April 22nd, 2009 by Alan Gottlieb ( http://blog.ednewscolorado.org)

Before 8 a.m. today, I was treated to one of those studies in contrast that make life so interesting.

It started with Thomas Friedman, over my morning coffee.

Friedman is an excellent columnist, turns a nifty phrase, and has changed many people’s thinking on globalization. Some would say by parroting corporate CEOs, but that is a topic for a different blog.

He comes a bit late to the school reform debate, but it’s a big (circus) tent and all are welcome.

In his column today, on America in decline, Friedman quotes a McKinsey consultant who makes an important point:

There are millions of kids who are in modern suburban schools “who don’t realize how far behind they are,” said Matt Miller, one of the authors. “They are being prepared for $12-an-hour jobs - not $40 to $50 an hour.”

All too often many people assume that the woes besieging our nation belong to cities alone. Nothing could be farther from the truth. There are a lot of satisfied consumers (and, truth be told, educators) in the ‘burbs who think their kids are being well prepared for post-secondary life. But a look at remediation rates should set them straight.

After reading Friedman’s column, I headed over to Denver’s high-poverty Kepner Middle School for a breakfast honoring the Kepner Educational Excellence Program. Miracle worker Carrie Olson, a one-in-a-million teacher, has been taking inner-city kids on trips to Europe for the past six years and Washington D.C. for the past 16. Kids and their parents raise all the money for the trips, with a boost from KEEP a non-profit created to support the program.

At today’s breakfast, the mother of one girl, now in high school, broke down in sobs while describing how her daughter’s eighth-grade trip to Europe propelled her out of the neighborhood mind-set of girls wanting to start having babies as soon as they are biologically able to reproduce.

And two eighth-graders described being moved to tears while standing in the room in Amsterdam where Anne Frank penned her diary, which they read before and after their trip.

I’m betting Ms. Olson’s kids will beat the odds and make it to college and beyond. One big reason is that their teacher is driven by a sense of urgency that, despite rhetoric to the contrary, seems to be lacking in too many schools, urban and suburban.

See Alan Gottlieb’s full blog at “education news Colorado.” http://blog.ednewscolorado.org

Mia Rocha & Yekalo Weldehiwet Named

“John Lynch Stars of the Month”

KEEP students Mia Rocha and Yekalo Weldehiwet were both recently named John Lynch Stars of the Month. The “John Lynch Star of the Month” is a monthly program that recognizes outstanding student athletes at the middle and high school levels from Denver metro public and private schools. As monthly winners, both Mia and Yekalo will be invited to the “Salute the Stars” awards luncheon held in May.

Mia has been a three sport player during her three years at Kepner Middle School and has proven herself as a natural team leader with a winning attitude. She has also participated in sports at the Boy’s and Girl’s Club.

In addition to working hard on her academic studies and being a participant in KEEP, Mia has worked with the Safe City Program, Smart Girls, Girls, Inc., and Be the Change Program, all of which focus on leadership skills and the knowledge to make better choices while being a voice in the community and school to help other young people make better choices and decisions.

Yekalo has been a member of the sixth grade soccer team, a two year member and captain of the championship flag football teams, a two year basketball player and is playing spring baseball. He also has participated in sports at the Boy’s and Girl’s Club since the 5^th grade.

Yekalo has a 3.50 grade point average, is a participant in KEEP, is an active volunteer at Kepner mentoring younger students, speaks three African dialects and participates in the Owl, Yes, Newton Learning, Breakthrough and Snowboarding programs.

KEEP is proud of the leadership Mia and Yekalo have demonstrated as well as the accomplishments of these two model students.

Here are some pictures from when the Europe 2009 group viewed Les Miserables in London.  As time permits, I am planning on writing about the things we did on our trip.

Before we left for Europe, all of the students stayed after school from 2:45 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. to listen to the musical in its entirety.  There is something powerful that happens when you listen to the whole thing in one sitting.  Every child was given a libretto and pizza :)! Some of our Europe 2010 and 2011 joined us to prepare for their trip.  It’s always interesting to me what students take away from the story.  Some find themes of friendship, to others it’s a romance and some find a religious meaning.  Some cry and everyone laughs at the Thernardiers!  So by the time we get to London, they’re prepared!

At the theater, we have gotten to know Inch, one of the sales representatives.  Every year since we started in 2003, we purchase shirts for the students.  Inch has been so helpful in making sure we have the correct sizes for our students.  We are so appreciative for her help!  We got her to pose for pictures this year.

The seats we were able to purchase this year were the best we’ve ever had.  Even though we had been traveling for nine exhausting days by the time we saw the musical, almost everyone stayed awake the entire time.  It was so engaging that even students who were skeptical about enjoying it, did.  As Joshua said to me, “I thought I wouldn’t like it and that I would fall asleep.  I was nervous because you were sitting next to me, what would happen if I did fall asleep?  But I really liked it and stayed awake the whole time!”

Some of our students sat with Mr. and Mrs. Thompson who joined us in London this year on the trip (next year, they’ll join us in Paris).  Mr. Thompson shared with them how he didn’t understand it the first time he saw it years ago and how he learned more about it this year.  We were glad they were with us.

As we flew home, I had many demands for my iPod because I have the whole musical loaded on it.  Several students wore their shirts right away, washed them and wore them to school the next day.  We are planning a group picture for next Friday with our shirts so check back!

Also, I received this email from John Tyler in London who works for Dewynters Ltd, the company that supplies the Les Mis shirts.  Be sure to read his comment on this post as well!  Thank you, John for taking the time to write to us!

“We all know how exciting it is, especially when you’re young to visit key cities such as Paris and London which are drenched in history. But maybe that aspect of  what a place has to offer isn’t so appealing at that age, when today and tomorrow are of more interest than yesterday. Being born and lived in London all my life it’s too easy to take it for granted and to focus on all the down sides of 21st century metropolitan living - social deterioration, litter, crime, bad manners, incompetent public services (the archetypal “It wasn’t like this when I was a lad” syndrome - but maybe that’s the story of every modern city). However, every now and then, the continuity of centuries strikes you and it’s difficult not marvel at the realisation that Londoners have stood in a spot or walked along the same streets for two thousand years (e.g. our offices are in Leicester Square which 500 years ago was the edge of a forest and was the gathering point for the Tudor nobility to set out hunting - until Elizabeth I gave the land to her favorite, the Earl of Leicester; or to walk down the Strand from Trafalgar Square to Aldwych in the knowledge that it was first a Roman road and then became the thoroughfare for cattle and livestock going to market from Saxon times around the 500’s right up until the 18th century - [Wyc was the saxon word for market, hence Aldwych was 'The Old Market']; or walking past the Banqueting House in Whitehall and imagine that January morning 350 years ago when Charles I was led out onto a balcony outside a first floor window and beheaded in front of a nervous crowd; the lists go on and on. Standing on a spot suddenly makes it all the more real and that unnerving feeling that one day in 500 years time more than likely someone will be standing in the same place wondering what life was like here in the romantically distant 21st Century.”

Wow!  This made me really think about where I was!  Thanks again John!