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Early College Awareness Project (ECAP) 2013

Thursday, May 23rd, 2013

The downpour of rain did not prevent the more than 100 students and parents participating in the ECAP tour on an early Saturday morning in April. Overall, it was a good day for the students who were excited to be visiting the campus of the University of Tennessee.

Participating in the tour were elementary and middle school students accompanied by their parent(s)/guardian(s) in addition to school staff including principal’s. Tyvi Small welcomed the group before dividing everyone into two groups to attend breakout sessions.

Elementary school students attended a session facilitated by Ann Katherine Taylor and Christi Banks titled “You Can Go to College.” In this session, Ms. Taylor and Ms. Banks both told students that “THEY CAN GO TO COLLEGE” and provided tips for ensuring that they are college ready that included (1) establishing good study habits and study hard to make good grades and (2) making sure they stay in school. Middle school students attended a session designed for their age group titled “College is Affordable.” Eric Stokes facilitated this session and gave the students tips on applying for scholarships and told them that the way to be successful in school is to stay in school – number one, remain focused, and study hard to make good grades. A parent said: “The college workshop for middle school students was great. Mr. Stokes did a wonderful job.”

Following the sessions, students toured the college campus while parents attended sessions designed for them. There were two sessions and the first was titled “What are Your Next Steps?” facilitated by Annette Long (PGK College Support Coach). In her experience as a College Support Coach, Ms. Long has learned that there are parents who need assistance when their son/daughter prepares to attend college following graduation. Session 2 was titled “The Holistic Review of College Preparation” facilitated by Anton Reece. Mr. Reece shared tips from his experience in dealing with students at the University of Tennessee in his role as the Director of the Student Success Center specializing in First-Year Studies 101. Reece told parents that the preparation for college is mental and their student should conduct a basic exploration of different majors to select the best field for them. Other helpful hints included a tip that a student has to develop different strategies for studying for their different classes; for every hour that is spent in class, 2 hours outside of class should be spent studying; memorization is important but knowing what to write down and recall is even more important when it comes to studying for class.

Current students attending the University of Tennessee shared their college experience with the group following lunch. Each of the students offered great insight to the elementary school and middle school students about their experiences in attending UT. The advice they offered echoed tips given earlier in the day to study hard, learn how to study, get involved in organizations, and stay focused. Another parent said “There was a lot of useful information. The student panel was awesome.”

WHAT IS the Early College Awareness Project (ECAP)?

The Project GRAD Parent Board of Trustees and University of Tennessee have partnered together to extend college readiness and create an early college awareness for the student and parent. The purpose is to increase students’ awareness to the opportunities of continuing their education and to provide parents with the information they need to support their child in meeting their goals and dreams.

What are the benefits of an Early College Awareness Activity?

Increase students’ future opportunities
Provide parents with the information on how to better prepare their child for rigor studies.
Provide motivation and direction in a young person’s life.
Prepare financial plans for college.

Participating schools this year:

Vine Middle, Whittle Springs Middle, Beaumont, Christenberry, Dogwood, Sarah Moore Greene, and South Knox

What did ECAP participants say about this experience:

The speakers gave very valuable information
Annette Long- informative data on college search – Great speaker
Job vs. career comparisons
Affording college information is valuable
Encouragement to Succeed/study habits are important/finances and choosing a career/test scores were covered and the importance
All the presentations were valuable. The college prep info was most useful
Information from Annette Long
Most enjoyable – I am very encouraged that I can go to college.
The parent meeting. Loved the student panel.

Thanks to everyone who made this tour a success.

Tags: college awareness, university of tennessee
Posted in Featured, Project GRAD Knoxville News.
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ANNUAL CELEBRATION DINNER RECOGNIZES CLASS OF 2013 SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS

Monday, May 13th, 2013

This year, the day began with pounding rain but that was not a barrier for one hundred forty one (141) scholarship recipients who attended the Annual Celebration Dinner on Sunday evening, April 28, 2013. This was a special evening for the scholars who were recognized for their academic accomplishments and earned the Project GRAD Scholarship.

