FirstLine scholars compete in Special Olympics Bowling Tournament

Last week, Colonial Bowling Lanes in Harrahan, hosted a Special Olympic Bowling Tournament. Arthur Ashe Charter School, Samuel J. Green Charter School, John Dibert Community School at Phillis Wheatley, and Langston Hughes Academy, each had students participating in the tournament.

Each team bowled at least two games, and let me tell you, I have never seen so many strikes! A big congrats goes out to all of our scholars who participated, and to everyone who helped to make this even possible.

WWE and Otis visit Langston Hughes Academy

Stephanie McMahon, AJ Lee and Cody Rhodes from WrestleMania visited Langston Hughes Academy first graders to celebrate reading! Otis, from Otis by Loren Long, also came along to share his story. Otis has travelled across the country on the Read Mobile, visiting students to tell them about the importance of reading. Reading is a celebration!

As a farewell gift, each student received a copy of Otis' story to share with their friends and family.

To watch a video of WWE stars reading to Langston Hughes Academy first graders - click here!

To view the photo gallery from the WWE visit - click here!

A big thank you to We Give Books and the Read Mobile and to WrestleMania!

Langston Hughes Academy Kicks off Fall with Reading!

LHA’s Scholastic Book Fair started this week. The fall book fair is open from September 16^th through September 20^th at Langston Hughes Academy. Each LHA scholar will receive a $5 Scholastic Dollars gift card to use for book purchases!

In addition to the book fair, PRIME TIME kicked off the fall semester on Wednesday September 18^th with a special presentation from author Alex McConduit.

PRIME TIME Family Reading Time at LHA will meet every Wednesday until October 23^rd. The program is a unique family literacy program designed for students, ages 6 to 10, and their families. Each week a storyteller reads an illustrated children book consisting of culturally diverse stories from around the world spanning fairy tales, folk tales, fables, historical accounts, and other narrations of real-life circumstances that are familiar to adults and children alike. Following the reading, the discussion leader or scholar, guides the group to make personal connections. The program demonstrates how literature can enrich one’s life, models strategies for continue family bonding through reading, and provides families critical information on school and library resources for continued reading.

PRIME TIME Family Reading is a part of FirstLine’s Comprehensive Literacy Initiative. The initiative aims to affect literacy not just during the school day, but also at our student’s homes.

Anti-Obesity Campaign Launches at LHA

                         
New Orleans struggles with one of the highest rates of child obesity in the United States. The above video highlights programs in New Orleans fighting to change bad habits. Programs include an increase in school gardens where students learn about where food comes from, incentives for public schools to provide healthy food options, and First Lady Michelle Obama's campaign to promote physical activity.

At the Dreamkeeper Garden, FirstLine Lead Garden Educator, Amy and students from Langston Hughes Academy learn how to grow broccoli and the benefits of eating fruits and vegetables.

As part of our continued mission to serve the whole child, FirstLine Schools offers programs such as Edible Schoolyard New Orleans (ESYNOLA). A signature program of FirstLine Schools, ESYNOLA involves students and the school community in growing, harvesting, preparing and enjoying food together as a means of awakening their senses, cultivating an environment that promotes a sense of pride and responsibility for our land and natural resources, and developing a love of fresh, seasonal foods. The mission of ESY NOLA is to imporve the long-term well-being of our students, families and school community.

Additionally, as part of our continued mission to serve the whole child, FirstLine Schools has adopted Comprehensive School Wellness as one of its major initiatives for the 2012-2013 school year. Comprehensive School Wellness aims to address six key areas of school wellness: (1) Mindset, Policies, Systems, & Assessments, (2) School Food: Nutrition, Access, & Education, (3) Physical Safety, (4) Physical Fitness, (5) Mental & Emotional Health, and (6) Risky Behavior Prevention.

Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program at Langston Hughes Academy

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Langston Hughes Academy, is currently participating in the Fresh Fruits and Vegetable Program during the 2012-2013 school year. The program is supported by the Louisiana Department of Education, and provides funding for schools to distribute fresh fruit and vegetable snacks to all students.

