Clark Prep's Circle Foods Field Trip Challenge

Clark Prep's ESYNOLA Food Science class took a field trip to Circle Foods on Wednesday! This week, the class was working on family meal planning on a budget. With that in mind, Chef Educator Callie decided to create a fun challenge for her students. 

The challenge was to create a healthy and cheap meal using ONLY ten dollars. They were required to use at least four of the five food groups, and to create their own recipes. While ten dollars may not seem like much for a family meal, once they got to Circle Foods, each group was successful in keeping their meal under $10! 

One group chose to make cheesy rice with chicken and broccoli, one made homemade chicken, spinach and cheese hot pockets, and the last group made homemade mac and cheese with broccoli AND homemade applesauce. 

Congrats to our Junior Chef groups Donyall and Slyvanus, Jerome, Daryelle, and Rodney, and Damar and Ronica on making excellent, budget-conscious meals. We'll certainly be coming to your restaurants when you open them! 

Introducing our Louisiana Delta Service Corps Members

Louisiana Delta Service Corps (LDSC) is an AmeriCorps program and is one of over 400 AmeriCorps National Service programs. Known as the “Peace Corps of the Delta,” LDSC creates opportunities for AmeriCorps members across the Louisiana Delta region to perform vital services in neighborhoods and communities. The LDSC partners with nonprofits, community and faith based organizations, public schools, and government agencies to help build safer, smarter, and healthier communities.

We at FirstLine Schools are proud to be a partner organization of LDSC, and have a number of their members working for us at our Network and in our schools. They are an instrumental part of our FirstLine Family, and we want to introduce you to them!

Shelby Akins- Volunteer Coordinator

Shelby is originally from Richmond, Virginia. She graduated from James Madison University in 2014 and moved to Baton Rouge at the end of that summer for City Year, hoping to fulfill a goal of living in New Orleans. She then applied to LDSC and after a long summer of couch-surfing & keeping her fingers crossed, she was offered the Volunteer Coordinator position! She got to NOLA by driving all 1,000 miles between her hometown and Louisiana! At FirstLine, her responsibilities include documenting and tracking the parents, college students, and community members serving as volunteers in our schools, working with school admin/staff to figure out what volunteer opportunities are available in each school and how to best meet their needs, and observing afterschool programs and events to collect feedback from volunteers, helping improve their experience. Shelby enjoys building relationships with and meeting people across New Orleans who all share an understanding of the importance mentorship and extracurricular activities play in a student’s development and education.

Fun Fact: Shelby's car, Huey, is named after the delightful 80s band Huey Lewis & the News, probably best known for their appearance on the soundtrack to Back to the Future, her personal favorite movie of all-time.

Charlotte Steele- Garden Program Development Coordinator at Phillis Wheatley Community School

Charlotte is originally from New Jersey, and went to school in Kalamazoo, Michigan. She moved to New Orleans when one of her best friends decided to move here to work on her writing. Charlotte wanted to go somewhere new, so she asked if she could come along, and now here she is! Before applying to the LDSC position, she was a Garden Education Intern for Edible Schoolyard New Orleans. Wheatley is our newest ESYNOLA site at FirstLine, so Charlotte's LDSC project includes helping to build out the garden area, assisting with classes, starting a composting program, and designing a harvest program for families to take home produce. Her favorite part of the job is working with the students. She says, "It feels so good to be hugged every day, high fived in the hallway, and called out to, 'Hi Ms. Charlotte!' Sometimes I feel like a movie star! The student's love feels unconditional. And the love I have for them is, too!"

Fun Fact: Charlotte used to ice skate competitively and did so in college for two years. It has been a huge part of her life, but moving to New Orleans pretty much stopped it entirely. However, Charlotte recently figured out how to get her skating fix in the south: by joining the "Big Easy Roller Girls" Roller Derby team! Every week she has a new bruise or injury, giving her a new saying: "People always say 'it never hurts to try something new'...but in Roller Derby it totally does."

