further behind, Gov. Dannel Malloy wrote in a recent letter. It’s an achievement gap that Novelette Peterkin, executive director of the Carver Center, called an “old and stubborn problem.” The center is trying to approach the problem in a new way, by listening to the youth.

“I think it’s great to hear from our students,” Marks said. “I think they speak the truth, and we have to listen to them. And there are so many things they talked about that we have to pay attention to.”

The high school students covered many topics, from the roles of parents, teachers and mentors to the motivation of students.

Tom Skipper, a Brien McMahon freshman, suggested having students as mentors. “I think it helps if you have higher level students helping out lower level students, after school or in tutoring programs,” he said. “If you have them tutoring younger people, especially the under-achievers, than that can help a lot to close the gap.”

“I think we should have more kids involved in sports,” said Tomar Joseph, a Norwalk High junior who visited Capital Preparatory Magnet School in Hartford and found that involvement in two sports is mandatory. He thought that was a great model, but other students disagreed. “I don’t think making it mandatory would help,” Melissa said. “It would be something you have to do.”

“I think schools should make us more aware of what education can do for us,” said Ny-Aja Boyd, a Norwalk High junior. “Don’t be afraid to show us what happens if you don’t go to school.”

Kortney Lelle, a Norwalk High senior, recognized that parent involvement is important. But she said students can use other resources such as after-school peer tutors. Elle O’Hara, a Norwalk High senior, agreed. “You can find a mentor within your community, such as a sports coach, a teacher, anybody that you personally feel a connection with. That can be your motivator to make you want to change what your current situation is,” she said.

Isiah Mohammed, a Norwalker who is a senior at the Academy of Information Technology & Engineering in Stamford, said teamwork among teachers, schools and parents is important. Many felt standards need to be higher.

“I believe that graduation requirements shouldn’t be just barely passing or setting a certain GPA,” Edwin said. “I think we should push our students. … If we raise the requirements, I think the students will try to excel and to graduate they will meet those requirements, which will close the gap even more.”

“There’s a lot of teachers who have very low standards for students, especially if they are in a lower-level class, and I don’t think that helps anyone,” Melissa said. “I think that most people, and a majority of people, live up to the expectations they are given.”

Marks was impressed. “I think the big thing I took away was about raising the bar, that the kids really want high standards and they believe that they’ll meet those high standards,” she said. “I think that’s really important. We’re going to be developing a student survey, and we’re certainly going to call on them to help us come up with the questions that they think their peers want to answer, to help us do a better job. I’m very proud of them.”