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Learn more about
Green Dot
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Find out why so many people are turning to Green Dot
Public Schools. Read about our students' successes and our plans for
transforming public education in Los Angeles at
www.greendot.org
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GET YOUR
TICKETS!!
Ánimo Jackie Robinson Musical is March 15!
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Ánimo Jackie Robinson will present its first-ever musical,
"Once on this Island", on Sunday March 15 at the
Wilshire Blvd Temple,
3663 Wilshire Blvd.
Come see the students' hard work and creativity in person.
Visit the production's website to
purchase tickets.
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GREEN DOT
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Check out Green Dot's continuing progress with our
schools,
and our past accomplishments, on the Green
Dot website.
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Learn more about Green Dot schools. Join our
mailing list for regular updates.
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Ánimo Student
Makes American Idol Top 12
Ánimo Ralph Bunche student Allison Irah eta has
advanced to the Top 12 contestants on American Idol.
Iraheta, 16, has already won Quincenera, a Telemundo singing
competition, in 2006. Now, she has proven herself among the
thousands who auditioned, and is one of the final contestants on American
Idol. She received rave reviews from each of the judges after her
performance on Wednesday night's episode, belting out Heart's
"Alone".
Watch the Green Dot Spotlight for future updates on
Allison's progress. And check local listings for showtimes to watch,
cheer on, and vote for Allison to keep her in the running!!!
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Ánimo Pat Brown Holds Open House February 28
Ánimo Pat Brown will showcase its new state-of-the art
building at 8255 Beach Street with a two-hour open house this
Saturday, Feb. 28, beginning at 10 a.m.
The goal of the event is bring
both the school and neighborhood communities together and to raise the
neighborhood's awareness of the education that the school provides its
students.
About 20 vendors from city
agencies , community organizations, and local businesses will
have booths at the open house to provide mini-health clinics, product
giveaways, and information sessions on various services. Some
organizations include St. John's Wellness Center, the L.A. Department
of Consumer Affairs, Shoe Warehouse, and the Healthy Families Program.
"Community involvement is
really fulfilling part of Green Dot's mission," said Angela Beck,
a Green Dot principal-in-residence and the organizer of the event.
"We would be remiss not to open the school to the community and
give back to the neighborhood."
Ánimo Pat Brown Principal Chad
Soleo said the open house is just the beginning of potential
partnerships with the community. Soleo said school officials are hoping
to identify organizations or programs with which to develop sustaining
partnerships for the future.
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Ánimo Leadership Celebrates Charles Darwin
Students at Ánimo Leadership celebrated the 200th
anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth with a week filled with
scientific presentations that would have made the evolutionary
biologist proud.
During the weeklong celebration,
students made p resentations on the concepts of evolution, Cetacean
(Whale and dolphin) evolution, and the impact of global warming to
Ánimo students and staff. Ánimo student Milchu Perez discussed the
migration of Latin Americans from Africa and tracking their DNA. Milchu
and other Latino students and staff donated their DNA for scientists to
test to find out their origins and ancestors.
Authors Maddalena Bearzi and
Michael Shermer also spoke to students and staff during the events,
which were attended by students from Lennox Academy and Ánimo Venice.
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Winners Circle
Ánimo Venice Seniors are Posse Scholars
Ánimo Venice seniors Karla Aguilar and CeCe Cuza Howard have won the
prestigious Posse Foundation scholarship, which provides winners with
four-year, full-tuition scholarships to attend the college of their
choice.
In September, Karla will be attending
Kalamazoo College in Michigan, and CeCe will be enrolling in Tulane
University in New Orleans, both tuition-free. The teens were among 419
new Posse Scholars selected from a pool of over 9,000 nominees,
nationwide.
"I'm excited. I always wanted
to have an experience living outside of L.A. and California and college
is a great way to do that," said Karla. While nervous about
Michigan's cold winters, Karla said she's thrilled about the advent ure and not having to worry about how to pay for
college.
Tulane was CeCe's first choice for
college. "There are so many possibilities and opportunities
at Tulane, I'm totally thrilled to be going there," she said.
The Posse Foundation partners
with colleges and universities around the U.S. to award student leaders
with four-year, full-tuition scholarships. Posse selects public high
school students to form multicultural teams called "posses."
The idea is that if a student has his or her posse for support, that
student is more likely to thrive in college.
Students must be
nominated by a staff member from their school and must complete an
application and interview process that examines their abilities to get
along in groups, express their ideas, and lead their peers.
This is the second
year a Green Dot student has received the Posse scholarship. Last year,
Ánimo South L.A. student Leotinae Layton got a scholarship to attend
Grinnell College in Iowa.
Ánimo Venice Juniors to be HOPE Leaders
Four juniors from
Ánimo Venice will represent the Los Angeles region as part of the HOPE
Youth Leadership through Literacy Program. HOPE stands for the Hispanas
Organized for Political Equality organization, a 20-year-old
group that works to provide a critical voice for Latinas in California.