Hannah J. Mills- Garden Program Development Coordinator at Arthur Ashe Charter School

Hannah is originally from Central New Jersey, and graduated from Eastern University outside of Philadelphia. After school, she joined the Presbyterian service corps called the Young Adult Volunteer Program, which brought her to New Orleans. After serving two years in the program, she is excited to be spending her third year in the city with FirstLine and Edible Schoolyard New Orleans. Her responsibilities at Ashe include teaching garden classes and helping to tend the garden, but her LDSC project aims to build capacity for the Edible Schoolyard New Orleans program by producing an archive of visuals for special events, school beautification, and our garden and kitchen spaces. Hannah is most excited about FirstLine's commitment to teaching students about the importance and beauty of growing and cooking your own food. She says, "Knowing that the body, mind, and soul need to be nourished in order to be our best selves is an important lesson. I'm thrilled to have the privilege to bring joy and hope to our students by partaking in and teaching this lesson through FirstLine."

Fun Fact: Hannah is learning to play the djembe and aspires to do nonprofit work in India.

Mallory Naquin, RDN, LDN- Teaching Kitchen Program Development Coordinator at Samuel J. Green Charter School

Mallory was born and raised here in Louisiana, right outside of New Orleans in Cajun Country. She graduated with her undergraduate degree in Dietetics from Nicholls State University, completed her Dietetic Internship at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in June 2015, and became a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist in July 2015. Her responsibilities include teaching nutrition and culinary education, and her LDSC project focuses on documentation of Edible Schoolyard New Orleans' garden and culinary education curriculum, which will result in a digital archive that can be shared with other garden education programs. She is most excited to be able to share her passion for food, health, and farming with future generations, enhancing the quality of life of our students, their families, and our community.

Fan Fact: Mallory spends her free time learning about nutrition and agriculture by exploring local farmer's markets, "pick-your-own" farms, and tending her own garden at home, collecting ingredients to create new recipes or improve old favorites!

Dinner After the Bell, presented by FirstLine Schools and Dinner Lab

FirstLine Schools and Dinner Lab brought their talents together on the night of Wednesday, October 14th, to present #DinnerAfterTheBell, an intimate dinner held in the garden at Samuel J. Green Charter School. Proceeds from the event will support FirstLine's signature programs, such as NOLA Tech, Summer Camp X and Personalized Learning Project (just to name a few).

Guests were treated to a cocktail hour that featured a signature cocktail called "The Green Thumb". The menu, created by Chef Stephen McCary, was inspired by his grandfather's garden. Some of the ingredients used in the meal and cocktail were harvested from the very garden the event was held in, and prepared expertly by Dinner Lab's Chefs working just feet away. Assisting with the meal preparation and presentation were two of our very own students from Clark Prep. Hannah and Damar are culinary arts students in the NOLA Tech program. They did such an awesome job in the kitchen, that Dinner Lab extended them the opportunity to become culinary interns!

NOLA Tech students join the kitchen staff as Chef Stephen McCary reviews the night's menu.

#DinnerAfterTheBell, which was sponsored by Circular Consulting, will become a staple FirstLine event for years to come. To find out more ways you can support our efforts, contact Ericka Windon.

For more pictures of #DinnerAftertheBell, visit our Facebook album.

Summer Camp X Rounds Out a Great Season

Summer Camp X just finished up a great summer season at Ashe Charter School! Our FirstLine Students participated in a wide variety of activities; from biking, to graphic design, to dance, to running, to yoga, and even running a restaurant!

Besides being a great way to spend time during the summer, all of our classes at Summer Camp X aim to foster our students' mind, body, and spirit. Whether they are learning to set goals, or learning the skills necessary to run a restaurant, they are spending their school break in a constructive and valuable way.

For more info on Summer Camp X, click HERE. We hope to see your FirstLine student there next summer!

Restaurant Impossible at Summer Camp X

Restaurant Impossible, just one of the many courses at Summer Camp X, celebrated their final days of camp by opening a student-designed, built, and run restaurant! Only open for two days during lunch, Restaurant Impossible was a show stopper.

One of our kind patrons gave us five stars and wrote the below review:

I will admit, I was skeptical, as I've experienced mixed results eating lunch in school cafeterias in the past. However, Restaurant Impossible blew away its cafeteria competitors.

