tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57154787919581865902024-03-13T09:24:05.139-07:00EducationBengal News Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03209451649003025385noreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5715478791958186590.post-40052633368935316872017-04-01T04:37:00.000-07:002017-04-01T04:37:14.432-07:00Congo refugee finds home in ESL program<style>
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<b>By Daniel Carapetyan and Georgina Hallowell</b><br />
<i><b>Bengal News West Reporters</b></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times";">War
moved 21-year old refugee Ygeutte Rudahindwa from Democratic Republic of the
Congo to Uganda at the age of 10 where she stayed for 11 years, attending high
school, before feeling unwanted and running into problems with people in the
refugee camp. <span style="color: red;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";">Rudahindwa
has found a home in Buffalo and has spent the last six months at the Herkimer
School on 228 Albany Street learning English. <span style="color: red;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";">The <a href="http://www.upskill.org/">Adult EducationDivision </a>of the Buffalo Public Schools offers a variety of classes in about 30
locations throughout the city. Herkimer School is one of the 12 locations
offering English classes like Rudahindwa’s. High school equivalency and
vocational programs are housed in other sites.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";">Buffalo’s number of English
Language Learners has surpassed the total enrollment of the Buffalo School
District for the past eight years., according to New York State United Teachers.
<span style="color: red;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";">Rudahindwa,
an exceptional student currently placed in an advanced level class at the
Herkimer School, has only been here since September and has grasped the
fundamentals of the English language. She speaks four other languages such as
French, Mashi, Luganda and her native language Swahili. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";">The
Herkimer School has a partnership with <a href="https://www.ccwny.org/services/immigration-refugee-assistance">Catholic Charities of Buffalo</a>, one of
four resettlement agencies in Buffalo. Catholic Charities offers the facility
and Adult Education Division supplies the English learning classes. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times";">Doreen
Regan, English as a Second Language coordinator of Adult Education Division and
English teacher is impressed by Rudahindwa’s growth being enrolled in this ESL
program for such a short period of time. Regan worked there for 25 years and
was a director for six years. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";">The Herkimer School
teaches students that from all over the world. Most of the refugee students are
from Congo, Somalia, Sudan, Iraq, Syria, Nepal and Burma. The immigrant
population at the school is from China, South America and Puerto Rico.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“It’s a real privilege because you get to
learn (about) students from around the world and help them create inspiring
work,” said English teacher Maria Eley,said. <span style="color: red;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";">As Mayor Byron Brown
said in January, Buffalo is a refugee resettlement city. These people traveled
across the world to join a community they can call home and these programs make
sure to foster a sense of belonging, Regan said. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";">“It’s very important
to feel comfortable, at home and to not feel threatened. A lot of our students
have post-traumatic stress disorder, they’ve come from war-torn countries, been
through a lot of trauma so we try to create an environment where they feel safe
and wanted,” Regan said. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";">Catholic Charities
offers an eight-week cultural orientation class called ‘Newcomer” where
students learn how to navigate the city and get adjusted before they transition
into ESL classes.<span style="color: red;">. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times";">“I was kind of
nervous and scared because everything was new. The teachers were new to me but
when I started, the teachers were nice because they know me. They’re so cool,”
Rudahindwa said.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "times";">Rudahindwa, on the program going beyond English language skills: </span></div>
<iframe frameborder="no" height="350" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/312115766&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: "times";">Upon entering the
program at the Herkimer School, students get pre-tested and placed in classes
based on their English proficiency level. They are tested to measure their
progress before they can move to the next level of learning. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";">There are several
factors that are important to learn English. Age and background information are
the two most important, as they are the main things that will help someone
learn English more quickly. However, if the student doesn’t come from an
educational background, a new language would be harder to grasp, Regan said. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“On average it takes three to five years to
have conversational English and it takes five to seven years to have academic
English. It can be a seven-year process to really become proficient in being
able to handle college level material,” Regan said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times";">Regan
said assessment advisement instructors act as career advisers at the program
who help them find employment. They are assigned case managers through their resettlement
agencies who help them deal with personal issues. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times";">The
Buffalo school district is looking for multilingual teacher aides and Regan is
looking to give Rudahindwa an opportunity to find employment at one of these
places because she enjoys working with kids.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times";">The
name Ygeutte means, “found,” in Swahili and true to her name, not only has
found a home but a possible future.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"></span>Bengal News Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03209451649003025385noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5715478791958186590.post-47185732637111474102017-03-11T06:44:00.002-08:002017-03-11T06:51:54.238-08:00Saturday’s a school day at Lafayette H.S.<b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">By Jillian Leblanc and Christina Stuart</span></span></b><br />
<i><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Bengal News West Reporters</span></span></b></i><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Students from grades 7 through 12 rushed through the big wooden doors of Lafayette High School to get ready to participate at the Saturday Academy.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> As kids signed in at the front table, they received a free breakfast and sat as they waited patiently to start learning on this Saturday morning. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Volunteers from all over Western New York set up and got the classrooms ready for activities.
Lafayette High is one of the four Community Schools in Buffalo that are open on Saturdays for activities such as sports, music and cooking classes. High School students are able to take SAT prep classes on Saturdays to help prepare for the standardized test.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> The Saturday Academy at Lafayette started in October and will be held every Saturday throughout the school year from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. The Saturday academy helps the kids to learn even on the weekends.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> “Kids that attend the Saturday Academy tend to also attend school and vice versa,” said Zena Mtiranyabigara, Community School navigator. “So we want to connect the students during the week to the Saturday academies and also the academy activities that we go over on Saturdays give them their community achievement during the week.” </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> The Saturday Academy is not only for students, but it’s for the parents and the community as well. Parents are invited to parent learning courses that are open to everyone in the community. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Volunteers come in to help out the kids during the Saturday academy activities. Diana Leiker, a deacon with the Episcopal Diocese of Western New York said St. Peter’s Episcopal Church and at St. Benedict’s Roman Catholic Church came together to help the refugees feel that this is a place where they should feel safe.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">
“The whole premise to give refugees a place to practice English and meet some everyday Americans in a non- threatening environment,” Leiker said.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Leiker and her volunteers feel the need to meet with these children and to get to know one another. The volunteers prepared lunches for the children at the academy and created a game so everyone could get a chance to talk to one another by asking them a question.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> “What we want to want to do it let the refuges know they’re welcomed and give them a chance to meet some people,” Leiker said.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> The Saturday Academy is free and it is encouraged for families to come and participate. The kids that participate are from all over Buffalo, and not just the West Side. Free transportation is given to the kids who lived too far away to walk to Lafayette High.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">
“Sometimes we also have parents who come for activities that involves parents and also the community members so this is open for everyone, the students and the parents,” Mtiranyabigara said.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> The academy is a place for students to learn new languages and Lafayette has many students who speak different languages. Lafayette High Principal John Starkey spoke over the loud speaker during the academy in different languages for all students to understand.</span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEHoMvRVbcfp9y_4LlMK8ZYLK-4d4tTawsn1DmMqZ0-CrjEtYtTiN46w6muTJjK5Gmp-1h2yuAFo5xb3kqe23rDgm0vWLImehSbZaNkYyf6JkO43O_CQs_4KniJtYejc2q-wAFgXf5177Z/s1600/Arent.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEHoMvRVbcfp9y_4LlMK8ZYLK-4d4tTawsn1DmMqZ0-CrjEtYtTiN46w6muTJjK5Gmp-1h2yuAFo5xb3kqe23rDgm0vWLImehSbZaNkYyf6JkO43O_CQs_4KniJtYejc2q-wAFgXf5177Z/s640/Arent.png" width="554" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">
<style>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvT1TYLzNe8">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvT1TYLzNe8 </a>
</span></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Buffalo School teacher, Evelyn Arent, said that teaching is her passion and the kids mean a lot to her.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> “These kids are learning English and they are in high school,” Arent said. “They’re struggling but they are willing to learn.”</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Arent said that the program for the kids focuses on their culture and finding their identity.
The community involvement is one of the reasons why the Community Schools run today. The faculty, volunteers and the families and all work together to make the children’s time at school fun on a Saturday.