HOPE runs a series
of development programs including the HOPE Leadership Institute (HLI)
and the Youth Leadership through Literacy Program (YLTLP). YLTLP is a
statewide development program designed to teach low-income, hig h
school age Latinas to be self-sufficient, articulate leaders who are
ready for college and beyond.
The four students were
selected after several interviews. One alternate was also selected.
They will attend a number of training sessions throughout the spring
and will collaborate on projects that help raise awareness about the
issues affecting Latina teens.
"This is a really
good opportunity for me to reach out to the Latina community in
Ánimo," said participant Daisy Policarpo. Junior Yesenia
Ocampo said she is looking forward to learning from older, experienced
Latina leaders and bringing that knowledge back to her classmates.
Monica Bautista
hopes the experience gives her an opportunity to help other young women
like herself. "I hope to have a chance to speak for a large group
of people who feel like they don't have a voice," she said.
Green Dot has developed
a partnership with HOPE and expects to continue working with the group
in the future.
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News to Know
Ánimo Teachers Go Above and Beyond for Students
When Paige Thompson applied to teach at Ánimo Locke II, she heard that
everyone on the staff often goes above and beyond in their jobs as
teachers. It is the Ánimo way.
As a first-year teacher, Thompson has mastered going the extra mile for
her students. For the last six weeks, she has taken eight students to
ski in the Big Bear area as part of Burton CHILL, an
intervention program that teaches inner-city kids to snowboard each
winter.
Thompson, a snowboarding enthusiast, immediately applied for the
program for her students. During one of the last ski sessions, a
student fell and had to be taken to the hospital near the ski area.
Thompson spent the night in the hospital with the student. The
following day, at 5 a.m., she drove back to L.A. to teach her class at
Ánimo Locke II.
"I didn't want her to stay by herself at the
hospital, and, I wasn't really doing anything else," says
Thompson.
The young teacher
also worked with different connections to get tickets to an L.A. Galaxy
game for students, where they ended up sitting in a VIP suite.
"Seeing the
kids' faces and how happy they are makes everything worth it,"
Thompson says. "I'm building relationships with them and it makes
conversations a lot easier and I think they come to school more
interested in learning. It helps everyone."
Thompson is quick
to say that she isn't alone in making an extra effort for her students.
She points to colleagues who have taken students to museums and other
field trips. Indeed, Thompson is just one of many Ánimo staff
members who embody Green Dot's core value of "an unwavering belief
in the potential of all students."
Ánimo Locke Schools Host HIV Awareness Play
Students and teachers from Ánimo Locke II and III received an important
lesson about HIV/AIDS and personal health earlier this month as part of
National Black HIV/AIDS
Awareness Day (NBHAAD).
Members from the National Council
of Negro Women and the National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day Coalition
of L.A. presented an interactive, educational play about HIV  called
"What Goes Around" to help raise student awareness.
The play focused on educating
students about HIV and sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs), and
promoting the teens' involvement in educating their peers about the
risks. The goal was to help students make better and smarter decisions
about their health. Nationally, African Americans make up 13% of
the total U.S. population, yet they account for half of all HIV and
AIDS cases in the nation.
Using life-size cut out images of
teenagers, young actors from the Kaiser Educational Theater Group
showed students how easy contracting and spreading an STD or HIV could
be. Workers from the National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day Coalition
also provided free HIV and STD screenings for the students.
Fashion Designer Christian Audigier and Socialite Kim
Kardashian Visit Ánimo Locke II
Fashion designer Christian Audigier and his cel ebrity
friend Kim Kardashian visited Ánimo Locke II with gift bags and school
supplies as part of a holiday giveaway in December. Audigier
oversees an international portfolio of designer brands, including Ed
Hardy®. He has maintained a relationship with Locke after the
school's student choir sang in his first fashion show two years
ago. The donations were part of his holiday donations to the
community. "Education is the foundation for life," said
Audigier, "and these 'champions of change' are leading the
way."
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Green Dot Profile: Donald Walker
Ánimo Locke 4 Student Getting on the Right Track
At
16, Donald Walker has made his share of mistakes and has paid mightily.
The teen barely attended school as a student at the old Locke High and
was in and out of jail for foolish offenses. During his last stint in
jail, Donald decided it was time to make a c hange.
When he attended Locke before, fights
were the norm for Donald. "It was such a big school and I'd hang
around with everyone and someone would start something stupid and I'd
have to fight or something," he explains. "I didn't want that
anymore."
Upon returning to the new Locke
High--now operated by Green Dot--Donald immediately noticed a
change in the school and believed he could make the change he wanted in
himself.
"I think it's way better now
... We don't have riots here like we did before and I can really learn;
I learn a lot now," Donald says.
Donald is attending the Opportunities
Program at Ánimo Locke 4 and goes to school from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
working to earn enough credits to move on to 11th grade where he should
be in the fall.
"He's pretty much a
straight-A student and is very serious about school now," says
Ánimo Locke 4 principal Nerine Vernon-Burnside. "The attention
he's been able to get in this small environment has really made a huge
difference."
Donald adds, "I feel like I'm in a
better learning environment here, and I know that if I keep it up, I
can graduate from high school and go on to college and have higher
goals. I really believe that now and I'm doing it."
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