My party was seated by two polite and undoubtedly-brilliant hostesses, and we each promptly received a bowl of seasoned popcorn and a cold glass of ice water from our waiter, Danté. The popcorn was delicious, and every person in my party of four ate every kernel. Danté (rising 7th grader) and Caitlyn (rising 2nd-grader) took care of all of us throughout the meal, promptly refilling our water glasses with some of the finest and freshest water offered in New Orleans. An impeccably-dressed manager in a salmon-colored shirt and khaki vest (with matching square) roamed the floor, ensuring that all guests were satisfied.

The food came out shortly after we ordered. The chicken tenders were just that--tender. The breading was perfectly crunchy, giving me the satisfaction of fried food without the grease. The mac-n-cheese portions were Cheesecake Factorian, and the presentation was OnPoint.com.

One of my colleagues ordered the veggie tacos, which included a healthy scoop of guacamole and locally-sourced eggplant. Both the tacos and the guac looked outstanding--take notes, all other purveyors of Mexican food in New Orleans.

Another colleague of mine ordered the chicken wings and mozzarella sticks. This colleague exists on a diet that is at least 75% chicken wings, so she has a very discerning palette when it comes to fried bird arms. Well, guess what? The chefs at Restaurant Impossible knocked her socks off, and she refused to share. The mozzarella sticks she did share was one of the most delightful fried cheese experiences you could ever hope to have.

My final colleague was in a rush, so she only ordered the chips and homemade grape-tomato salsa. (You read that right.) Guess what? The innovators at Restaurant Impossible knocked this one out of the park, too, and left me wondering how a team of middle- and elementary-schoolers can be more creative in the kitchen than a 30 year-old who once received an A in his 'Making Meals for Others' class in 8th grade. Absolument magnifique.

My only regrets for the meal were that A) I didn't try the smoothies, and B) I didn't pay the $5 extra to sit in the VIP room. (I tried. My colleagues were skeptical, and soon regretted not purchasing the status.) All in all, I give Restaurant Impossible a 100/100.

If you weren't able to make it to Restaurant Impossible, we have some pictures to ease the pain. 

Educator of the Year: Ms. Caitlin Meehan-Draper

A graduate from Eckerd College, Caitlin joined Teach for America in 2010. During this time she taught 10th, 11th, and 12th graders at Greensboro High School in Alabama. In her first year teaching Ms. Meehan-Draper decided to teach Night by Elie Wiesel. This lesson was inspired by her time at Eckerd College, where Wiesel taught. Each year Wiesel gave a speech to the Freshman class. This initial interaction with Wiesel and his beliefs about our moral compass, sparked an everlasting relationship between Night and Ms. Meehan-Draper's students.

The first time Caitlin taught the book to her class it was a challenge for both her and her students. However, each time Ms. Meehan-Draper taught the book it got better and better. Her students were soon able to analyze contemporary issues through the themes and lessons of Night.  Students wrote papers about the innocence or guilt of German citizens, the impact of silence on violence, along with a multitude of other concepts. In the 2011-2012 school year Ms. Meehan-Draper fundraised nearly $10,000 to take a group of students to hear Wiesel's address the Eckerd freshman class. 

After two years at Greensboro High School, Ms. Meehan-Draper joined our family at Samuel J. Green Charter School. Since joining the Green family, Ms. Meehan-Draper has taught Night every year. 

Caitlin's work in the classroom and the impact of her lessons did not go unnoticed. Ms. Meehan-Draper was nominated by Green Charter School Director Ava Lee and Middle School Principal Andrew Sullivan for the Holocaust Educator of the Year Award. Shortly following her nomination, the Jewish Community Center interviewed Ms. Meehan-Draper. During the interview Ms. Meehan-Draper was able to share letters from past students who wrote about how holocaust studies have changed their lives. Caitlin also showed the JCC an article she wrote for Southern Jewish Life about her trip to Eckerd to hear Wiesel speak. 

