FirstLine in the Community: Habitat & Coaches

At Samuel J Green Charter School

Tuesday March 26, 2013, our own coach Dwight Myvett from Samuel J. Green Charter School, was featured on WWNO 89.9 Community Impact Series. The segment highlighted the national nonprofit Up2Us, which expanded to New Orleans in 2012. The organization aims to provide youth with more sports coaches and mentors through a sports program called Coach Across America.

In addition to coaching physical education at Green Charter School, Coach Myvett coaches basketball at New Orleans Charter Science and Math School, along with acting as a coach and mentor for the Up2Us organization. Born and raised in south central Los Angeles, Coach Myvett is helping our students at Green to not only excel as athletes but also to learn how to channel their energy in positive ways.   

At Joseph S. Clark Preparatory High School

On Saturday, March 23 Clark Prep’s National Honor Society (NHS) embarked on its second Habitat for Humanity project in the city. NHS faculty supervisor and English teacher, Caleb Osborn, 11-12 grades Social Worker Melanie Padron and Foreign Language teacher Glenn Evans joined the students early Saturday morning in the Ninth Ward. The group worked to construct siding on a home and assisted Habitat for Humanity staff in various capacities. They also organized the space for projects that will be completed by the large number of incoming Spring Break volunteers over the next couple of weeks.

Altogether there were thirteen students involved in the National Honor Society and friends project this past weekend. The service day was described as a great learning opportunity where Habitat for Humanity staff demonstrated how to use power tools such as electric sheers. One student found the project to be a nice and uplifting experience. Clark Prep is proud to work with community partners like Habitat for Humanity and give back to our community. Trips like these provide students with the chance to not only do meaningful work but continue to learn alongside fellow students, and this time their knowledge expanded to lessons learned outside of the classroom.

Over 400 Volunteers Participated in Service Day at Ashe

volunteers preparing for the day

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "Life's most persistent and urgent question is: 'What are you doing for others?'"

volunteers planting trees

Monday, January 21, 2013 was Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, a day of celebration, reflection and service.  While the rest of the country was hard at work, ESYNOLA got in the spirit with a huge Open Garden / Service Day at Arthur Ashe Charter School! FirstLine staff and families joined us at Ashe planting trees, building beds, and constructing outdoor furniture.  ESY Community Partners, including Up2Us: Coach Across America, City Year, Hands on New Orleans, NOKP, and more hosted activities and offered support.

creating art for the garden

Volunteers dug holes, shoveled up sod, placed edging, and yes… even danced The Wobble. By the end, Ashe had a couple dozen new trees, four giant garden beds ready to be planted, and four new tables with benches.

volunteers hard at work

Thanks to our dedicated parents, great staff, and wonderful community partners for helping make Arthur Ashe one of the best schools in New Orleans.

Kathleen: Homecoming and other Clark Prep Happenings

Clark Prep scholars at the African American Museum

Homecoming is only two days away and Clark is gearing up in the best way possible. Spirit Week is in its fourth day – Thursday is Twin Day – and tomorrow is Bulldog Pride Day. This Wednesday, College Day in Spirit Week lingo, students took interims,  freshmen visited college campuses and sophomores participated in their first of four Service Learning events for the year. Freshmen ladies went to Dillard and the gentlemen went to Tulane. Sophomores went to Animal Rescue New Orleans, the African American Museum as part of the Claiborne Corridor Project, Second Harvest Food Bank and Grow Dat Youth Farm. Scholars finished the project taking pictures of the murals under the I-10 Corridor, they learned a lot!

Now that Homecoming is closer, plans for the Pep Rally are being practiced by the band, athletic teams and the Homecoming Court in the afternoons. The Homecoming Court has been  preparing their statements for Pep Rally and the Homecoming Game. Ms. Freshman, Kerrielle Eaglin, has a lot of Clark Prep pride so she loves staying after school to dance, participate in Wellness Wednesdays and help Mr. Durand, Clark’s Director of Athletic and Enrichment Programs. With this being her first year of high school, she is very happy to be on the Court – and received a lot of congratulations! Ms. Eaglin is looking forward to joining Clark Prep’s new poetry slam club called Silence is Violence and hopes to spread her love for Clark to other students so that they too participate in all that Clark offers.

The Homecoming Court will be helping set-up for the week's festivities like the Homecoming Dance, one of the many highlights on the Homecoming agenda. After the Homecoming football game on Saturday, October 6 at 2:30 p.m. at Pan American Stadium in City Park, the student dance will be held from 8:00-11:00 p.m. in the Clark Prep Gym.  Students are excited about the dance, but I think they are just as or more pumped for the big highlight – the Homecoming Game! LHA’s Band will be playing at the game to keep the motivation high and the fists pumping. A strong, loyal group of Clark Alumni will be running an Alumni Tent selling Clark swag, from shirts to hats. Are you a Clark Alum? Stop by the tent and talk to your fellow Alumni, we would love to keep in touch with you!

We hope you can join in on the fun and be a part of Clark Prep’s 2012 Homecoming!


Kathleen Duffy is the AmeriCorps VISTA Outreach Coordinator for Clark Prep High School.