Sixth-grader goes to leadership conference

San Fernando resident Anais Luisa Jaime was selected to attend the spring 2009 Congressional Junior Young Leaders Conference in Washington, D.C.  She is a sixth-grader at Robert Frost Middle School.   

The conference examines eight leadership traits and focuses on leaders in American history and social advocacy. Participants work together to develop plans to bring about change within their home and communities.

-- Mary MacVean

Santee High takes part in global debate

                                                                                      
Santee Education Complex is taking part in the People Speak Global Debates, a program to challenge high school students from around the world to think critically.

This year, students are debating climate change action plans in the fall, and in the spring, they will argue whether developed nations have a higher obligation to combat climate change.

Santee hosted a debate earlier this month, with an audience of more than 900 students and other guests. Brothers Eduardo and Richard Avina argued for the resolution: "The world should adopt our plan to significantly reduce climate change." Their plan relies on renewable portfolio standards and a carbon tax. John Reed-Torres and Christopher Angel argued against the plan, saying it is useful but people also have to change their lifestyles and the world has to mandate a reduction in greenhouse gasses, like California has done.

All debates will be videotaped and submitted to the United Nations Foundation.

(The Santee debaters at the U.N. last summer.)

Santee will be eligible to compete for its second trip to the U.N. Foundation Youth Leadership Summit. The second annual summit will be held at the United Nations in New York in July 2009. It will bring together student activists to learn more about the issues, tour the United Nations and meet with U.N. officials.

-- Mary MacVean

Photos courtesy of Nicholas Richert, Santee

Dressed up as their favorite book characters

Hard to resist kids on Halloween, isn't it? These costumed cuties are students at Van Wig Elementary School in La Puente, who paraded in the costume of their favorite storybook character.  Hundreds of students participated in the annual event Thursday.

From the edusphere

Education in the headlines:

Algebra in the news (Washington Post)

Veteran of LAUSD board won't seek reelection (Daily Breeze, Torrance)

State to cut LAUSD $440 million? (Daily News, Los Angeles)

Fresh fruit for snacks

Students at Will Rogers Learning Community, an elementary school in Santa Monica, are taking part in a federal program that provides fresh fruit or vegetable snacks twice a week.

(Students at an event to show off the snack program.)

Here are some excerpts of some letters they've written about the program:

From Tyler: "I love the new snack program. The fruits are great."

From Aliyah: "Do you have a favorite vegetable? I do. Mine is mango. Anyway, I just wanted to say how us having fruits and veggies at school changed me. ... Ever since I told my mom that we have fruits and veggies at school, she said, 'Since you're eating healthy food at school then we should start eating healthy at home. Now instead of bringing chips to school I bring grapes and all kinds of fruits and vegetables."

From Tiffany: "My favorite fruit was the green plum. It tasted sweet and sour. That's what I like."

From Anaya: "The pears are good, too, and I ate two very fast."

From Vladimir: "One time I brought those green plums home. Then my mom tried it and now our refrigerator is filled with them."

-- Mary MacVean

Photo credit: Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times

Korenstein won't run again

Julie Korenstein, the longest-serving school-board member in L.A. Unified's history, won't seek re-election. She's sat on the board for 22 years, mainly representing District 6 in the San Fernando Valley, and was a substitute teacher for the district before that.

Korenstein noted her longevity at a board meeting earlier this year. A speaker who'd known Korenstein for years noted that his hair had since gone white. Korenstein noted that her hair color had also changed. "Now I'm a blond," she quipped. "Go figure."

With board member Marlene Canter also announcing earlier this week that she will not run again, two seats on the seven-member school board will be open during the next election.

Full story to come.

--Jason Song

Daniel Murphy documentary wins film fest award

As a senior last year at Daniel Murphy Catholic High School, Sean Flowers joined with a group of classmates to document their school’s last days as an active campus.

They had hoped that the video they produced might spur the Los Angeles Archdiocese to save the 55-year-old school, which had been battered by declining enrollments and financial strains, but it closed at the end of the school year.

But the student project, "We Are Noble Men," is bearing some fruit: Earlier this month, it won first place in its category at the 2008 Oxnard Youth Digital Film Festival.

The award, said Flowers, is a bittersweet recognition of a beloved campus that produced alumni such as L.A. City Councilman and former Police Chief Bernard C. Parks and television newscaster Patrick Healy. And it is a testament to students’ enduring loyalty.