On April 12th the JCC held the Yom HaShoa ceremony which remembers the victims of the Holocaust and their families. It was during this ceremony that Ms. Meehan-Draper was honored for her incredible work. Other events included prayers, stories from Holocaust survivors and liberators, and a reading from Alex Zapruder. 

Caitlin said, "it was a beautiful night because my parents, co workers, school leaders, and students came to support me. This award validated a lof the work I have done to teach the transformative lessons of the Holocaust. I look forward to many more years of teaching Holocaust units and I hope to get better and better at it."

Green Charter wins the WWII Museum's robotics challenge music video contest!

On May 9, nearly 40 teams, including Samuel J. Green Charter School, participated in the World War II Museum's robotics challenge. 

Each team was tasked with completing a variety of robotics missions and producing a two-minute music video about one or more important innovations or inventions from WWII.

Samuel J. Green Charter School's robotics club built a robot that was able to successfully complete several missions and earn points for the team. Building a robot is no easy task, so this accomplishment was impressive in itself! 

We are excited to announce that Samuel J. Green Charter took first place in the music video portion of the challenge! Students created a music video, set to the tune of M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes." The short video reviews a number of important inventions from the time period with a series of clever rhymes. 

Check it out below!

Also, Samuel J. Green Charter School would like to give a shout out to the Phillis Wheatley Community School (formerly John Dibert) team that competed.  They graciously shared their practice table, mat, and mission models with their fellow FirstLiners. Go Team FirstLine!  

Check out Chartwells' new NutriSlice website and app!

The way we access our school menus is changing in an exciting new way! FirstLine Schools, in partnership with Chartwells, is now using Nutrislice to publish the school menus to a new interactive website and a free smartphone app! Now our school community can access our menus anywhere, anytime!

New easy-to-use features include:

* More information about menu items, including a photo and description

* Filter for common food allergens like nuts, wheat and dairy

* A translation feature to translate your menus into a number of different languages

* Access to nutrition information like carb counts and calories with just a few clicks!

The new site and mobile app is now available and information will continue to be posted on the Chartwells' website. Be on the lookout for the launch of our new site and feel free to direct any questions to Tom Gandolfo, 504-914-8461

Pizza Poetry Day at Green

Students at Green Charter were proud to participate in this year's Pizza Poetry Day sponsored by Big Class in celebration of National Poetry Month. The day featured writing, poetry reading, and pizza. Last Friday, April 17th, student's poems were printed onto pizza boxes, which were delivered throughout the city. We are delighted to share a selection of those poems with you here:

School is fun

school is cool

my mom thinks

school rules

When school

is over

it makes

me cry

then

my mother

sings

me

a

lullaby.

– My’kael

I live in New Orleans

flying high, singing

songs you might

see me flying

by, sometimes

it will be in

the fall,

nothing

will ever

make me

fall.

– Hiyanta

I love pizza

it’s so cheesy

and crispy I love meat love

pepperoni and others too

so I love all types

and that’s me.

– Damiri

Sadness is the soul of the moon

Stars that walk like people

and keep on going

And people never see

the beauty of me

That a thing can keep sealed

I used to have a dream,

only one about the real me.

– Nala

Humpty Dumpty fell on the

hill he couldn’t get

up and never got

his wish of

pizza so

you might

want to

get pizza

he wanted

it.

– Tyriell

School: Samuel J. Green Charter School

Wheatley Community School's Black History & Culture Fair

On February 25th, Phillis Wheatley Community School (formerly John Dibert Community School), had a very special event in honor of Black History Month - A History and Culture Fair, organized by Ms. Sarah Bliss and her 6th Grade Scholars. 

Since the beginning of the school year, students have been looking forward to black history month. The fair provided students the opportunity to study one person in depth while also learning from each other by creating and presenting their projects. Some in-class research time was provided, but the majority of the work was done on their own time, over Mardi Gras break nonetheless! 