</span></span>Bengal News Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03209451649003025385noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5715478791958186590.post-29315748575251616322015-12-05T08:40:00.002-08:002015-12-05T08:59:38.558-08:00Students swap vacations for 'alternatives'<style>
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<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman";">By Anthony Reyes
and Troy Licastro</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><b><span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Bengal News West
Reporters</span></b></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">The
final day of classes before a break usually brings upon a routine: students go
to their classes, squirm in their seats and keep a keen eye on the clock,
impatiently waiting for the class to end. They’re ready to go and relax for a
few days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">This
isn’t the case for students participating in volunteer and service-learning
programs; their work is just beginning. Each of the four college campuses
across the West Side offers its own varieties of these programs. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Canisius
College offers an annual Service-Immersion <a href="http://www.canisius.edu/campus-life/campus-ministry/service-immersion/">program</a> through its Campus Ministry,
which has taken place for more than 25 years. Students travel to New York City,
Erie, Syracuse, Appalachia,Jamaica, India, Poland and El Salvador to interact
with people in those communities and grow in solidarity.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman";">“I love being able to craft
transformative educational experiences for our students,” Sarah Signorino,
associate campus minister said. “The focus of our program is to have our
students be with and for others. We don't do these programs to help out. We do
them to accompany others, to learn from them and have our hearts broken open
from the experience.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Through
the service-immersion, the hope is that it increases awareness of the world,
gives help where it is needed, challenge themselves to live a more simplified
life and go into these areas and find God in someway to ultimately become part
of the solution. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">SUNYBuffalo State offers <a href="http://vslc.buffalostate.edu/">alternative breaks</a> throughout the year as well. It offered
an alternative fall break. The students stayed in Buffalo and worked to bring
awareness to the issue of homelessness. There will also be an alternative
winter break, students will travel to Washington D.C. to bring awareness to
homelessness and food-insecurity.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">There
is a fee for the break, usually around $200, which covers the cost of the student’s
room and food for the trip. But, beginning this year there will be a
scholarship offered so that it can broaden the demographic of students who can
apply for it. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">“I
think alternative breaks are a really unique experience for students here on
campus,” Molly Diamond, co-coordinator of alternative break said. “Alternative
breaks really hope to connect social issues and why things are happening and
how things are happening, to students lives and also going out in the community
and getting our hands dirty and taking that information that we learned and
really applying it to different communities to making a difference. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/js_r53otVS0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">The
breaks are also led by students, the upcoming alternative fall break will be
led by junior Sasa Vann and senior Allie Diamond. Vann stated that she did a
lot of volunteer work in high school and found this as a way to continue that
throughout college, which is why she decided to lead one of the breaks.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">“When
the community sees us out there most of the time they’ll ask ‘Are you doing
this for a grade or are you getting some kind of credit for school?’” Vann
said. “It’s just like ‘No, we’re not we just wanted to take time out, its only
a weekend out of our lives, to help you, and make you feel better’.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Both
Vann and Diamond also expressed that the educational aspect of the alternative
break is one of the most important aspects of it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Medaille
College offers an <a href="http://www.medaille.edu/academics/academic-services/student-success-center/center-community-based-learning">alternative spring break</a>, through the non-profit group Heifer
International. The break is primarily for its Vet Tech students, in which they
travel to Massachusetts to work on a farm and reflect on the experiences. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">According
to Bridget Brace-MacDonald, director of the center for community-based learning
at Medaille, it is offered because of the potential impact it can have on its
students and their professional and personal development.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">“I
think students who participate in alternative spring break programs are giving
themselves access to an experience they may never be able to take part in
again,” Brace-MacDonald said. “College is the perfect time to do things like
this. It allows them the opportunity to do something new and to make a
difference in the lives of others.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">D’Youville
College offers <a href="http://www.dyc.edu/campus_life/services/campus_ministry/community_service.aspx">programs</a> that integrate community service with instruction and
reflection, it allows the students to learn civic responsibility and return it
to their communities. It offers an annual trip to New Orleans which is a
weeklong experience at the end of the fall semester where the students help
those in need. D’Youville also offers local service projects as well. </span><br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Bengal News Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03209451649003025385noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5715478791958186590.post-18650534341441346642014-04-20T17:28:00.001-07:002014-04-20T17:32:55.003-07:00D’Youville renovating new science building<style>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By Peter Murphy and Bill Schutt</span></b><i><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></b></i><br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Bengal News West Reporters</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></i>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>D’Youville
College will begin demolition in mid-April as part of the school’s $20 million
construction project on 606 Niagara St.in an effort to stay current and
competitive.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Renovation has
already begun on the new 85,000 square foot Arts, Sciences, and Education
building, which will replace the 40-year-old Dr. Pauline Alt building on the
<a href="http://www.dyc.edu/">college</a> campus, said <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ed Cogan, the associate
vice president for operations for D’Youville.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Financing
for the project is not complete, but the D’Youville College Institutional
Advancement Group is working with local foundations involved with sciences for
funding of the project. Donors will be given naming rights to building.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ9OvhMzLjnGjYdw8i9kxdFGRXYNTB7RLiF9BqBvnayZrQFb7PnO77ae7hUrCfzuE7hN6727MZlb7uU256ScLlqTWeSmjW8blvfbfKHdLp0xQid_zMY8BHmjHQ6LGjJTokJQs0lidv4ofl/s1600/Untitled2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ9OvhMzLjnGjYdw8i9kxdFGRXYNTB7RLiF9BqBvnayZrQFb7PnO77ae7hUrCfzuE7hN6727MZlb7uU256ScLlqTWeSmjW8blvfbfKHdLp0xQid_zMY8BHmjHQ6LGjJTokJQs0lidv4ofl/s1600/Untitled2.png" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Former Letchworth Mansion</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span>The
building at 606 Niagara St. is centered by the historic Letchworth family
mansion, which most recently housed Gateway-Longview, a child and family
service organization. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> The 60,000 square foot building currently has
three sections, built in 1922, 1928, and 1952. According to Cogan, the college
will retain the façade of the 1922 section and gut or demolish everything else.
He said originally, the college wanted to keep the entire building, but the
layout would not accommodate the space needed.<span style="color: red;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Uniland
Development, of Amherst is the general contractor.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“The main crux of it is that the college knew
it needed to stay current with the new sciences because a lot of things have
changed with labs in the last 40 years,” Cogan said. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLpbGBzYNxDCqH9kuWYB0iBScKO1-iudNpyoI1SAx-BsvKWY8YwLNFLLF2fILGAsg3FpTiA94J9ItWq05umDaUBTYEbZFUrHnf7TBVfDluNJUD3W-bcc1WUvN2NnnKq96ha_3Nyl8C2lPF/s1600/Untitled.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLpbGBzYNxDCqH9kuWYB0iBScKO1-iudNpyoI1SAx-BsvKWY8YwLNFLLF2fILGAsg3FpTiA94J9ItWq05umDaUBTYEbZFUrHnf7TBVfDluNJUD3W-bcc1WUvN2NnnKq96ha_3Nyl8C2lPF/s1600/Untitled.png" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dr. Pauline Alt Building</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span>One
other reason D’Youville wanted to create more new science labs was because the
current site of the labs, the Alt Building, contains asbestos. The building was
built in the late 1960s and has not been upgraded to match the changing
technologies.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
college’s best option is to move the labs to the new building then focus on
renovating and removing the asbestos from the Alt Building, Cogan said. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
new building will include a 50-car parking lot, but parking still remains a
concern for some students, including Jennifer Woelfel, a biology major, who
said the majority of her classes will be in the new building. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“One
of the only concerns I have is for parking, whether or not they will be able to
provide adequate spots for all the people using this new building,” Woelfel
said. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
student also had safety concerns despite the proximity of the building to the
rest of the campus. She did acknowledge, however, the type of impact this could
have on Niagara Street.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Hopefully
it helps turn Niagara into a better area,” she said. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>D’Youville
hopes to gain a competitive edge with the new building. SUNY Buffalo State and
Canisius College have upgraded their art and science buildings.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlxMiSPXX-23PQYbnwMFM12ieYeB-5YhNySwqrOYxP3aB-f8NRDpya1JehaNafbRrHo5YOzUqDcsFMEdc7hf7hJGb9ysN9A8UkarfN3ydsNranW3liBnkKvPpkTG3VaDTEtz1-6N3HnTEL/s1600/Untitled3.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlxMiSPXX-23PQYbnwMFM12ieYeB-5YhNySwqrOYxP3aB-f8NRDpya1JehaNafbRrHo5YOzUqDcsFMEdc7hf7hJGb9ysN9A8UkarfN3ydsNranW3liBnkKvPpkTG3VaDTEtz1-6N3HnTEL/s1600/Untitled3.png" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Renovations underway at back of 606 Niagara St.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span>“We
are building a new art, science, and education building to stay competitive
with local colleges and it’s something we wanted to do,” said Cogan.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Cogan
said that D’Youville let the surrounding neighborhood know about the renovation
plans during a community meeting.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Over
100 people showed up, and were thrilled that the college was going to make a
new building for local use instead of just tearing down another building,” said
Cogan. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
college also purchased five years ago the lot on the corner of Fourth<sup> </sup>Street
and Porter Avenue where the original Ted’s Hot Dog restaurant was located. The
college plans to add a soccer field to the list of renovations coming to
D’Youville.</span></div>
Bengal News Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03209451649003025385noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5715478791958186590.post-82119714373030501202014-04-14T18:53:00.001-07:002014-04-18T04:46:06.637-07:00Canisius H.S. gets clear look at West Side<style>
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<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>By Fran McCann</b></span></span><br />
<i><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Bengal News West Reporter</span></span></b></i><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Canisius High School, a private all boys’ Jesuit institution on Delaware Avenue, is known for helping perceived “less fortunate” communities
like the West Side.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 100%;">But one trip in December to Frank A. Sedita School 30 not only
changed the pre-conceived notions some students had but changed their hearts
as well. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Griffin Schultz, a <a href="http://canisiushigh.org/">Canisius</a> senior and East Amherst resident,
had a stereotype of the West Side that some can relate to. He used to eschew
the idea of living or even traveling to the region, since it had a high crime
rate.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">“This year my view towards the West Side really changed,” Schultz
said. “Going to School 30 and seeing all these kids reminded me of when I was a
kid and at that age there is no real difference between anybody.” </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">About 50 percent of the West Side is Hispanic and African
American. According to <a href="http://www.city-data.com/">www.city-data.com</a></span></span></span><span style="font-size: large; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://www.city-data.com/neighborhood/West-Side-Buffalo-NY.html"><span style="line-height: 115%;">http://www.city-data.com/neighborhood/West-Side-Buffalo-NY.html</span></a></span></span>, 44.3 percent of people fall below the
poverty line in the region. Along with this, 15.2 percent of them speak very
little English, or none at all.</span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Schultz and 40 of his classmates traveled in December to School 30,
located at 21 Lowell St., to help with holiday celebrations and participate in
afterschool activities with kids in kindergarten and first and second grades.