Parents/guardians, city and county government officials, Project GRAD board members, Knox County Schools board members and staff, funders, partners, and friends of GRAD filled the ballroom at the Knoxville Convention Center. For the tenth year, the program was opened by Lori Tucker (WATE News Anchor) who serves as the Mistress of Ceremonies. Tucker then introduced Larry Mauldin (Project GRAD Knoxville Board Chair) who welcomed the more than 500 guests who were in attendance.

Sara Dean joined Mauldin on stage for the invocation. Sara is a Class of 2010 GRAD Scholar who attended Austin-East High School and now attends the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

Reflections

This year’s high school speakers were Jalan Harper (Austin-East) and Brian Akins (Fulton). Both Scholars reflected on their academic journey from elementary school til high school and reminisced about the time both spent attending the Summer Institutes and the value of this experience. As they prepare to attend college in the Fall, Jalan will attend King University where she will major in Elementary Education and Brian will attend the University of Tennessee and major in Nursing. Brian was awarded a full academic scholarship and is the first member of his family to attend college. Both Jalan and Brian received a standing ovation.

College Scholars Words of Wisdom

Project GRAD college scholars attended the dinner also and were recognized when Derrick Smith (College Support Coach) joined Lori on stage for the laptop drawing. Several of the college scholars extended well wishes to the Class of 2013 via video that was shown prior to the laptop drawing.

Laptop Drawing

winners resized

Each year laptops are given to four lucky high school scholars whose name’s are drawn. The laptops are good gifts for the scholars as they prepare to enter college. Lori Tucker and Derrick Smith conducted the drawing this year and the winners were: Dylan Hubbs (Austin-East), Stephanie Faulkner (Fulton), Jalan Harper (Austin-East) and Chris Appling (Fulton). Congratulations Scholars!

“Caught Doing Right For Kids” Award

This year’s award was given to a man who everyone (especially the children) trust and depends on to keep them safe. Officer Dennis Murphy was this year’s winner of the “Caught Doing Right For Kids” award for all that he does for kids at Beaumont Magnet and Lonsdale Elementary schools. Officer Murphy was caught off guard and very surprised to be named the winner and was temporarily at a loss for words but not for long as he thanked everyone and shared words of inspiration. Congratulations Officer Murphy!

The Processional

As Officer Murphy was receiving his award, scholars were on the Cumberland Concourse preparing to make their entrance into the ballroom. Then it was time and as the doors opened, Scholars were led by macebearer Desmond Humphrey (Class of 2007, Fulton). Desmond is a GRAD College Scholar who graduated from the University of Tennessee with a degree in Political Science and later accepted to Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School where he is expected to graduate in May with a degree in law. Humphrey thanks Project GRAD for supporting him throughout his college career.

Closing Selection

The closing musical selection was performed by Mrs. Ronni Chandler (Associate Executive Director) who sang “The Impossible Dream.”

Congratulations Class of 2013 Scholars and Best Wishes for your future endeavors.

Thank you to everyone who attended the 2013 Annual Celebration Dinner this year. We appreciate your support for the students. We also thank the Jazz Ensemble that entertained our guests with beautiful music as they waited for the doors to open.

To see photos of the event: click here:

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News coverage

Tags: Austin-East, celebration dinner, college scholars, Dennis Murphy, fulton, scholarships
Posted in Featured, In the Community, Project GRAD Knoxville News.
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Digital Storytelling Project featuring Austin East students

Tuesday, April 16th, 2013

If You Could Change Anything About Your Community, What Would It Be? The Knoxville community had the opportunity to come out on Saturday, April 13th to hear students share how they would change their community. Using digital presentation students, Jake McVey, Raven Ragsdale, Emily Duncan, Jonathan Bingham, Skai Harris and Jackson McDowell explained how they would change their community. The students spoke of their neighborhoods and the critical views of others about the East Knoxville community, one student shared his view of improvements needed with Tennessee’s education system, another shared her experience of being taken from her family and moving frequently between foster homes before being relocated to East Knoxville. It was very interesting to see (via video presentation) and hear from a student’s perspective, how they view their community and overcome challenges.