Students were integral to the event's success, helping to set up, take down, distribute tickets, and collect votes. If students weren't presenting, they were giving tours to parents and the Pre-K to 2nd grade classes that attended. The historical figures studied ranged from the well known (Rosa Parks and Harriet Tubman) to the lesser known (Angela Davis and Meadowlark Lemon). It was an amazing experience for students, parents, and the whole Wheatley community; seeing kids teach guests about their history and take so much pride in what they learned was really inspiring. The projects went above and beyond what Ms. Bliss expected, and she plans to make sure The Black History Month History & Culture Fair becomes a February tradition at Wheatley. 

Congratulations to winners of the prizes, which were were given in 3 categories: 

Presentation - Kiara Bell (Ella Fitzgerald)

Lookalike (dressed up as historical figure) - a tie: Francisco Williams (Ray Charles) and Chavone Zeno (Katherine Dunham)

Project Excellence - Dascia Cofield (Mamie Smith)

For more pictures of the History & Culture Fair, click THIS LINK  

Celebrating Successes at FirstLine

On Friday February 13th, while all our scholars slept in for the beginning of their Mardi Gras break, FirstLine’s staff gathered together in the gym at Arthur Ashe Charter School for a network pep rally! The Theme for the Pep Rally was: The Mystic Krewe of FirstLine presents: The FirstLine Renaissance. In true Krewe tradition, the celebration started with a parade. Each school put together a float that their staff members marched in behind. As the brass music blared and the schoolteachers stomped, the Mardi Gras spirit was infectious throughout the gym. A healthy competition among schools ensued, where they were judged in (3) categories. Everyone showed their FirstLine spirit as they acted out the key messages of the FirstLine Renaissance: Body, Mind and Spirit. After the competition, it was time for the main event of the pep rally: The Inaugural Big Chief Awards.

The Big Chief Awards were created to spotlight teachers and staff who exemplify FirstLine’s core values of Learning, Results, Collaboration, Service, and Fun (the secret value). At the awards ceremony, awards in each area were presented, with (2) winners taking home the service award. The names of the award winners were kept a surprise until the video presentations revealed the winner. When the names of the winners were announced, huge cheers erupted in the bleachers, and winners were prone to being swarmed with hugs and adoration from their peers. As they made their way to the spotlight at the center of the gym, the Big Chiefs (who the awards are named after), were there to present them with a beautiful glass sculpture created by local non-profit organization Ya-Ya.

Big Chief Award Winners (l to r): Carolyn Trask, Julia Dezen,
              LaJean Hunter, Sivi Domango, Kaitlyn Gaddis, Eileen Bunton

The awards ceremony inspired all FirstLine employees and reminded us of why we do what we do. It showed us just how much we can achieve, and how much stronger we become when we group together as a network. But above all, it showed us that even though everything we do is for the scholars, none of it could happen without the staff. We would like to congratulate the inaugural Big Chief Award Winners on a job well done! Thank You for all that you do!

The Ramona Luke Big Chief of Service Award (Two winners): Carolyn Trask, Langston Hughes Academy, Social Worker; LaJean Hunter, Joseph S. Clark Preparatory High School, Front Office Administrator

The Darcy McKinnon Big Chief of Collaboration Award: Sivi Domango, Arthur Ashe Charter School, Co-Director

The Anthony “Doc” Recasner Big Chief of Learning Award: Eileen Bunton, Samuel J. Green Charter School, Literacy Integration Specialist

The Brenda Benoit Big Chief of Results Award: Julia Dezen, Samuel J. Green Charter School, Fourth Grade Teacher

The Kelly Miranda Big Chief of Fun Award: Kaitlyn Gaddis, Phillis Wheatley (formerly John Dibert) Community School, Kindergarten Teacher

To view all of the Big Chief Award video presentations click THIS LINK.
For photos, click THIS LINK.

Green Charter gets a new soccer field!

Through an in-kind donation from Crescent City Soccer, Samuel J. Green Charter School has received a brand new soccer field! Crescent City Soccer runs a league for adults, and one of their leagues plays on the field four to five times per week, often until 11pm!

The kids at Green love running around on the brand new grass and playing all sorts of games with each other. The beautiful open space provides a welcome area to just have fun and to be children. While soccer may not be the most popular sport in the US, we're guessing that it's going to become much more popular at S.J. Green Charter in the upcoming weeks!