They decorated the gym and threw a holiday party for all the kids. Schultz and
his classmates put smiles on the kids’ faces and left an impression not only
with them, but also with Schultz himself.</span></span><br />
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">And earlier this month, Canisius returned to School 30 for a visit that paired about 25 high school students with sixth and seventh graders to serve as "big brothers," </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; line-height: 27px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Ann Marie Moscovic, a Canisius counselor and the program’s leader,
said.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> “With a lot of the
kids coming from different backgrounds, most of them spoke Spanish and almost
no English,” </span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; line-height: 27px;">Moscovic said. </span> “Fortunately, we had two students with us who spoke Spanish fluently so the
kids took to us very quickly. They were happy, had fun, and overall it was a
great experience.”</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">One of the students who spoke Spanish fluently is Thomas
Ezquerro, a senior at Canisius. Ezquerro, a Lackawanna native, said he spent a
great deal of his early childhood on the West Side. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">“My best friend lives on the West Side and I’ve seen the
good and bad parts of it,” Ezquerro said. “I have seen drug deals go on
countless times and I heard gun shots one time when I was at his house.”</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Ezquerro explained that even though the region has its
struggles, there are many great things that go on there. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">“I’ve seen the bond between the neighbors and I believe that
it is stronger than anywhere else,” he said. "They
look out for each other and talk to one another when they believe something
suspicious might be going on.”</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Many students from Canisius come from the suburbs, and a lot
are overwhelmed by the West Side at first. Ezquerro explained that many of his
classmates were frightened due to the pre-conceived notions they had for the
region. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">“I noticed many students were jumpy and nervous when they
went on their first service. They would ask me where they should park their
car, if they should lock their doors, or cover anything up,” Ezquerro said. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Ezquerro said that many students’ stereotypes dissolved soon
after they realized the West Side “wasn’t such a bad place after all.” </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br />
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
Bengal News Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03209451649003025385noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5715478791958186590.post-6150938856668154792014-04-03T12:07:00.001-07:002014-04-03T12:21:01.797-07:00West Buffalo Charter adds ‘Core,' expands<style>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>By Oliver Colbert and Kimberly Hylton</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><b>Bengal News West reporters</b></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>West Buffalo Charter School has adopted the Common Core <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">standards for learning and added more than 100 second- and third-grade students to its building on Lafayette Avenue.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"> Third grade teacher Rachel Banas under the Common Core, student are not just solving problems, they're thinking them through and making connections.</span></div>
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“It’s challenging but you see their
thinking has changed,” Banas said.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="color: red;"></span><a href="http://westbuffalocharter.org/">WBCS</a> has small classes with a
total of 24 students, a teacher and teacher’s assistant. In addition to the
assistant. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">A smaller classroom leaves room for teachers to help students more
affectively. Teachers at WBCS can figure out what level each student is at and
help them grow.</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"> Principal Andrea Todoro says smaller classes also make
it easier to enforce the Common Core curriculum. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The support doesn’t stop with just
teachers and students. Parents are also supporters of the new curriculum at
WBCS. Todoro said that the school hosted parent nights where the differences between thenew curriculum and the old were compared and explained .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Parents
have also been invited in to see Common Core being taught. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I think once you empower them with
knowledge they understand what it is and they can see it coming home in their
child’s book bag and then they respond positively,” <s>said</s> <s>Principal</s>
Todoro said. <span style="color: red;"></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Along with the new curriculum WBCS
has <span style="color: red;"></span> recently
added a <span style="color: red;"></span> class of
second graders and three third grade classes of third grade. The additional grades brought more than 100 students to
the school. Todoro said the biggest impacts of the new
students are space and budget. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“There are more bodies in the school
so traffic flow, use of the lunchroom and scheduling is all impacted by the
additional students,” Todoro said.<span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span> Todoro said
planning for the extra classrooms, purchasing the furniture and the technology,
and staffing has impacted the budget. </span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>WBSC’s had originally planned to
expand out of the building creating a new wing, four floors total, and a new
gymnasium. Those plans have been
put on hold. Instead the school will add fourth grade classes and renovate the first floor. The <span style="color: red;"></span>
original plans were denied by the State of Education because the charter school is too new, Todoro said . The
cost of the original expansion would have been $2 million. WBSC has
worked out a new plan to renovate the <span style="color: red;"></span> first floor where the cafeteria is located
along with a long corridor hall. The new project will add three new classrooms
for the incoming fourth graders this May. The project will cost WBCS
$400,000 including furniture and technology. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“We’ve made use of every inch of the
building now that we’ve been in here for a couple of years. We know what spaces
we’re utilizing and what spaces we’re not…so we’re reworking the interior,” said
finance and operations officer, Elizabeth Sterns. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Although school leaders<span style="color: red;"></span> were disappointed that the school couldn’t expand the
way they intended, they
are still excited to be renovating. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I’m really excited about it, it’s
an opportunity for us to take what we already have and make it better. I think
it’s more fiscally conservative to do it the way we’re doing it. It’s kind of
like staying in your starter home longer than you would have normally,” Sterns said. <span style="color: red;"> </span><span style="color: red;"></span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Sterns also mentioned that other
successful charters have taken the same route. The original project wasn’t a
complete fail. Sterns says the school not has the opportunity to save money and tackle the expansion
outside the building in a better financial footing. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="color: red; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"></span></span><span style="color: red; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">Video:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cn4402FQn-g"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cn4402FQn-g</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: red; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">VERY
GOOD JOB ON THE VIDEO. INFORMATION IS ADDED TO THE STORY,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>RULE OF THIRDS NICELY APPLIED, TODOR IS
SOLDLY IN THE LEFT VERTICAL, HEADROOM AND LEADROOM ARE PERFECT. AUDIO IS CLEAR.
B-ROLL CORRESPONDS WITH AUDIO.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div>
Bengal News Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03209451649003025385noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5715478791958186590.post-13667333072973672582013-11-10T08:26:00.003-08:002013-11-10T08:27:56.580-08:00Live comedy brings big laughs to West Side <span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>By Matt Bove and Gabrielle Mediak</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><b>Bengal News West Reporters</b></i></span></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU3syvdjjZ0Va9AtHJdP4NXCVXyBdlbXI13NNYmWLdfgw_pqnVX22wvk0eaOaohMWO_hxB5jDvMG6hp9w8d_NOhiOI5zEocwn-hUAu8NdDnnwALXIP62NrbUg57S6BywwmvHgv4TUsp8Gs/s1600/Untitled1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU3syvdjjZ0Va9AtHJdP4NXCVXyBdlbXI13NNYmWLdfgw_pqnVX22wvk0eaOaohMWO_hxB5jDvMG6hp9w8d_NOhiOI5zEocwn-hUAu8NdDnnwALXIP62NrbUg57S6BywwmvHgv4TUsp8Gs/s1600/Untitled1.png" /></a></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Ricky Needham</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">In September, NBC kicked of its
39th season of the popular variety show Saturday Night Live, but at SUNY
Buffalo State the laughs start 24
hours earlier. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Friday Night Live, better known as
FNL, takes place in the
Donald Savage Theater on the Buffalo State campus and provides entertainment to not
only students, but anyone in the community looking for some laughter<span style="color: red;">. </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">“We provide our show every Friday
night, and it’s a safe alternative to drinking and partying,” said Ricky
Needham, a senior theater major at Buffalo State. “It’s open to the public, so we draw in
a lot of people from the community.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Buffalo’s West Side isn’t known for
is its comedy scene, but FNL could be changing that. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">“It’s nice because people can let
off some steam after a long week and just sit back and enjoy the show,” Needham
said. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">For West Side residents there aren’t that many places to go
for live comedy that's free of charge. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">“It’s nice to finally have
something to do out here that’s free,” said West Side resident Jeremy
Kroll. “It had me in tears,
I’ll definitely be back next week and after tonight I would go even if it cost
money, the casts and skits are too good.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">In 2007 Buffalo State unveiled the
brand new improv show, but you would have never known it. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">“It’s changed so much, back when we
first started we used to draw in like 15 people a night but now we get around
200 every night,” Needham said. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Growing crowds is a testament to
the format of the show, which keeps performers on their toes at all times. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">“Nothing is [prepared], it’s all
off the top of our heads,” Needham said. “If an actor is too comfortable with
whatever scene they’re doing it won’t be as funny.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">For Needham, getting into comedy
wasn’t the original plan. He originally intended on coming to Buffalo State <s>College</s>
as a music major, but after getting denied entry from the department after his
first audition, he had to make a sudden change in plans.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">“I got into the theater department
kind of by accident,” Needham said. “I had to kind of scramble, and figured I’d
just do theater for a year, and just re-audition.” </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">It’s performers like Needham that make FNL so
successful. But improv isn’t something performers are classically taught,
making the experience not only rewarding for the audience but for the
performers as well. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">“FNL has been one of the best
opportunities for me to explore improv and improve my acting,” said Jesse
Tiebor, a junior in the theater department and first-year FNL member. “It’s more than just doing something
for a laugh or nailing a pun; it’s about telling a story with humor in a more
organic way.” </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Tiebor, like Needham, agrees that
FNL is something that will continue to grow and have a positive impact on the
community for years to come. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">“FNL is great for the local and
[Buffalo] State community,” Tiebor said.
“It’s free, it’s funny, it’s engaging and is great alternative to
sitting around or going drinking." <span style="color: red;"> </span></span></span></div>
Bengal News Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03209451649003025385noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5715478791958186590.post-39162214564014687142013-10-27T08:02:00.002-07:002013-10-27T08:08:28.061-07:00West Buffalo Charter to add 4th grade <style>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>By Matt Bove and Gabrielle Mediak </b></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><i>Bengal News Reporters</i></b> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"> It’s a crisp fall afternoon as you
take a walk down Lafayette Avenue. As
you continue down you hear children laughing and then see something that looks
brand new. What used to be a 41-unit
apartment complex, now has a sign in front saying West Buffalo Charter
School.
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"> The school at 113 Lafayette Ave., which includes kindergarten through third grades, is about to expand.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"> Construction on a<span style="color: black;"> new wing to accommodate a fourth grade is set to begin in the early spring
2014 and will be completed in time for the August 2014 start of school. A gymnasium will be added as part of this multi-phase
construction plan, said </span>Elizabeth Sterns, the <span style="color: black;">school’s finance and operations officer.</span></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"> Two years ago, School Leader Andrea
Todoro signed the papers and took ownership of what was an apartment complex. With the goal of making
it into a charter school in just eight short weeks, the construction team got to
work and finished just two days before the school year starting.</span></span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"> <span style="color: red;"> </span>“In the beginning it was a mad dash. Friday we
got the keys and the kids started on Monday.