Project GRAD Knoxville staff members Cornelia Reece (Family and Community Engagement Coordinator), Jesse Jones (Campus Manager, Austin East) and Destiny Glover (Campus Manager, Vine Middle) collaborated with The Carpetbag Theatre and Plan East Tennessee on this project.

Community members discussed the presentation and formulated Community Agreements to move forward and one of the several suggestions was to ”provide more attention to education and encourage student-led organizing.”

News Sentinel’s online article:

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2013/apr/14/austin-east-students-digital-projects-highlight/

View the student’s digital stories online here: http://www.youtube.com/user/PlanEastTN.

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Tags: carpetbag theatre; plan et; austin east; digital, storytelling
Posted in Featured, Project GRAD Knoxville News.
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HEALTHY S.W.A.G. (Students Working to Achieve Greatness)

Tuesday, April 9th, 2013

The 2013 Healthy S.W.A.G. (Students Working to Achieve Greatness) Conference was held on Saturday, March 9, 2013 at Central High School. The purpose of the event was to provide middle and high school students as well as their parents and youth leaders with information that would help to support the teens in making positive choices.

Workshops provided helpful information for parents in raising their teenagers and for youth leaders to help them in their work with youth. For parents/youth leaders, “Finding the Healthy Place” was a workshop where panelists discussed health issues. Dr. Bob Overholt, MD (Allergy, Asthma & Sinus Center) and Karen Lacey, MS, RD, LDN (Oak Ridge Methodist Medical were the panelists and answered questions. They suggested that children and adults get a good nights sleep because if you don’t sleep well, you don’t perform well and eat more. Some of these changes included unusual weight gain and changes in personality are signs of stress. “Tell It Like It is” was a workshop where panelists discussed issues affecting youth of today such as violence (number one issue), self-esteem, body issues, peer pressure, bullying (cyber also), and drugs (especially prescription). Panelists for this workshop were: Tammy Bland, DNP, CPNP (Nurse Practitioner), Nicole Chandler (Campus Manager, Fulton High School), Katie Allen (Social Worker, Knox County Schools), Gabriel Fiqueroa (Project GRAD Scholar) and Trafton Mitchell, Jr. (Project GRAD Scholar). The “My Body My Future” breakout session was facilitated by Cynthia Hudson and Katie Larsen (K.A.P.P.I. and Teen Health Empowerment Study). In this session, the facilitators shared information and data about health issues children face and teen pregnancy.

The keynote speaker was Jamar Rogers, former contestant on the hit show “The Voice.” Rogers opened the conference by performing several songs and then he spoke with parents in the opening breakout session “A Chat with Jamar Rogers.” Rogers was very honest as he shared his story telling parents about growing up with a single mother and being raised in the church. Rogers shared that he rebelled against his mother and became estranged from her until he was hospitalized at which time they reconciled and healing occurred. Parents were inspired by Rogers story of overcoming many challenges of life and of having the opportunity to be a contestant on “The Voice.” Rogers strongly encouraged parents to: (1) love their children enough to set boundaries, (2) Get involved with your kids-they want you to, they want to know they are loved (3) involve them in as many activities as possible including volunteering (4) occupy their time for them so they won’t find other things to take up their time, (4) love your kids unconditionally, and (5) teach them responsibility. Rogers also told parents how God used HIV to save his life and restored his relationship with his mother who didn’t know where he was for 2 years. Other words of advice were “if you are living with regrets, it’s time to forgive yourself and move on.”

This conference closed with students performing this year’s “Let’s Move” dance.

Project GRAD was one of several agencies/organizations that partnered with the Knox County Health Department to host this conference which was offered to parents and students free of charge. Congratulations to Ms. Cornelia Reece (Family and Community Engagement Coordinator, Project GRAD) who served on the Healthy S.W.A.G. Planning Committee and the Committee for doing such a fantastic job in hosting such a successful conference.

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