"I was very surprised that we won," said Flowers, 19, now a student at Santa Monica College. "It’s a recognition of all of our efforts to show what Daniel Murphy was. And the video will probably keep Daniel Murphy alive a long time because of how powerful it is."

Kitty Merrill, a television production specialist at Oxnard College and this year’s film festival director, said she was impressed with the sense of determination and fervor displayed in the Daniel Murphy project.

"I loved the combination of the heart in it and the diversity of voices they captured," Merrill said. "One of the things I hope for youth to get out of participating in this festival is that they find things that they care about passionately, and that is the thing that I got from the Daniel Murphy students."

The project’s team included about 20 students in teacher Luella Wagner’s television production class who interviewed classmates, alumni and some of the Dominican fathers who first ran the school. The father of one of the students, film and television director Chuck Vinson, helped in editing the video.

Wagner had been at the school only a year when it closed. "I’ll always treasure that year at Daniel Murphy," said Wagner, who now teaches religion at Alemany High School. "This video makes it more than a memory."

Flowers is studying psychology and film in college, but the film festival win is pushing him to flex his more creative muscles.

"That boosted my courage, like ‘All right, I did help to make that film, and it has won an award,’ so yes, I’m really happy how it turned out."

-- Carla Rivera

Let's hear it for fun-raising!

Erin Shachory, a parent at Riverside Drive Elementary School in Sherman Oaks, writes:

Last Sunday, Riverside Drive Elementary held its fifth Annual Fall Festival, the biggest fundraiser of our school year.  As a vice president of our parent organization, I was heavily involved in the planning and logistics of the event, which included a haunted house, bouncies, bumper cars, food vendors, silent auction, live entertainment, game booths ... and lots and lots of pleas for money, both direct and indirect. 

"Wow! The games are only one ticket each!" I overhead a second-grader say to a friend. Both smiled because they had tickets in their pockets -- only their parents knew that each ticket was $1, hard-earned in this tough economic time.

Last week, as I hyperventilated and sweated the small stuff, my husband asked why I was so nervous.  "What if we don't raise as much money as last year?" I asked, thinking of the more than $100,000 that the parent organization raised in the last year and the budget that was designed around that figure to pay for computer education, drama, teacher aides. My head was swirling already, and I knew that other schools in Sherman Oaks were holding their own Halloween fairs over the same weekend.

My husband laughed. "Isn't it about fun? Won't the kids and the community have a good time? Even if you make 40 bucks, isn't it a success?" 

I stopped my shallow breathing. He had a point. It's not always about exceeding our financial goals; sometimes, the tradition and good old-fashioned fun are enough of a reason to have a party.

So, on Sunday at around 2:30 p.m., when I had trouble walking through the crowds to get from one end of the school to the other, I smiled. My kids ran with their friends from booth to booth, accumulating face paint, hair streaks and fake tattoos. I don't know what our numbers are yet, but I know that one of our teachers supervised the toddler bouncy for two hours. Nearly 100 parents volunteered to set up and run the festival. Our principal helped clean up. Fifth graders manned the haunted house. Kindergartners sang. 

In uncertain times, maybe we can't measure success by dollar signs. Maybe it's just the taste of cotton candy and the sound of laughter on a sunny Sunday in October.

Boys and Girls Club annual gala

Someone the children can look up to? Kareem Abdul Jabar was among the well-known people at the Boys and Girls Club Heroes and High Hopes Gala, held this month at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel.

At this year’s gala, philanthropists Carol and Jim Collins were honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award. The couple established the James A. Collins Youth Center, home to the Boys and Girls Club of Venice. And UCLA freshman Aaron Lopez, winner of a Toyota Financial Services’ “Making Life Easier” scholarship spoke about the club and its impact on his life.

Boys and Girls Club programs emphasize character and leadership development, education and career development, health and life skills, the arts, sports, fitness and recreation.

-- Mary MacVean

Photo credit: John Sciulli / Berliner Studio / BEImages

From the edusphere

Some headlines about schools from around the region:

Statewide eighth-grade algebra test put on hold (San Francisco Chronicle)

Coming clean in PUSD (Pasadena Star-News)

Parents angry after second, third grades merged (Daily News, Los Angeles)

Schoolwork is going digital (Long Beach Press-Telegram)

LAUSD may pick Armenian liaison (Daily News, Los Angeles)

DWP payout totals $160 million (Torrance Daily Breeze)