We had 48 hours to take this beautiful building we had, and turn it into
a school,” Todoro said.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"> The first year went surprisingly
smooth for the brand new school. It offered
kindergarten through second grade and began an expansion to add the third grade
for the next year. The expansion money
was generated through enrollment. As a charter school, it only gets $12,000
per pupil from Buffalo, while public schools get $29,000 per pupil. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"> “What’s different about a charter school and
typical public school is that most public schools do not pay for their
facilities, we have to,” Todoro said. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"> Todoro noted how when typical
schools do building projects they get back 98 cents per dollar spent, only
costing the school around two cents. The charter school has to pay full cost since they aren’t a public school. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"> West Buffalo successfully
added three classes of third graders, and even an additional class of second
graders, adding over 100 students. New
teachers and an additional teaching assistant per class were hired. </span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"> “Our charter says we are going
to be K-4 so we do have to add 4<sup>th</sup> grade. At the same time expanding we don’t have any
more room in our building. It will be
tight financially to get 4<sup>th</sup> graders in while building for them at
the same time,” Todoro said.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"> Deborah
Raiford, a mother and former teacher herself, just recently enrolled her
seven-year-old son. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"> “He loves it. He adjusted the first day and
felt comfortable; we are new here in town.” Raiford said. “He’s doing very well, the teachers work with
the kids and it’s just great. I really do love this school.”</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"> Todoro describes the school as a "big, happy family, where everybody knows every child's name."</span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"> "I think we have a school here, that really gets to know everybody on a personal
level which helps because then you have that relationship, and with that your
willing to work for each other," Todoro said. "And I
think the kids can sense that we really do care about them. We’re not just here to be their teacher, but
to be a support to them in and out of school. “</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"> Not only is West Buffalo different because
of the family atmosphere, but for what its
charter entails.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"> “What makes us different from
other Buffalo schools is our charter was founded on the idea we would offer the
language to literacy program as part of our school day. We still abide by common core standards, but
put focus on literacy and building literacy skills,” Todoro said.</span></span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"> <span style="color: #0e0e0e;">According
to the school’s website</span> <span style="color: #0e0e0e;"><a href="http://westbuffalocharter.org/">westbuffalocharter.org</a> “WBCS is a place
where students come first, individual differences are accepted, and student
learning is maximized.” </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"> “In the next few years I see our school in the
new expansion, more classrooms and staff in place.” Todoro said. “The vision
still stays the same, I’d like to be full, K-4 with a very long wait list,
showing that our students are making progress and growing.” </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></span>Bengal News Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03209451649003025385noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5715478791958186590.post-35678782661630097892012-12-05T19:01:00.002-08:002012-12-05T19:06:13.657-08:00International School 45 teaches the world<style>
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</style><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By Shari Ingles and
Maureen Vitali</span></b><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">BengalNews Reporters</span></i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="color: #9bbb59; mso-themecolor: accent3;"></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>To someone
who is just walking by, International School 45 is nothing more than a dark,
brick building. But to the several hundred refugee students that attend school
there, it is so much more than that.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A walk through the doors of School 45, located
on 141 Hoyt St., reveals a bright and welcoming interior. A sign near the
cafeteria teaches students how to say a new word from a different language each
day. A colorful mosaic features a sign that says, “We educate the children of
the world.” To the refugee students, who come from refugee camps from over 30
different countries, the school is a symbol of acceptance and hope.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And hope is just what these students
are looking for. Oftentimes they come to America after spending most of their
young lives in the refugee camp. The resettlement process alone can take up to
three years. When these students arrive in America, they often speak little or
no English. As a result, School 45 administrators must take special steps to
ensure that the students maintain the pace of other students in the Buffalo
School District. This is because classes are taught in English.</span><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: Times;">
Teacher Karen Kane, on language proficiency of School 45 students: </span></span>
</span></div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/6DppmHBaGw4" width="560"></iframe><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: .5in;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A large map of the world showcases
where different students are from and what languages they speak. Some of the
popular languages spoken at the school include Karen, Arabic, Somali, Burmese,
Kirundi, and Vietnamese, according to the school website. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“There are over 800 students in the building
and approximately 470 are considered limited English proficient,” said Karen
Kane, English as a second language teacher (ESL) for 6<sup>th</sup> grade. “Many
students are living with parents that do not speak English as a first language.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“We are very
lucky to have a lot of resources. We have 14 ESL teachers that work with the
K-6 population. We also have a partnership with Journeys End where bilingual academic
coaches come in and provide translation services that help families and
teachers communicate with the parents.” <span style="color: red;"></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Students
are placed in classes based on age, rather than academic or language
proficiency. In other words, refugee students are expected to keep pace with
their American classmates, despite language barriers. There are 200 faculty and
staff members many of which are multilingual as well as four parent
facilitators, according to the school website.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Journey’s End is interested in the
refugees’ progress during the school year, as well as over the summer with its
“Jump Start Academy.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“The program focuses on English
language acquisition, classroom orientation and introduction to American
curriculum, schedules, and activities,” said Development Coordinator Brian
Brown Cashdollar. “The program is run in conjunction with the Buffalo Public
Schools Jumpstart Program and also in partnership with WNY Americorps and
Houghton College.” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Edited by Kristin
Ritch</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="color: red;"></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
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Bengal News Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03209451649003025385noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5715478791958186590.post-1850250416262713402012-12-05T13:14:00.000-08:002012-12-05T14:10:36.046-08:00Buffalo high school grads can 'Say Yes'<style>
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</style><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">By Mhairi Moorhead and
Joe Losito</span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><i><b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">BengalNews Reporters </span></b></i> </span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">West Side high school
graduates that are applying for colleges in the upcoming months will be the
first to have access to the Say Yes tuition program.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Say Yes Buffalo is an
educational program that partners with colleges, universities, Buffalo Public
Schools, the City of Buffalo and many other institutions. It provides those
students attending Buffalo Public Schools or Buffalo Charter Schools, a chance
to receive college scholarships. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“There are no academic
requirements to receive a Say Yes scholarship,” said Scholarship Director,
Allison Newman. “The main criteria for receiving the award are that the child
live in the City of Buffalo and has attended a Buffalo Public or Charter school
since the beginning of 9<sup>th</sup> grade.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The program is funded by
local private donors, foundations and organizations that help organize people,
time, money and resources to provide year-round support to Buffalo Public
School District students throughout their K-12 years and beyond. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">For those eligible who
can’t move away from home, there are schools located in the West Side that
participate in Say Yes, including one SUNY school, </span><a href="http://www.buffalostate.edu/scholarship"><span style="color: #00b0f0; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Buffalo State</span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> and
one private school, </span><a href="http://www.dyc.edu/"><span style="color: #00b0f0; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">D’Youville
College</span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“For the SUNY and CUNY
tuition guarantee, there are no financial requirements. Students who meet
eligibility requirements can receive this award regardless of family income,”
said Newman. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">There are many private
schools that participate in the program that students should consider as well.
For the Private Partner colleges, as long as the household income is below
$75,000 per year, they will pay any remaining balance that Pell and Tap grants
don’t cover. Those students of households earning above $75,000 a year can
still apply for the Say Yes Buffalo Choice Grant, which provides $5,000 per
year in addition to other financial aid and the cost of full-time tuition. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“One of the reasons that I am excited to work
with Say Yes is that this is not a program of a pot of gold at the end of the
rainbow,” said Ellicott District Common Council Member, Darius G. Pridgen, who
works on the Education Committee. “My opinion is that this can be a game
changer when it comes to higher-level education of our students.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">David Rust explains how George Weiss <span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">developed the</span> Say
Yes program: <iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/B-sbkT-dl-g" width="420"></iframe></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“There’s about 15
scholarship programs in the country right now, but we’re the only one that
comes with the services we offer,” said Say Yes Executive Director David Rust. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Say Yes Buffalo provides
different types of support, including tuition scholarships to one of nearly 100
colleges and universities, mentoring, tutoring, school-day academic support to
family outreach, social work and psychological services.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“This is a total program
that gets involved with the school life, education life, and student life in
Buffalo Public Schools,” said Pridgen. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In 2008, Syracuse was
the first community selected by Say Yes to apply the strategies and support to
all 32 schools in the district. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“In the five years that
Say Yes has been in Syracuse, they’ve seen a 20 percent increase in graduates go on to
college, a 6</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> percent</span> increase in high school graduation rates, and a 70</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> percent</span> decrease in
children placed in foster care,” said Newman.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In December of 2011, Say
Yes announced it would create another charter in Buffalo and in the beginning
of the fall 2012 school year, Say Yes will implement its programs and provide
services to students and families throughout Buffalo. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“We are here to help,
there’s no doubt about that, and we are going to be here a long time,” said
Rust. “This is not just a 3 year in-and-out grant.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">For more information on
the Say Yes program and for a full list of colleges and universities
participating in the program, you can visit the website at </span><a href="http://www.sayyestoeducation.org/"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">www.sayyestoeducation.org </span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><i>Edited by James Wright</i></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><i>
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Bengal News Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03209451649003025385noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5715478791958186590.post-91567499263207088842012-11-22T08:28:00.003-08:002012-11-22T08:42:05.548-08:00Say Yes to Education Buffalo brings relief<style>
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</style><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>By Dayna Francis and Tyeisha Prior</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><i>BengalNews Reporters</i>
</b></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho"; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">The stress of figuring out how to
pay for college can become an expensive burden for high school students and
parents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho"; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">According to the National Center for
Education Statistics website for 2010-2011, the average cost of attendance for
first and full time students living on campus and paying in-state tuition was
$20,000 at a four year public institution. It was $39,800 at a private non-profit
four year institution.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho"; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">The City of Buffalo has implemented
a program called Say Yes to Education Buffalo in hopes to alleviate and reduce
financial stresses for students wanting to further their education after high
school.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho"; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">According to the Say Yes to
Education Buffalo website, Buffalo is the second chapter along with Syracuse to
cover an entire school district.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho"; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">The program has recently been
launched in numerous schools across Buffalo. Support for students can start as
early as kindergarten and continue throughout high school and college. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho"; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">Naomi Cerre, principal of P.S. 204
Lafayette High School at 370 Lafayette Ave., said that it is a great
opportunity for students who wouldn’t or thought that they didn’t have a chance
to attend college. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho"; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">“Say Yes offers an opportunity for
our Buffalo students to see themselves as college students and to see that they
can have a journey to college, and really survive without the stress of
finances,” Cerre said. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho"; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Students
and parents have also shown enthusiasm for the program through a grand kick-off
celebration held by Lafayette High School two weeks ago. The school held a
reception for parents and students with a representative from Say Yes Buffalo
to answer questions about the college process. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho"; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Principal Naomi Cerre on how Say Yes gives students
hope to have a future without worrying about tuition costs:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://0.gvt0.com/vi/i_fCMZHzWTA/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/i_fCMZHzWTA&fs=1&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/i_fCMZHzWTA&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div>
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho"; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Say Yes Buffalo has also created schoalrships and grants pertaining to specific colleges around the Buffalo area. </span>Students must meet specific criteria
to become eligible for aid.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho"; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">One of the grants, called the
Private College Grant, has a number of participating colleges such as
D’Youville College. Participating colleges have agreed to cover any tuition
besides what is covered through Pell and Tap grants for Say Yes scholars that
have a family income of $75,000 or less.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Students must also complete grades 9-12 at a Buffalo public or charter
school to be eligible. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho"; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">The grant will also provide up to $5,000
per year based on other financial awards received and the cost of full time
tuition. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho"; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">The Say Yes Buffalo Tuition
Scholarship covers only tuition fees. It is determined by how long a student
has been attending a Buffalo public or charter school. If you begin from
kindergarten, 100 percent of your tuition will be covered, and decreasing in
percent from which grade you start off in with the Say Yes Buffalo program. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho"; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">While the program is free, students
must be aware that they still need to achieve high standards when it comes to
academics.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho"; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;">“Kids can’t just assume that I just
can’t do the work,” said Cerre. “They have to do the work and meet criteria, requirements,
and expectations.” <i>Edited by Shari Ingles</i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
Bengal News Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03209451649003025385noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5715478791958186590.post-30424493279248062852012-10-09T06:09:00.000-07:002012-10-09T06:26:28.142-07:00Pre-K program educates across borders<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>By Brian Alexander and Jennifer Waters</b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><b>BengalNews Reporters</b></i><br />
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</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 114%;">His
name isn’t Eddie, it’s Edward.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 114%;">That’s
what the 4-year-old told Belle Center Early Childhood director Laurie Beck
after learning how to spell his first name in the center’s Universal
Pre-Kindergarten Program.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 114%;">Edward
started at the Belle Center when he was a baby. He has transitioned from the
toddler room and early intervention program, through the 3-year-old room and
into Universal Pre-K.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 114%;">In
June, Edward will graduate and move onto kindergarten in the Buffalo Public
Schools, having gained the skills Beck said are necessary to be a successful
life-long learner. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 114%;">The
Universal Pre-K program is in its second year. A Peter Towers Grant of about
$3,000 was recently awarded to the program to provide technology in the
classrooms.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 114%;">“There
are no computers or anything in here currently. This will allow for
technological development and an upgrade for the early childhood development
center,” said Marketing and Communications Director Callie Johnson.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 114%;">Beck
said the Peter Towers grants are a competitive grant awarded to different
organizations focused on aiding children with learning disabilities. </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 114%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 114%;"> </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">The Belle Center’s Early Childhood Director Laurie Beck talks about what the center has in store for its Universal Pre-Kindergarten program as it begins its second year:</span><br />
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 114%;">She
said the computers are necessary for teachers to assess their students’
development, input the results and send them off for research.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 114%;">With
the new possibilities provided by technology, Universal Pre-K will help
3-year-old students like J.J., Johnnie and Evan continue with the center’s
program next fall.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 114%;">Universal
Pre-K has also started implementing a new program for learning outcomes called “Second
Step,” a social behavior program in which the teacher plans lessons specific to
a different emotion each week.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 114%;">The
lessons are meant to teach the children how to deal with their feelings and
express them in a healthy manner when dealing with other children and adults,
an important lesson for when they move on to kindergarten, Beck said.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 114%;">“Kindergarten
will have different rules they will have to follow. The goal is to give them
all the skills they will need to succeed at an early age,” she said.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 114%;">The
UPK program day starts promptly at 8 a.m., or earlier for students whose
parents need work accommodations, and runs until 4 p.m. Packed with activities
to engage their minds and bodies, students participate in circle time for
stories and activities such as letter recognition, exercise time, two meals a
day and swimming every Friday.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 114%;">Keeping
the whole routine on track are 15 full-time daycare workers, along with
AmeriCorps volunteers who teach early literacy to the three year-old group,
work in the offices or volunteer in the community.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 114%;">“Two
year-olds, they just wake up running,” said AmeriCorps Volunteer Naomi Porter
as the toddler group clambered into wagons for a morning walk.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 114%;">Porter
admits the job can be hectic at times, whether with paperwork or preparing
meals for classes, but said the experience is rewarding. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 114%;">Each
classroom in the center is prepared with a bilingual teacher like Tasha Vega
who has been with the 3-year-old group for three years now. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 114%;">“My
daughter also attends classes here. I think I’ve moved forward a lot working
with the program,” Vega said.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 114%;">The
center provides educational programs for ages six weeks to senior citizens.