The program is designed to benefit those schools with the highest enrollment of free and reduced-price eligible students. Low-income children generally have fewer opportunities to consume fresh fruits and vegetables on a regular basis. The Fresh Fruits and Vegetable Program not only provides students a healthy snack option, but it also provides an opportunity to try new types of fruits and vegetables that they otherwise might not.

Langston Hughes Academy serves students afternoon snacks on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. Fresh fruit and vegetables are distributed to each classroom throughout the afternoon. Snacks include seasonal fruits and vegetables, such as sliced mango, apple, and orange wedges.

Student Enrichment: Athletics & Art

ASHE STUDENTS GO TO THE HORNETS GAME!

This past Monday March 25th, Ashe students who reached 100% completion of ST Math, as part of FirstLine's Personalized Learning Project, were rewarded with tickets to the New Orleans Hornets game.

As a reward for their success, Ashe students got to hang out with Hugo and watch as the Hornets took on the Los Angeles Clippers!

AWESOME ART AT LANGSTON HUGHES ACADEMY

Langston Hughes Academy sixth, seventh, and eighth grade boys worked together to create a large scale painting illustrating the theme of “Power of Community” for a competition. Students worked hard to complete the work in only 5 class periods! Additionally, the project taught students the necessary steps to complete a large-scale composition.

FirstLine Represents at the Urban League's Schools Expo

Clark Prep Student Ambassadors meeting the crowd.

Dibert SOM Ms. James talks to a potential family.

On Saturday, March 2, the Urban League of Greater New Orleans hosted its 3rd annual Schools Expo, and FirstLine was there in force to represent our schools.  The incredibly popular event moved this year to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome to accomodate the incredible response of families who want to know more about New Orleans schools.  The event includes a school fair, a family resource fair, a networking event, opportunities to apply for and research schools and raffles for free uniforms!

LHA Director Mark Martin and Ms. Sintes!

FirstLine representatives from all of our schools got to meet families, connect with other schools and generally pass a good time!

Thank you Verint & KaBOOM! - New Playground at LHA!

Monday was a pretty incredible day over at Langston Hughes Academy (LHA).  Over 200 volunteers worked for six hours and the end result was a brand new playground, sandbox, puppet theater, mini basketball court, picnic tables, benches, gameboard table tops and a brand new beautiful mural.  The back of the school has been transformed!

Check out the amazing change!!

The build site, afternoon of Feb 6, 2012

The build site, morning of Feb 6, 2012

Verint Representatives with some LHA scholars
at the ribbon-cutting ceremony

This build was made possible through the amazing KaBOOM! organization and the generosity of Verint Systems.  Not only did Verint donate funds, but 75 of the volunteers at the build day were Verint employees - some came all the way from India!  Verint started their sales meeting the next day, here in New Orleans, but those that volunteered on the LHA KaBOOM! build flew in a day early to be able to take part.  It was wonderful to get to know some of the Verint employees and to share this amazing day with them.

Dow Edwards, Co-Chair of the
NOLA180 Board of Directors, thanking
the volunteers

LHA scholars also took part in this project.  Scholars were a part of the playground design day, they created thank you cards for all of the volunteers, the LHA Marching Eagles performed at the check presentation/ribbon-cutting ceremony, and some scholars were a part of the ribbon-cutting ceremony.  The playground will open for the students tomorrow (Thursday, February 9, 2012) and we can't wait to see what they think of their new playground!

Volunteers at the end of the build day

Media Alert: VERINT AND KaBOOM! TO BUILD PLAYGROUND IN JUST ONE DAY AT LANGSTON HUGHES ACADEMY IN NEW ORLEANS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                

CONTACT:    Rebekah Cain, FirstLine Schools, 504-952-1331, rcain@firstlineschools.org

                        Anne Patton, Verint Systems, 770-754-8656, anne.patton@verint.com

                        Mike Vietti, KaBOOM!, 785-320-2137, mvietti@kaboom.org

                                                         

DESIGNED BY KIDS, BUILT BY VOLUNTEERS: 

VERINT AND KaBOOM! TO BUILD PLAYGROUND IN JUST ONE DAY AT LANGSTON HUGHES ACADEMY IN NEW ORLEANS

WHAT:                   More than 200 volunteers from Verint^® Systems, ACCENT on Arrangements, Inc., FirstLine Schools and Langston Hughes Academy Charter School, organizers from KaBOOM! and residents of the local community will join forces on Monday, Feb. 6 to build a new playground at the school. The new playground’s design is based on drawings created by children who participated in a Design Day event in January.   

