ST. GEORGE’S FREEDOM SCHOOL 2009

1. ST. GEORGE’S FREEDOM SCHOOL 2009

2. ST. GEORGE’S COMMUNITY CENTER • Site Location: Maupin Elementary School 1312 Catalpa StreetLouisville, KY 40211 • Program Dates: June 15th, 2009 –July 24th 2009 • Site Coordinator – Ted Gatlin, Jr.

3. REPORT BACK • LEVEL I – 10 Scholars • LEVEL II – 40 Scholars • LEVEL III – 20 Scholars • INTERNS – 8 College Scholars Additional Staff: • Tankyeka Percentie – Project Director • Arthur Cox – Executive Director

4. ROLL CALL!! PERFECT ATTENDANCE! Kanisha Ford – 2nd Yr Breanya Hogue – 2nd Yr Breion Harris – 1st Yr Janol Vinson – 1st Yr Erica Goins – 3rd Yr Denisha Oggs – 1st Yr

5. ROLL CALL • Scholars with Perfect Attendance!! • LEVEL ONE – 6 • LEVEL TWO – 24 • LEVEL THREE - 14

6. I HAVE A RECOGNITION!!!! • Our level III classes combined and founded an organization called FNCC – Freedom School Nonviolent Coordinating Committee They served as the peer mediation arm at our Freedom School they used conflict resolution techniques learn through the Integrated Reading Curriculum to resolve issues with the other classes. President – LaRon Jackson President-Elect – Jack Moore VP – DeWayne Murray Press Secretary– Phillip Junior Secretary – LeAndra Gilbert

7. I HAVE A RECOGNITION!!!! Erica Goins!! This 3rd year intern, was a great mentor and help to the first and second year interns. In addition, she dressed up as a different character each day and introduced our read-aloud guests. Erica also lead our scholars in the best Finale show in Freedom School history!!!

8. I HAVE A RECOGNITION!! THE V-TEAM!! The V-Team was made up of high school student and adult volunteers who participated in various ways throughout the summer. They helped interns in classrooms and also helped with afternoon activities. Each of them was completely dedicated as shown by almost 100% attendance!! The V-Team was lead by our Floater Intern – 2nd yr Intern Victoria Lee Adult Volunteer: Da’Marion Fleming High School Students: Alexa, Damon, Kiara, Steven, Darrell

9. HARAMBEE!! • We combined with the Indiana Ave Baptist Church Summer Enrichment Program for the first leg of our Social Action Activities. They worked with us on getting the initial signatures for our Petition to our Congresspersons.

10. HARAMBEE!! • We worked with the community, host school, and Coach Tee’s Fitness Camp during our spirit week to put on a West End Field Day. We invited all the local daycares and child care organizations. We also invited other members of the neighborhood who weren’t already connected to the Freedom School.

11. West End Freedom School Field Day

12. EXCELLENCE IN THE IN THE INTEGRATED READING CURRICULUM At St. George’s Community Center Freedom School, our interns did a great job as a whole with the Integrated Reading Curriculum here are some examples…

13. Level One Book: Sometimes My Mommy Gets Angry Theme: I can make a difference in Myself Week 1 • Level one had a pancake party. The intern arranged for some mothers of the students to come and help make pancakes for the class. The parents and scholars discussed why it was the favorite food of the main character.

14. Level One Book: Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge Theme: I can Make a difference in my community Week 3 • During week 3, the intern had her class make cards for a local nursing home. The book focused on helping others, community support, and appreciating elders. The scholars then went to that local nursing home and personally delivered the cards.

15. Level One

16. Level Two Book: One Hen Theme: I can make a difference in my country Week 4 • For the book One Hen, the Level 2 classes combined to have a marketplace. Scholars were put into a small group and were given the responsibility of coming up with a business with the goal of making the most money. Groups had to also create advertisements for their business in order to get customers to invest. Guests from Volunteers of America were invited to participate as customers.

17. Level Two Book: Jazzy Miz Mozetta Theme: I can Make a Difference in My Community Week 3 • The level 2 classes collaborated during the activity portion of the book. They split the scholars up into dance teams and had a dance competition using different styles of dance, old school and new school.

18. Level Three Book: Keeping the Night Watch Theme: I can Make a Difference in my Family Week 2 • The level Three class combined and had a Family Dinner during their cooperative group activity. They acted out scenarios that might happen between family members. (many students don’t get opportunities to have dinner with their family) After the dinner, they hosted a Freedom School Hallway Dance party with Level 1 and Level 2 in order to show how dancing can bring people together; just like the family in the book.

19. Level Three A Gathering Of Flowers Theme: I can Make a Difference in my World Week 5 • The intern had the students write down some things that were troubling them about themselves or about the world. (this was done while listening to Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror”) After writing and debriefing their topics, the scholars put them into helium filled balloons. The scholars then had a balloon release.

20. Spreading the News • Courier Journal Article • We also got interviews and reports on television – NBC Affiliate The Wave and WLKY News

21. SOCIAL ACTION!! • We decided to conduct our Social Action Activities over 4 different days because we wanted to really send home the idea and the practice of standing up for your community and for what's right. We didn’t want our scholars, parents, or interns to forget that this isn’t just a one day effort. It takes many parts and should be hit in many different ways.