This allows parents to be involved with the program as well. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 114%;">Beck
said one of the most amazing things to see is a Pre-K student and their parent
learning English as a second language together.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 114%;">“We
have many parents who will drop their child off at daycare and head upstairs
for their class,” Beck said.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 114%;">Among
the many first languages of those who attend the center are Burmese, Spanish
and dialects native to Africa.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 114%;">Noting
the various cultures found at the center, porter said, “(The program) helps me
develop my ability to work with such diverse groups. It will help me go
anywhere in the world.”</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 114%;"> <i>Edited by Jason Murphy </i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 114%;"><br /></span></div>
Bengal News Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03209451649003025385noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5715478791958186590.post-38369303472668404852012-10-06T16:02:00.000-07:002012-10-10T14:50:08.494-07:00Director of veteran affairs helps students<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By Tom Gallahger and Mike Straw</span></b><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>BengalNews Reporters </b></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Members of the Student-Veteran Association (SVA)
at <a href="http://www.dyc.edu/veterans">D’Youville College</a> have a special nickname for the college’s director of
veteran affairs, Ben Randle.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“He’s
the grandmaster,” SVA president Jimmy Borzillieri said. “He’s behind the
curtains with everything. We don’t do anything without going through him
first.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Sure
enough, Borzillieri and Gary Lee, fellow student-veteran and club member, were
quick to credit Randle for the college’s inclusion on the 2013 <a href="http://www.militaryfriendlyschools.com/Article/methodology-press-kit">MilitaryFriendly Schools</a> list through <a href="http://www.victorymediainc.com/">Victory Media</a> last month.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“At other colleges you have to push a little
harder to get what you need,” Lee said. “But here, you ask Ben once and he
takes care of it for you. He’s like a dad.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
Military Friendly Schools list honors the top 15 percent of U.S. colleges,
universities and trade schools that put forth an effort to educate America’s
veterans by offering programs, discounts and scholarships to them. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>D’Youville
offers plenty of the aforementioned benefits, which certainly aids in the
recruitment and retention of student-veterans.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“It’s a very, very veteran-friendly
environment,” Randle said.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>According
to Sister Denise A. Roche, the college’s president, D’Youville’s
student-veteran population has increased from 35 students in 2009 to 380 this
semester – a tenfold growth in population. Part of that growth can be
attributed to Randle and his desire to make the college experience for
student-veterans whole.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“[Randle]
treats the student-veterans with great respect and offers whatever assistance
each one needs,” Roche said. “He loves them as his own. He is exactly the right
person for the job.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR__dI6E6CiujqpPqNiKK60NOokr4H93Wfptv9g34yo3QVjv2Txkv-Vr13z6QKVqutx6_jhRIAjlEPAz_vFTH36Mko0JFcO4nfQj3IIHUKPLV5wkGMjz8aztG23gwC5fMOZqYYrAuHJH6R/s1600/vet.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR__dI6E6CiujqpPqNiKK60NOokr4H93Wfptv9g34yo3QVjv2Txkv-Vr13z6QKVqutx6_jhRIAjlEPAz_vFTH36Mko0JFcO4nfQj3IIHUKPLV5wkGMjz8aztG23gwC5fMOZqYYrAuHJH6R/s400/vet.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> <style><!--
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<div class="MsoNormal">
Marine Jeff Schneider works on his coursework in D’Youville’s student-veteran lounge.</div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
college also has a 94.6 percent retention and graduation rate among
student-veterans. Additionally, nearly 40 percent of those students are on the
Dean’s List. While Randle can’t be credited entirely for the in-class success
of the student-veterans, Lee said that he certainly helps.</span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“You
tell [Randle], ‘Hey, I’m having a little trouble in this one class,’ and he’ll
get somebody to help you with it,” Lee said. “He’ll help you with anything,
school-wise or not school-wise. He’ll find an answer.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Randle
is a former marine and a Vietnam War-veteran, which played an integral role in
Lee’s decision to join the school’s pharmacy program.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“A
lot of school’s veteran offices aren’t even run by veterans,” Lee said. “This
office is important because it is [run by veterans].”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Pharmacy
programs are hard to get into. I was on the waiting list, but Ben was going to
the guy every day to get me in.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>For
Borzillieri, D’Youville was never really on his radar as far as prospective
colleges were concerned. However, once he met Randle and learned of his
welcoming nature, his preferences shifted and he ended up enrolling at the
school.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I
had every intention of going elsewhere for my core classes,” Borzillieri said.
“D’Youville happened to be right down the street, so I came in here and found
the VA office.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I
was reeled in 100 percent of the way. I didn’t consider D’Youville before meeting
Ben.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Above
all, Borzillieri noted that the college made the Military Friendly Schools list
because Randle is a military-friendly man that cares about his
student-veterans.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I
never had to reintroduce myself to the guy,” Borzillieri said. “When you meet
somebody that sees a million faces a day like Ben – they’re not going to
remember you.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Here,
you don’t have to say your name twice to him.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
Military Friendly Schools list is in its fourth year and was compiled through
extensive research and a survey of more than 12,000 U.S. colleges. <i>Edited by Sara O'Brien</i></span></div>
Bengal News Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03209451649003025385noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5715478791958186590.post-30520681589958026702012-05-11T13:08:00.002-07:002012-05-11T13:27:14.070-07:00Cornell students continue to help out W.S.<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
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<span style="font-size: small;">This
summer begins the fourth year of the High Road Project, a program through which
Cornell students get involved in non-profit organizations in order to make
improvements on the West Side and throughout Buffalo.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">This
eight week long program begins in mid-June and works in cooperation with the
Partnership for the Public Good (<a href="http://www.ppgbuffalo.org/">http://www.ppgbuffalo.org/</a>)
and the Cornell School of Industrial and Labor Relations (<a href="http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/">http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/</a>), said Lou
Jean Fleron, director of the High Road Program.</span></div>
<div class="Body" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">“We’re
looking at really mutually beneficial relationships between the students and
the organizations and the greater community as a whole,” said Megan Connelly,
program coordinator for the High Road Program and director of program and
development for the PPG.</span></div>
<div class="Body" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> “The High Road Program is really a
living laboratory of community and economic development in the city,” Connelly
said.</span></div>
<div class="Body" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Students
undergo an application process before being assigned a highly defined project
to work on throughout the summer, Fleron said.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> “I think we’ve been fairly
West-centric in the past couple of years, in part because the majority of our
partners are working on the West Side,” Connelly said.</span></div>
<div class="Body" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span id="ctl00_contentArea_lblSubmissionText" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #ebebeb; color: #333333; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">Lou
Jean Fleron, director of the High Road Program, and Megan Connelly,
director of programs & development at the Partnership for Public
Good, discuss the upcoming project that begins in June:</span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #ebebeb; color: #333333; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='420' height='366' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/dvM16epW-rc?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> PUSH
Buffalo, Urban Roots and Buffalo First are just three of the many organizations
that receive student interns through the High Road Program.</span></div>
<div class="Body" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> “I think it’s an excellent way for
students to apply the theoretical to practical experiences,” said Sarah Bishop,
executive director of Buffalo First.</span></div>
<div class="Body" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> Carolyn Krupski, from Clifton Park,
is one of the 20 students that will be taking part in the High Road Program
this summer. </span></div>
<div class="Body" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">“I
am really looking forward to a summer in Buffalo! I have never been to Buffalo
before, and I hear from other High Road Fellows that there are really unique,
fun things to do in Buffalo in the summer time,” Krupski said.</span></div>
<div class="Body" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Krupski
said that she is really interested in “the effects of post-industrialization on
rust-belt and industrial cities and their current economic development.”</span></div>
<div class="Body" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> “This summer I am hoping to gain
first hand knowledge of the people of Buffalo's initiatives to address the
economic challenges that the city faces,” Krupski said.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> Students in the program work at
their specific organizations Monday through Thursday and then on Friday they
come together to share their week’s experiences and participate in programs and
workshops in specific areas, Connelly said.
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<span style="font-size: small;"> In addition, the students are expected
to journal, or blog, on Thursday nights in order to reflect on their
experiences, Connelly said.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> Interest in the program has
increased substantially over the past four years, going from five participants
in 2009 up to 20 who will be participating this summer, said Fleron.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> The program has received positive
feedback from students who were involved in the past.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> “It was an honor working with PUSH;
they are really doing a wonderful job empowering folks on the West Side,” said
John Parker, a Cornell student who was involved in the program last summer, in
his program evaluation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> "The
most rewarding part for me was probably just being able to work in the
community,” said Daniel Cooper, a Cornell student who worked with Buffalo First
through the program last summer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> In the past, the
students accomplished a great deal by the end of the summer.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> “I
ended up creating a marketing plan for Buffalo First, like how to improve the
organization, and then I also created a technology guide to help local business
owners gain a large consumer base," Cooper said. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> “We’re
very happy to have [the students] here and look forward to it summer after
summer,” Fleron said. <i>Edited by Richard Cumpston</i></span></div>
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<br /></div>Bengal News Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03209451649003025385noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5715478791958186590.post-83832636095902158342012-04-22T05:59:00.001-07:002012-04-22T06:05:39.845-07:00Upcoming charter school boasts big plans<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>By Cortney Drakefore and Alana Ransom</b></span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><i><b>BengalNews Reporters</b></i></span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> The
building located on 113 Lafayette Ave. will be renovated soon to become the
new <a href="http://www.westbuffalocharter.org/">West Buffalo Charter School</a> in August 2012. </span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> Renovations
on the former hospital turned apartment building have yet to begin. There are
still tenants <u></u><span style="color: red;"></span> in the building.