WHY:                  Today’s kids spend less time playing outside than any previous generation in part because only 1-in-5 children live within walking distance of a park or playground. This play deficit is having profound consequences for kids physically, socially and cognitively. Children need a place to play every day in order to be active and healthy, something KaBOOM! has been committed to since 1996.

                            The new playground will provide more than 400 children in the community with a safe place to play. Currently, the children who attend Langston Hughes Academy Charter School do not have a playground for students to enjoy.

                            The playground will be the first built by KaBOOM! and Verint and is one of more than 150 playground builds KaBOOM! will lead across the country in 2012 in an effort to fulfill its vision of a great place to play within walking distance of every child in America.

WHEN:               Monday, February 6

                            8:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.             Kick-off ceremony and volunteer deployment

                            11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.          Best viewing of playground construction

                            1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.             Final construction phase and adjustments

                            2:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.             Ribbon-cutting ceremony/check presentation to dedicate new play area

                            (Note: all times approximate)

WHERE:            Langston Hughes Academy Charter School
3519 Trafalgar St.
New Orleans, LA  70119

                           

WHO:                 New Orleans City Councilmember Susan Guidry;

                            Hundreds of volunteers from the community

VISUALS:          Before and after shots of the site

                            Volunteers assembling brightly colored playground equipment

                            Volunteers moving 45,360 square feet of safety surfacing by hand

Ribbon-cutting ceremony to dedicate the playground

Langston Hughes Academy

The mission of Langston Hughes Academy Charter School is to provide students with the knowledge, skills and character traits necessary to succeed in high school, college and the world beyond. Our goal is to send every student to college by preparing them for the best public and private high schools in the New Orleans area. Learn more at http://www.langstonhughesacademy.org. 

FirstLine Schools

The mission of FirstLine Schools is to create and inspire great public schools in New Orleans. FirstLine currently operates Samuel J. Green Charter School, Arthur Ashe Charter School, John Dibert Community School, Langston Hughes Academy, and Joseph S. Clark Preparatory High School. 

Verint Systems Inc.

Verint^® (NASDAQ: VRNT) is the global leader in Actionable Intelligence^® solutions and value-added services. Its extensive portfolio of Enterprise Intelligence Solutions^™ and Security Intelligence Solutions^™ helps worldwide organizations capture and analyze complex, underused information sources—such as voice, video and unstructured text—to enable more timely, effective decisions. More than 10,000 organizations in 150 countries, including over 85 percent of the Fortune 100, use Verint solutions to improve enterprise performance and make the world a safer place. Headquartered in N.Y. and a member of the Russell 3000 Index, Verint has offices worldwide and an extensive global partner network. Learn more at www.verint.com.

ACCENT on Arrangements, Inc., a DMC Network Company

Founded in 1991 by Diane B. Lyons, ACCENT on Arrangements, Inc. is a privately held corporation with the primary interest of planning, managing and supervising group activities to include spouse/guest programs, team building activities, special events, entertainment and décor, transportation services, speaker programs, hospitality staff and VIP services as well as children’s programs and events. Headquartered in New Orleans, ACCENT has a management team with more than 90 years of combined destination management experience. It is a proud member of the DMC Network, an LLC of the top performing, wholly owned DMCs through North America.

KaBOOM!

KaBOOM! is the national non-profit dedicated to saving play. Children today spend less time playing outdoors than any previous generation, a fact that is having disastrous consequences on their health, achievement levels, and overall well-being. To fight this play deficit, social entrepreneur Darell Hammond founded non-profit KaBOOM! in 1996 in Washington, D.C. with a vision of creating a great place to play within walking distance of every child in America. Since then, KaBOOM! has mapped over 89,000 places to play, built more than 2,000 playgrounds, and successfully advocated for play policies in hundreds of cities across the country. KaBOOM! also provides communities with online tools to self-organize and take action to support play on both a local and national level. Hammond chronicles the founding of the organization and the importance of the cause of play in his The New York Times Best Seller KaBOOM!: How One Man Built a Movement to Save Play. The book details how businesses and communities can work together to save play for children across the country. All author proceeds support KaBOOM!. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., KaBOOM! also has offices in Chicago and San Mateo, Calif. For more information, visit www.kaboom.org.

