Edible Schoolyard NOLA's Annual Plant Sale!

It's time to plant your spring garden and The Edible Schoolyard has just the right stuff to get you started.

When: Saturday April 6
Where: Edible garden of Samuel J. Green Charter School
When: 12 - 5 PM
What: We will be selling vegetables, herbs, flowers, shrubs, and butterfly and habitat plants 



Don't forget about the Freret Street Festival, just around the corner. Be sure to check out ESYNOLA's Budding Entrepreneurs booth. The Budding Entrepreneurs program is an afterschool program in which middle schools students grow and create value-added products from the garden, such as hot pepper and grape jams, vinegars, granola and soaps. All of these tasty goods will be available at the Freret Street Festival!

All proceeds benefit the edible gardens across the FirstLine Network 

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 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.

Kathleen: Clark Prep Wins 3rd Place in "Class Got Brass"

Joseph S. Clark Preparatory High School earned Third Place in the Class Got Brass music competition organized by New Orleans Jazz &Heritage Festival and Foundation, Inc. on Sunday, March 24. From the Foundation that hosts Jazz Fest, Class Got Brass completed its second successful year in supporting the New Orleans community in such an inspiring way. Clark Prep won $4,000 by coming in 3^rd place – funds that will be spent on instruments, their repair and other Marching Band needs.

After speaking to Mr. Franklin, Band Director, about what this prize money can do, he said it will not only help the program to buy new instruments, but also allows the students “to see that these are the types of things we can achieve at Clark Prep when students work together.”  Mr. Franklin also explained that the students wanted to be successful in this competition so they collaborated to make it happen, and “when they (the students) have a high desire to do something and work together, all things are achievable at Clark Prep.”

There are many people proud and excited to see Clark Prep begin to show its musical roots again. Our Marching Band and Majorettes participation in Mardi Gras parades was extremely well-received by alumni and all of those throughout the community who know about the school’s history and its strong revival. From local policemen to tourists and now the Jazz & Heritage Foundation, it’s no mystery that those who listen to Clark Prep like what they are hearing.

Class Got Brass is a competition open to all middle and high schools in the state of Louisiana. For Clark Prep to come in Third Place is a huge accomplishment that showcased our talented Marching Band. O. Perry Walker came in First Place with Kipp McDonogh 15 as the Second Place winner. 

Check out the video of "Class Got Brass!" 

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

Kathleen: First Annual Treme Day!

And they're off!

On March 9, 2013 Clark Prep held its first annual Treme Day: 5K + Health and Wellness Fair. The fundraiser took place on campus, with sign-in beginning at 8 am and the event ending at 1 pm. Within these 5 hours, over 250 people completed a 5K (3.1 mile) race (with celebrity starter, Kermit Ruffins), ate food that ranged from turkey dogs to apples, from cabbage with smoked turkey to pasta or jambalaya and rice, watched Clark Prep’s Marching Band and Dance Team perform and, of course, took part in all that was the Health and Wellness Fair.

Having Fun

The entire Gymnasium, Cafeteria, outside field and many classrooms transformed into health-related seminars and activities. Participants were free to roam and mill around Clark Prep’s campus to check out all the fun, valuable and tasty health information found throughout the school. So many interested and curious participants tried and loved the various healthy food options at the Fair, like yogurt parfaits and green smoothies. The massage room had a line for almost the entire event and Zumba with Instructor Mia got just about everybody on their feet.

We enjoyed hosting this annual event and seeing it become real for the first time that Saturday. We deeply appreciate all of the support we received to make this event possible. It was great to see so many community members and partners participate or table at the Health and Wellness Fair. This event couldn’t have happened without all the Clark Prep support from faculty and students, along with all of our sponsors and partners. Go Bulldogs! 


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

Kelley: Free Cooking Classes for FirstLine Parents—Happening Now!

All FirstLine parents are invited to attend free cooking and nutrition classes being offered now. Classes are being held on Wednesdays (through April 3rd) from 11am-1pm in the Ashe Teaching Kitchen.  Classes are taught by Chef April, FirstLine Health and Wellness Manager, and hosted by Edible Schoolyard New Orleans and SecondHarvest Food Bank.

The classes are part of Share OurStrength’s Cooking Matters series. Parents get to learn, cook and eat in every class. Chef April leads parents through important lessons like reading a nutrition label, food safety, and making a healthy meal for a family on a budget. At the end of each class, parents are able to take home a grocery bag of ingredients and the recipes used in class so that they can practice preparing the meal at home.

If you are a FirstLine parent interested in participating, contact Chef April. This is the only way to secure your spot!  We hope to see you there!

Kelley McDonough is a School Wellness Program Coordinator with School Health Connection, a program of the Louisiana Public Health Institute (LPHI). School Health Connection partners with FirstLine Schools in supporting comprehensive school wellness programming. Visit School Health Connection on Facebook here: www.facebook.com/SchoolHealthConnection.

Clark Prep Career Day a Success!

Student Ambassadors with LSU Medical Students – one is Ms. Caulkin’s brother!

On Thursday, January 17th Clark Prep hosted its annual Career Fair. This year the Fair was enjoyed by all grades. Freshman, sophomores, junior and seniors heard from a wide variety of working professionals. Participants were escorted by our Student Ambassadors from room to room where they presented and answered questions for 20 minute-long sessions at a time. One group of guests informed us that our Student Ambassadors were very impressive, guiding them with poise and professionalism. Many speakers are alumni of Clark Prep, with graduation classes represented from the ’60s- ‘90s! 

One of our best and brightest has a secret side conversation with FBI agents. 

A few board members and community partners participated as well. We are very thankful that students had the opportunity to be exposed to so many wonderful careers and begin envisioning what kind of professional path they want to follow and aspire to. A few fields represented at the Career Fair were: policeman, lawyer, writer, data specialist, non-profit program manager, social worker, make-up artists, news reporter, artist, and many others. If you are interested in signing up for our next Career Fair or other Clark Prep events, please let us know!

Is there a doctor in the house? Ms. Gipson captures 2 of our students with Dr. Johnson and Ms. Ssenkoloto from LSU’s School of Public Health: Louisiana Breast and Cervical Health Program. Dr. Denise Johnson is an alumnus of Clark Prep and was Homecoming Queen her senior year!