However, construction workers have been accessing the building to make sure all
permits are in place and promises to have the building complete before the kids
arrive at the new school on August 13.</span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"> School leader Andrea Todoro introduces the West Buffalo Charter School: </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The
school program will focus on developing an exceptional foundation of reading,
academic
and personal skills that will give students the means to succeed and
reach their full potential.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> With
high expectations for all students and a rigorous curriculum benchmarked to the
NYS Learning Standards, West Buffalo Charter School is committed to sustaining
a safe, caring, learning community that respects diversity and encourages
strong home, school and community partnerships according to the school’s
brochure. </span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="margin: 0.1pt 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Todoro has been reaching out to families in the
community since December. The school has been to numerous events, anything involving
kids, said Todoro. They have promoted at the Boys and Girls Club, Head Start
Program, and different community centers in the local neighborhoods. Brochures,
postcards, and applications have been mailed out at community events in the
area. They recently had a lottery of 54 seats and extra students were put on
the schools waiting list.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The
curriculum will be based on the basic English language. Other programs offered
will be art, music, dance, technology, physical education, and computers. The
school has partnerships with the Massachusetts Avenue Project, D’Youville
College, Buffalo Speech and Hearing Center and the Buffalo Philharmonic
Orchestra.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The
Massachusetts Avenue Project will educate students on nutrition and will be
adding a green space most likely by the back fenced-in play area. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“The
goal is to have students harvest vegetable and herbs and use that in the lunch
program so that it will be student grown, student harvested and then used in
their lunch program,” said</span><span style="font-size: small;"> Jesse Meeder, farm manager of MAP's </span><span style="font-size: small;"> Growing Green program. <span style="color: red;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The
school evolved from a literacy intervention curriculum designed by Buffalo
Hearing & Speech Center called, "Language to Literacy,” said President
and CEO Joseph Cozzo of the Buffalo Hearing & Speech Center. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The
school is integrating this “Language to Literacy” program and D’Youville <s></s> will be contributing student teachers.
The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra assists with music education in which musicians
will come over and work with the students. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"> The
school has plans to be a small<span style="color: black;">-</span>school
learning environment. With a small class size of 18 students and a high teacher
to student ratio, the school hopes to provide more nurturing, individualized
and differentiated student instruction. There will be longer, family friendly
school days and an extended school year of 200 days. They will focus on
language acquisition, building literacy and reading proficiency. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"> Most
of the community is excited about the changes, while others may feel a little
upset because of having to move out of their living space, <span style="color: red;"></span>Todoro said. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"> “Feedback
about the new school was positive mostly but the negative only came from people
who had to move,” said Todoro. “People are excited the building is going to be
put to good use.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"> The
renovations are specific. Todoro hopes to make the school a place that fits the
needs of the people using it. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"> “We
have major input with the renovations,” said Todoro. “The landscapers come up
with ideas and bring it to us and we change what we feel will fit best for the
students.”</span></div>
<div class="ecxmsonormal" style="margin: 0.1pt 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The school will open August 2012 with 162
students in grades K-2 and will grow every year to K-4, reaching a total
enrollment in three years of 270 students</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"> “I
think it is a good investment. Good investment for the neighborhood, good
investment for the children and it’s really a win-win situation for everybody,”
said Todoro. <i>Edited by Shayna McKie</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="color: windowtext;"></span></span></div>Bengal News Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03209451649003025385noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5715478791958186590.post-47017534632785589272012-04-01T09:17:00.009-07:002012-04-01T09:28:44.558-07:00Program teaches refugee kids about school<b>By Katie Anderson and Danielle Wayne<br />
<i>BengalNews Reporters</i></b><br />
As refugee children in excitement blurt out responses, instructors remind them to raise their hands first. <br />
With school supplies scattered across the table, refugee children attempt to grab the items called out by the instructor.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHnvK2atPXknWvKSRhlYTmFG4OIjd5pPrVOUvMhirlAQQ-2hF6Z7uxZ1ZaL0zX5indFBZd5YO7Wfji75C5LrzRGbAtc1OapnwFiuQM3Di14rZMxZBePILdLaF_YvqF6kxywYRe_PdrPHNy/s1600/kdphoto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHnvK2atPXknWvKSRhlYTmFG4OIjd5pPrVOUvMhirlAQQ-2hF6Z7uxZ1ZaL0zX5indFBZd5YO7Wfji75C5LrzRGbAtc1OapnwFiuQM3Di14rZMxZBePILdLaF_YvqF6kxywYRe_PdrPHNy/s320/kdphoto.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Megan Schear, center, teaches two refugee students.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
For almost two months now, refugee school age children, from pre-kindergarten to high school students, have found a place to go while awaiting placement in the Buffalo Public School System. Buffalo Beginnings is a program funded by Buffalo State College and Journey's End Refugee Services, Inc. that welcomes refugees from countries all over the world, such as Iraq, Burma, Nepal and India. <br />
While newly relocated refugee children wait to be placed in a school, they can attend the program to learn about the American school system as well as American society.<br />
“The goal of the program is to both help with academics and English learning as well as socialize the students to be able to function well in an American classroom,” said Karalynn Brown, a program coordinator. <br />
From 10 a.m. to noon on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, Buffalo Beginnings is located at the Buffalo State Community Academic Center, 214 Grant St. As of right now, the program usually consists of about five children, but is welcome to growth. Instructors in the program educate these refugee youth about things such as holding a pencil, raising their hands and writing their names. <br />
Brown said that some refugees who just arrive to the country, because of medical of other reasons, have about a two-month waiting period before they’re allowed to enter the school system.<br />
“If they’re waiting to be placed in a school, they don’t really have much to do,” said Brown. “So if we can get them into a classroom setting, get them used to the American school system and use that time when they’re waiting, I think it’s beneficial for them.”<br />
<iframe src="http://archive.org/embed/BuffaloBeginnings_548" width="640" height="480" frameborder="0"></iframe>During this waiting period, Buffalo Beginnings prepares refugee youth with age-appropriate games and activities that incorporate English vocabulary.<br />
“With each week we have different topics to incorporate vocabulary and American social norms,” said Megan Schear, a program coordinator. <br />
Buffalo Beginnings bases its set of courses on the Bureau of Refugee and Immigrant Assistance curriculum. Brown said the core curriculum is a good mix of both American academic and social issues that refugee children learn.<br />
Buffalo Beginnings, however, is not only for refugee children. Their mothers are also able to attend the program in order to practice their English. For part of the program, the instructors pull aside the mothers or older children to work on conversational English with them said Brown. <br />
“It’s pretty typical of refugee families that the dad works and the mom stays at home,” said Brown. “So that’s why we offer the parent component as well—for the mother to be with the child and get out of the house and work on her English as well.”<br />
Buffalo Beginnings has recently had three of its students enter the public school system. Buffalo Beginnings instructors said they do receive positive feedback from both students and teachers in the school systems. Attending the program has helped ease the cultural shock refugee students face when entering the public school system, said Schear.<br />
The program is looking to expand into the summer, said Maureen McCarthy, staff associate of the Academic Center. <i>Edited by Mackenzie Clarke</i>Bengal News Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03209451649003025385noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5715478791958186590.post-27030059285551217422012-03-26T11:41:00.000-07:002012-03-26T11:41:08.256-07:00School 30 looking up with vertical growing<b>By Richard Cumptson and Mike Tellier</b><br />
<i><b>BengalNews Reporters </b></i><br />
During the harsh months of winter, individuals that have gardens are forced to pack up shop. But for the students at School 30, they decided to just move things inside.<br />
students at School 30, located at 21 Lowell St., are using a new growing trend known as vertical growing to grow their produce this year. According to <a href="http://www.verticalfarm.com/">The Vertical Farm, </a> nearly 80 percent of the world’s population will live in urban centers by 2050, so many people have began using vertical growing as a way of conserving space. <br />
This new way of growing produce was welcomed with open arms by the students of School 30.<br />
"The new classroom garden has meant so much to the students at School 30,” said John Guzda, a classroom assistant at School 30. “Many of them have come up to me in class to talk about their enthusiasm for the project."<br />
Up until this year, most of the students who took part in the vertical garden had little knowledge of how to sustain a garden, but with the help of their teacher and members of the PUSH organization, the students were able to learn a lot of the ins and outs to gardening.<br />
“A lot of these kids who have grown up in the city, had little to no experience with planting and gardening,” Yax said. “But it was interesting to see them all learn how to garden the regular way, and also garden vertically, because there are some differences.”<br />
The seventh and eighth grade students who participated in the project wanted the chance to be able to grow a garden inside during the winter.<br />
“In the past, students have planted seeds inside the class and then when the winter was over, we would bring the plants outside, and plant them in the ground,” said PUSH community organizer Whitney Yax. “This year we really wanted to try something new and plant the garden inside.”<br />
PUSH first became acquainted with School 30 when one of the teachers reached out to PUSH, asking for assistance in getting the students better involved within the community.<br />
“We thought it was a great idea to get the kids involved in gardening since most of them had little experience in the area,” Yax said. “When we first started doing this the kids would just plant the seeds inside and then at the end of winter they could bring them outside and actually plant them, but the vertical garden idea has added a lot of excitement to this process.”<br />
Vertical farming experts say the style of planting provides more available space, reduces food miles, iconserve water and energy resources and works sustainable with nature.<br />
“I think that the students will do this again next year,” Yax said. “But right now we are really trying to get more faculty members involved with this because if for some reason this particular teacher happens to leave, we are going to need someone there to step in and help the kids with this.” <br />
<i>Edited by Kevin Freiheit</i>Bengal News Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03209451649003025385noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5715478791958186590.post-42344817315033004772011-10-25T06:39:00.000-07:002011-12-08T06:01:14.763-08:00Rose Garden shows youngsters life’s basics<div style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">By Samantha Murphy and Desiree Wiley</span></b></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><b>BengalNews Reporters</b></i></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> Imagine spending the day outside under the warm sun listening to the birds chirp and bees buzz while you plant a garden. Afterwards, you return inside to finish kneading organic dough for your homemade pizza. </span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> As you enjoy the smells escaping your kitchen, you unwind by taking part in some arts and crafts. Maybe you’re thinking it would never happen, but for children at <a href="http://www.therosegarden.us/page/about_us/">The Rose Garden Early Childhood Center</a>, it is a daily routine. </span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> The Rose Garden sits cozy at 257 Lafayette Ave. and is occupied by 43 children, ranging from ages of 12 months to five years. Director of The Rose Garden, Judith Frizlen, says she was inspired to open the center after discovering the LifeWays model for learning. </span><br />