22. Day ONEJuly 10, 2009 • We had a community Field Day. We invited local daycares and neighbors. The only admission was to sign a petition supporting the 3 main points that CDF specified as we engage our community and members of Congress

23. Day TWOJuly 15, 2009 • We had an event called “One Mic, One Heart Many Voices” a which was a town hall meeting about health care. We invited our members of Congress and all members of the community. We used the information and resources provided by CDF and invited all the local news outlets.

24. One Mic, One Heart, MANY VOICES

25. ONE MIC, ONE HEART, MANY VOICES • After the Town Hall we marched through our neighborhood with our signs and our cheers so that everyone in our neighborhood knew that we were serious about Healthcare

26. DAY THREEJuly 17, 2009 • After collecting signatures for our petition and letters from scholars, parents, staff members and community supporters, a smaller group of student leaders went to our Senators Offices to deliver them

27. Day FOURJuly 20, 2009 • We took a site Field Trip to our local main Library and had Integrated Reading Curriculum there. After Lunch we marched in the downtown Louisville area so that people outside our community could know what was important to us.

28. Afternoon Activities • This year, after funding was cut more than in previous years, at St. George’s Community Center Freedom School, we decided to pull together and use our creativity in order to provide enjoyable and enriching activities for our scholars.

29. Physical Education • A very important part of our afternoon was Physical Education. We wanted to be sure that each child had an opportunity to be physical and build energy through structured outdoor activities. We also had a partnership with Coach Tee’s Physical Fitness Camp, which gave us opportunities to work out with and have full scale activities with a program with a real training regimen.

30. Health and Wellness • In order to drive home the point about healthy choices, we used the resources available to talk to the scholars about eating, hygiene, and physical activities that improve health. We then followed up with parents with information about how they can help their scholars by choosing healthier options for their families.

31. Cultural Diversity • Because we believe that its important that our scholars have a knowledge of other cultures, three of our interns spearheaded a Cultural Diversity Class in which they created passports and journals for each student in the program. After having their “passport” students traveled to different countries during the Freedom School Summer. Some of the places they traveled were Japan, Morocco and Central America. • The interns provided the scholars with information about the country’s culture and history, they taught them words and phrases from the country’s language, students participated in activities and games that derived form the country and lastly, the students were able to eat authentic cuisine from the country they had studied.

32. Cultural Diversity

33. Cultural Diversity

34. Finale Preparation • Our Finale program was Titled “Music through Time” Two of our interns spearheaded the teaching of African Dance, African and Modern Drumming, 50’s Style Dancing, Modern Dance, Stepping, and poetry performed to music.

35. Health Care • In addition to the very enjoyable classes we conducted during the afternoons, we also had classes to educate our scholars about the Health Care Crisis in America. Using information gathered personally and also provided by the Children’s Defense Fund National Office, we were able to educate and organize our scholars around the issue.

36. FIELD TRIPS Swimming, Bowling, Library, Community Trips, etc.

37. Swimming • Our site worked with the local park and recreation department so that we could provide swimming for our scholars once a week, every week of programming

38. Bowling • Our scholars participated in Bowling twice through the summer. We went to Shively Bowling Alley and there was lots of fun had by all scholars and interns.

39. Community Service Trips • Our Level 3 classes took a field trip to Healthy Place ( a shelter in Louisville) during the week of community. They had a chance to volunteer by unloading trucks and also helping to prepare food for the people who lived there. They also had an opportunity to speak to some of the people who lived there.

40. Healthy Place Trip

41. Parent Involvement and Engagement Parent Meetings, Parent Participation

42. Parent Workshops

43. Parent Involvement • Whenever we had an event where we invited the community, our parents always came out to help with food and supervision. For that, we are eternally grateful.

44. Volunteers and Special Guests We had guests come to our Freedom School for Harambee, Integrated Reading Curriculum, and other Special Events

45. Read-Aloud Guests We had the opportunity to have many different visitors to join us for Harambee from Politicians, Reporters, Board Members, Educators, and other members of the Louisville Community

46. Read-Aloud Guests

47. Integrated Reading Curriculum Guests • Volunteers of America – came to participate in our market day for “One Hen” • Yolanda DeMaree – U of Louisville employee spoke to Level 2 Classes about Achieving their Dreams for “Coming Home” • Mr. Kim – U of Louisville Student talked to Level 2 students about his Asian culture and showed them how to make paper cranes

48. Other Guests • Nerrick Fleming – College Student and local DJ spoke with our Level 3 students about making good choices in order to achieve the things they want in life • UofL NPHC – Joined our Freedom School for College Day. They discussed the importance of education and giving back to the community. They also did a step demonstration for the scholars! • Ms. Raquia – Joined our site for our travel to Morocco. She is a professional belly dancer and was able to educate while enriching the scholars

49. THANK YOU!! MRS. W.L. LYONS BROWN, SR