# # #

LHA hosts its first Open Garden Day!

You are invited to the very first
Open Garden Day
at The Dreamkeeper Garden of Langston Hughes Academy
3519 Trafalgar St.
New Orleans, LA 70119

THIS Saturday October 1, 2011
10:00-1:00pm

Edible Fun for the Whole Family!

Please join us for a day of weeding, planting, bed building, and more as we prepare The Dreamkeeper Garden for the fall!

All volunteers are welcome and asked to bring a water bottle and wear comfortable gardening clothes.

Children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult.  
           

Special October Garden Guests:

Junior League of New Orleans
ReLeaf of Tulane School of Medicine
TIDES of Tulane University
New Orleans Outreach


Interested in volunteering at The Dreamkeeper Garden of Langston Hughes Academy on a regular basis?
Please contact Kelly Regan kelly@esynola.org to learn more about our volunteer opportunities.

Eat to Learn, Learn to Eat

Making Life By What We Give
-Winston Churchill
 

This past Saturday, Samuel J. Green Charter School hosted its first Open Garden Day of the year! It was a great success, with over 100 volunteers showing up to help our edible garden grow and make our neighborhood beautiful! The new members of the Louisiana Delta Service Corps started at ESY NOLA earlier this month and made their big debut at Open Garden Day, assisting volunteers with pruning trees, composting, seed collecting, and plenty of weeding. Some volunteers also did a great job in the kitchen, chopping tomatoes and cubing feta for the watermelon salad!

In true Firstline Schools tradition, I’d like to give a shout-out to Junior League New Orleans, Boys Hope Girls Hope of Greater New Orleans and Tulane University’s Society of Young Black Public Health Professionals for their dedication to our program along with all of the families and friends that showed up to help out! We couldn’t have made this day happen without you guys! Also, I would like to give a special shout-out to Langenstein’s for partnering with ESY NOLA, sponsoring all of the ingredients for lunch and helping make this day even more special!

Today I would like to introduce you to the team that helps bring our mission to life and who will be frequently referenced in this blog. As I mentioned last week, all 5 schools serve meals made almost entirely from scratch as well as a daily salad bar. In order to make these healthy meals available and changes happen, it takes more effort, energy and a dedicated staff. As we can see with the participation at Open Garden Day, it takes a village to make our ideas come to life, from café staff members to ESY food educators, to parents and community volunteers giving their time in our café dining commons and garden.

Chris Van Vliet is Firstline Schools’ Chef/Director of Food Services, overseeing all 5 school cafeterias. He’s been at Firstline since November 2010 and has been working in school food service for about 10 years. Ernishia Calvin is our new Food Service Administrative Assistant. Chris and Ernishia are both based out of Joseph S. Clark Prep High School, the newest FirstLine school. We work with Sodexo as our food service management company, so we can utilize their buying power to provide fresh, healthy meals for our school children. Van Cao is our Sodexo General Manager who coordinates and provides good, safe food for our school cafeterias. Juan Rodriguez is our Sodexo Area Manager that works with Firstline Schools, as well as Louis Edmond who also is a Chef/Trainer at our schools. Our Kitchen Managers across the network include: Joyce Renfro at S.J . Green, Cheritta Watts at John Dibert Community School, Kathleen Bush at Langston Hughes Academy, Jaunita Blakely at Arthur Ashe, and Shemeko Johnson at Clark Prep. All of these people help make our mission to provide good, healthy school food possible.

As for ESY NOLA, our staff has grown to 20 members across all Firstline sites and new positions, such as mine as the In-house Dietetic Intern, have been added to bring more of a health and overall wellness focus to our work. Our staff is continuing to grow and bios will be up on ESYNOLA.org shortly.

Next week, find out what our third and fourth graders plates have in common with the First Lady’s plate!