<br />
Judith Frizlen, on the genesis of The Rose Garden:<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">In celebrating three years of success, Frizlen says providing such needed services is extremely fulfilling. </span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> The Rose Garden was modeled after the LifeWays childhood center, opened in 1998 by Waldorf kindergarten teacher Cynthia Aldinger in Wisconsin.</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> As director of <a href="link:%20http://www.lifewaysnorthamerica.org">LifeWays North America</a>, Aldinger provides families and teachers with training and support of the model’s principles and practices. </span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> LifeWays practices focus on engaging childhood development on all levels. Children are able to grow, learn and become comfortable in their skin in a homelike environment. </span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> The Rose Garden provides children with basic skills needed for daily function. Children experience movement through gardening, building, cleaning, cooking, drawing, playing outside and more. </span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> “It’s a language rich environment,” said Stephanie Neikirk-Epes, assistant director. “Our goal is to provide opportunities for a whole experience. The children like coming to school and doing things they enjoy.” </span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> Staff at the center provides close and continuous care with each child. Frizlen believes the homelike environment allows children to embrace their surroundings, making learning enjoyable. </span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> Lori Kostusiak, a pre-school teacher in the Sweet Pea room, has been with the center since its construction days. </span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> “I’ve been here since the opening of the Rose Garden, when our playground was still a mud pit and the school was a construction zone,” said Kostusiak. </span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> Kostusiak prides the center on its natural way of teaching, from playing with nature made toys to eating organic home cooked food and its emphasis on interaction. </span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> “Children are not built for sitting at desks,” said Kostusiak. “They are built for running, jumping and interacting with each other. That’s how they develop the basis and foundation for a healthy life.”</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> With childhood obesity numbers at alarming highs, Frizlen believes teaching children the benefits of organic and wholesome eating is a great way to support a healthier lifestyle.</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> “We’re promoting childhood health,” said Frizlen, “If you eat well and move around a lot you won’t be obese. We serve all organic grains and everything is made right here. We don’t serve anything out of a box.”</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> While childhood health is of the utmost importance, there are many other reasons why the children of the Rose Garden Center eat organic. </span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> “It’s good for the environment,” said Frizlen. “By buying a 50 pound bag of organic oats, I’m not wasting packaging and, since we buy locally, we’re also supporting our local economy.”</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> The Center not only practices green eating habits, but also promotes energy efficient building standards. The building, built in 1928, was home to several schools before it became vacant in 2004. Frizlen bought the building in 2009 and has made some significant improvements since then.</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> “We still have some of the beautiful, old features but with some modern elements,” Frizlen said. “Because the building has a flat roof and we like to use green sensibilities in architecture, we have solar panels on the roof. All the electricity on the first floor is generated by them.”</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> In addition to the solar panels, the Rose Garden Center also has a composter. The composter turns the kitchen waste into nutrient rich fertilizer, which they then use to feed their garden where they grow carrots, beets, parsley and tomatoes. They also have a rain basin, which collects rainwater and saves it for later use. </span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> As for the daycare’s location on the West Side, Frizlen couldn’t be happier. </span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> “It’s a great location,” she said. “We love it here. We have lovely neighbors and they’ve been so supportive. They’re happy too. It’s never good to have a vacant building in your neighborhood and our building is so full of life.” <i>Edited by Kaitlin Riznyk</i></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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</span></div>Bengal News Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03209451649003025385noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5715478791958186590.post-28932752121938131722011-10-05T10:18:00.000-07:002011-10-06T06:00:48.267-07:00It’s school then athletics at Lafayette<b>BY KAITLIN FRITZ AND KAITLIN RIZNYK</b><br />
<i><b>BengalNews Reporters</b></i><br />
One minute she received a pat on the back and only minutes later was given an exasperated shake of a head, but this is the mixed reaction high school principal Naomi Cerri was expecting when she made a bold move to push academics over athletics.<br />
With more than 20 years of experience in teaching and academic administration, Cerri saw her new position as principal of Lafayette High School as a way to improve the education of students attending the often criticized <a href="http://www.buffaloschools.org/">Buffalo City Schools</a>.<br />
Cerri entered the school for the first time two weeks before the semester began and met the staff only days before the first day of school. While trying to get acclimated in a new setting and battling to get assistance in areas of the school, Cerri received a disturbing surprise. Each year students who play sports must have an academic eligibility form approved by the principal in order to play. Student athletes' eligibility is based predominantly on their grades followed by attendance and classroom.<br />
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Lafayette High School Principal Naomi Cerri discusses the importance of academics:<br />
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When Cerri got the forms of the football team she looked at the player’s report cards and spoke with assistant principals about behavior. After the evaluation she found 12 of the team’s players to be academically ineligible to play.<br />
For a football team the size of Lafayette’s (where most players have positions on both offense and defense), losing 12 players unfathomable. <br />
“It was nothing I had planned. I had no idea it would happen,” said Cerri.<br />
Although in the past, Cerri said, she is sure that students who were academically ineligible have not been reprimanded athletically, she was unwilling to turn a blind eye to the football team’s struggling teenagers. After weighing decisions she told the coaches what her plan was.<br />
“I spoke with the coaches first and had the dialogue that needed to be had to have them understand how critically important it was,” she said.<br />
Her plan was the forfeit Lafayette’s second football game versus rival school, Fredonia. The coaches and players didn’t take the news as well as she had hoped.<br />
“It hasn’t been the best situation for everyone emotionally. I think it’s definitely taken a toll on them emotionally but things like that happen, it’s part of the process but in the end I think they will get it,” she said.<br />
The forfeit resulted in a 0-2 loss on the record for the team. Cerri installed a policy for all sports players in which eligibility will be determined weekly via progress reports from teachers. The team has had two games since the forfeit and the football coaches have noted that the team morale is down.<br />
The coaches aren’t the only ones seeing the negatives of having to forfeit a game while <a href="http://www.maxpreps.com/high-schools/35MFKW0XYkKR4Zo_0WAnzg/lafayette-violets/football/schedule.htm">the season</a> is underway. Darnay Carpenter, a mother of one of the football players was upset at the way the situation was handled,<br />
“I understand it, but I would have stopped it before the first game. My son practiced from 9am-3pm since the summer just to have the second game cancelled.”<br />
Carpenter was also worried about how the situation could hurt the students, <br />
“All of them cried. A lot of them wanted to quit. I told my son ‘if you start it, you finish it’ we aren’t quitters, but for some of these kid their ticket out of the inner city is sports.”<br />
Principal Cerri said her main concern is giving students an education, which, she says, is something that no one can take away from you while sports are just a privilege. <br />
Cerri said since she enacted the weekly progress reports the teachers and administrators have noticed a tremendous difference in the student’s attendance, behavior and work ethic.<br />
A Math teacher at Lafayette, Elizabeth Kent told the principal she had her full support, <br />
“I have many of the football players in my classes. This is a huge motivation and I have noticed a huge change in work ethic.....some of them wouldn’t do any work, [football] is all they want to do, but [getting an education] is part of paying our dues as a member of society.”<br />
While at a Lafayette’s football game at JFK a teacher from South Park school district approached Cerri to congratulate the principal on the bold move. Cerri said she’s been receiving positive messages from teachers outside the district as well as inside,<br />
“[The teachers are] loving it. They’ll come to me and say ‘so and so’ has been working in my class.”<br />
Cerri has made it mandatory for every sports player in the school to attend after school tutoring sessions designed by their coaches or advisors and instructed by students from Buffalo State College, Daeman College or University at Buffalo.<br />
Since the weekly progress reports have began every student has been eligible to play in their respective sports. Cerri is confident that students, coaches and others in the district are beginning to understand why she is making the moves that she is and hopes it continues that direction.<br />
“We are teaching them how to be better students, more well rounded. They are starting to realize ‘I have choices, options and decisions to make. I need to have an A plan a B plan and even a C and D plan, especially in this economy,’” Cerri said.Bengal News Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03209451649003025385noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5715478791958186590.post-28715626796885255592011-04-11T07:33:00.000-07:002011-04-11T07:33:32.387-07:00Buffalo schools have anti-bully policy<b>By Bridget DeMeis and John Patrissi</b><br />
<b><i>Bengal News Reporters</i> </b><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> A resolution seeking to amend the current <a href="http://www.buffaloschools.org/StudentServices.cfm?subpage=57596%20">Buffalo Public School</a> district policies and regulations regarding bullying and harassment was sponsored by the president of the board of education, Ralph Hernandez, and was unanimously passed among the other board members on Jan. 12.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> Spurred by New York State’s recent legislative passage of the <a href="http://www.bullypolice.org/ny_law.html">Dignity for All Students Act</a> and a national push for tolerance of diversity, the sponsored resolution will implement new district-wide anti-bullying procedures with the expectation of curtailing such behavior both in and outside of the classroom. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> State law doesn’t require school districts to enforce the new policy until 2012 but school district leaders plan to have all provisions implemented and functioning adequately before the scheduled deadline. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2dcCkzgsPL6fhKuSnx_6Q0a9Fkk-xtu1ofT9737suwqbeyvLdbra_J8PIl81RmXWSGcX9nFhU4ieW_qhXa5J69veczZXmrnEAh3rbAKuN_me4c5dyyQ46EXbkW7TEis5cNMI0RTutW_xU/s1600/ralph.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2dcCkzgsPL6fhKuSnx_6Q0a9Fkk-xtu1ofT9737suwqbeyvLdbra_J8PIl81RmXWSGcX9nFhU4ieW_qhXa5J69veczZXmrnEAh3rbAKuN_me4c5dyyQ46EXbkW7TEis5cNMI0RTutW_xU/s320/ralph.jpg" width="193" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Board President Ralph Hernandez</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> “We wanted to be proactive on this for many reasons,” said Hernandez, who represents the West District. “First of all, it’s a legislative amendment long overdue, and of course we want to be prepared because it’s my understanding that there are resources and grants the state will be offering in the near future that will assist in developing a more comprehensive anti-bullying program.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> Citywide anti-bullying legislation comes at a time when there appears to be an increase in the number of anti-refugee sentiment occurring at Grover Cleveland High School. Burmese students are being targeted, said Gary Welborn, chair of the sociology department at Buffalo State College.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> Although not refuting such occurrences, Associate Superintendent for Educational Services William Keresztes offers a different explanation for the apparent increase of bullying targeted towards refugees. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> “I wouldn’t necessarily say that there’s a known quantitative increase in the numbers, but by default the numbers of some students who are enrolled in our schools have gone up and it’s quite likely that as consequence there are more of these unfortunate instances,” he said. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> To abate the potential harassment targeted towards an ever increasing refugee student populace, Kereztes mandated the district’s code of conduct, which contains the anti-bullying policy, be translated into the five most commonly spoken languages among the city refugee populace—Arabic, Burmese, Karen, Somali and Spanish.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> “Last summer I thought it necessary that parents knew their rights—parents that come from foreign countries should not think that somehow bullying is acceptable in the United States and that it’s a price-to-pay to become a citizen here,” he said. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> According to the resolution, district policy will make it certain that no student will be preoccupied by fear of harassment and discrimination to an extent where they will be unable to receive a meaningful education. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Associate Superintendent for Educational Services Will Kereztes discusses anti-bullying measures"</span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> When an instance of bullying or harassment is brought to any school official’s attention, not only are they obligated to follow State law mandating the report of the incidence to a State official, but the school is required, by district policy, to call in the district’s Bias Response Team. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> The response team, consisting of three social workers, a lawyer from the city’s legal department and a high ranking member of the school board, will be responsible for going into a school where a reported instance of harassment has occurred and assess if a broader social problem exists. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> “We don’t want to just deal with bullying as a misconduct issue—we will deal with it swiftly and severely as a misconduct issue—but, it has been my experience that if bullying is treated as just as an isolated act of misconduct we really don’t take the time and opportunity to really eradicate what caused the bullying in a particular building in the first place,” </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Keresztes said. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> Broader social problems have been an issue for the school district in the past, where not only discriminative attitudes are held among students, Keresztes said, but also among school staff who feel some students are inherently responsible for the bullying geared towards them. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> The school district has enacted programs<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=5715478791958186590" name="_GoBack"></a> to educate and train all professional and non-professional school officials, including cafeteria staff and bus drivers, about how to react to and prevent bullying. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> Information provided by Bonnie M. Kirisits, a district Social Worker and member of the Bias Response Team, indicated all school staff were required to view a 40 minute video titled "Bullied" and use handouts from the website </span><a href="http://www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov/"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> The district has also held anti-bullying workshops at D’Youville College where both students and staff role-played bullying scenarios and discussed appropriate ways to diffuse the situation. </span><br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><i>Edited by Erica Lindo and Amanda Steffan</i> </span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div>Bengal News Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03209451649003025385noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5715478791958186590.post-80365286406892684702011-04-07T18:12:00.000-07:002011-04-07T18:19:54.273-07:00Language barriers hurt schools' test scores<b>By Mike Chiari and Tim Daniels<br />
<i>Bengal News Reporters</i></b><br />
Imagine that you’ve just relocated to a far away country. Having lived in your home country for all your life, you have no knowledge of this new country's language or customs.<br />
To make matters worse, you're living in a refugee camp, so you've had no chance to assimilate into this foreign culture. Despite these struggles, you're still expected to become proficient in a new language within a year. If you're unable to do this, you risk being left behind.<br />
While this may seem like a far-fetched scenario, this is exactly what refugee students in third through eighth grade have to endure in West Side schools, according to Amber Dixon, executive director of evaluation, accountability and project initiatives for Buffalo Public Schools.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpVNIdMALJ4MV-jssAUjrvQN7ThE64LAep1jLTr0Ks7xyFdZV4_Wp05q3mFywDbo5uZNBbXhWu9me7i-5K-gjHAw6NxySR0RJVWFvtpsHkQDqKsQn75EVNM0g3UcHaTvzTaTBVgwRZYbew/s1600/Photo1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpVNIdMALJ4MV-jssAUjrvQN7ThE64LAep1jLTr0Ks7xyFdZV4_Wp05q3mFywDbo5uZNBbXhWu9me7i-5K-gjHAw6NxySR0RJVWFvtpsHkQDqKsQn75EVNM0g3UcHaTvzTaTBVgwRZYbew/s400/Photo1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Recently released test results from last May's English and math assessments have shown a drop in proficiency across the state. West Side schools, in particular, struggled to meet the requirements set by the <a href="http://www.nysed.gov/">New York State Education Department</a>. A major reason for this, Dixon said, is the vast amount of refugees located on the West Side.<br />
“We have students who could arrive here May 1 and they've been in the refugee camp, and haven't been in school in three years,” Dixon said. “They enroll in one of our schools and they don't speak English, and on May 11 state law requires they take the New York State math assessment and be proficient in it. While we can get interpreters in and do what we can, we still have that child who doesn't have that command of the language, and we're expecting them to show proficiency.”<br />
State law allows a one-year grace period for refugee students to become proficient in English, but these students should be afforded more time, Dixon said.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5X-Gblwu9lxDVDZFlBT41uyjgxquNPp8FmKMqFQZ9_bRnVeCZ3l5FjkuFjmrDSdXwSLQqX88Y4psGT6nVsvbYLSMjDwaVwD5fn1HtV1eqH3LAfvYGqzMuPk9s2T1G_5dF_ltCrWelHqsL/s1600/Photo2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5X-Gblwu9lxDVDZFlBT41uyjgxquNPp8FmKMqFQZ9_bRnVeCZ3l5FjkuFjmrDSdXwSLQqX88Y4psGT6nVsvbYLSMjDwaVwD5fn1HtV1eqH3LAfvYGqzMuPk9s2T1G_5dF_ltCrWelHqsL/s400/Photo2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
“We're setting a bar for English language learners that's too rigid,” Dixon said. “Some students absolutely can get there, but some students, it's going to take them three years, and they're just as bright as the other students.”<br />
Samuel Radford, vice president of the District Parent Coordinating Council, agreed that refugees should be given a longer timetable to become English proficient, but there should be a limit, he said.<br />
“I think they should be given more time, but I don't think it should be like it was before where it was an indefinite amount of time,” Radford said. “ I think the reason why they cut the time was because teachers were not going to have a sense of urgency with the need to teach the children the language.”<br />
While the testing changes have some merit, they were instituted for all the wrong reasons, Radford said.<br />
“They changed it in the middle of the school year. They changed it after all the kids had taken the tests, I think that was extremely unfair,” Radford said. “I think the reason why they did it is because they wanted to qualify for more federal money. Because the state is broke and they don't have the money to put into education they used to have, the kids had to appear to need more help.” <br />
In comparison to past years, the scores haven't changed significantly, but the score required to reach proficiency has, Dixon said. This has heightened an already tall task for refugee students, she said.<br />
The result was that a score that might have been considered proficient in previous years might not have been proficient on last year's exams or any future exams, Dixon said.<br />
“It's almost like saying in your class, you get a 25 on three quizzes you'll get an 'A,' Dixon said. “After you get your 25 on three quizzes your instructor says 'that's not really an 'A' anymore, I think that's worth a 'C' now.'”<br />
Some community organizations such as <a href="http://jersbuffalo.org/">Journey’s End Refugee Services</a> are trying to speed up the process involved with teaching refugees the English language. <br />
“We have four full-time academic coaches that work with students individually,” said Kelly O’Brien of the Journey’s End education department. “Any teacher in Buffalo schools can call the office and get help.”<br />
Journey’s End also offers services such as explaining English meanings in the students’ native language and translating exams for students, O’Brien said.<br />
Due to the scoring changes, the average percentage of proficiency across West Side schools, and across grades three through eight, is just over 26 percent. Also, no grade level at any West Side school reached 50 percent proficiency in English or math.<br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><i>Edited by Ariel Hofher and Corey O'Leary</i> </div>Bengal News Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03209451649003025385noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5715478791958186590.post-18947613608862160362010-12-19T18:05:00.000-08:002010-12-19T18:05:42.381-08:00English programs for immigrants get boost<b>By Mike Gambini and Ken Obstarczyk</b><br />
<i>Bengal News reporters</i><br />
A room is divided into six focus groups. Teams consist of educators, administrators, community leaders and volunteers, each discussing ways to improve and expand <a href="http://www.ncte.org/ell">English language learner</a> programs in Buffalo.<br />
This scene represents the first ever This scene represents the first ever BELL Network working conference, which took place Dec. 4 at Buffalo State College.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqRYYkrQaEMWGpYvBmNH6wiLNT7tJEVC64R4Tp7Zc7I-Mru8kSd1MwXSBozP2DmdQs_Pgt-qneE2g5EQgoy_x2Mgc7yEJPWCnQx9F3X9t_1l0Sx7ji5KTvhuyK1lBOghf1o7jJWYTNShCm/s1600/conference.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqRYYkrQaEMWGpYvBmNH6wiLNT7tJEVC64R4Tp7Zc7I-Mru8kSd1MwXSBozP2DmdQs_Pgt-qneE2g5EQgoy_x2Mgc7yEJPWCnQx9F3X9t_1l0Sx7ji5KTvhuyK1lBOghf1o7jJWYTNShCm/s320/conference.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First BELL Network Conference</td></tr>
</tbody></table> The focus of the network is to expand existing programs and create new programs supporting English language learners, as well as form a larger network linking the various programs in order to help them all work together.<br />
English language learners are people of all ages and come from a wide variety of backgrounds. Some English language learners are recent immigrants, while others are young immigrants who have not yet had the chance to learn English. Because English is the primary language taught in most U.S. schools, these institutions face the challenge of making sure English language learners are competent in reading, writing and comprehension.<br />
<div style="text-align: left;"></div> Tamara Alsace, director of Multilingual Education for Buffalo Public Schools, said diversity is continuing to expand in Buffalo schools, and that means languages are also expanding. Alsace said there are a total of 67 languages spoken by students locally. Spanish is the most spoken, followed by Korean, Somali and Arabic.<br />
“In the Buffalo schools, we have seen an incredible increase in the number of ELLs over the past five years,” Alsace said. “It’s about a 40 percent increase from five years ago and we expect that trend to continue.”<br />
And according to a policy research brief produced by the National Council of Teachers of English, “ELLs now comprise 10.5 percent of the nation’s K–12 enrollment, up from 5 percent in 1990.”<br />
The challenges facing English language learners were some of the focal points of the conference. It was broken down into six categories: communications, resources, career, relationship building, early childhood and leadership. Teams were formed to discuss one of the six issues, and then given the task to create solutions and action plans moving forward.<br />
The network committee is made up of the Buffalo Public Schools, local resettlement agencies, Buffalo State College, Houghton College and the Refugee Tutoring Project, which has been assisting West Side refugees for over four years now.<br />
Currently there are numerous in and after school programs giving students social, cultural, academic and health support. These programs are hosted by organizations like <a href="http://jersbuffalo.org/">Journey’s End Refugee Services</a>, Inc., <a href="http://www.ccwny.org/Services/tabid/59/cid/55/cat/Immigration%20and%20Refugee%20Assistance%20Program/Default.aspx">Catholic Charities of Buffalo</a>, First Presbyterian Church and Buffalo Public Schools. <br />
The youth programs tutor and mentor students in reading, writing, math and English. Programs for adults consist of English classes, employment services such as interview and resume help and cultural assistance, which offers instructions with basic things like health care, grocery shopping and banking.<br />
Ellen Henry, director of outreach at the First Presbyterian Church, said the BELL Network will be vital to supporting and sustaining the English language learner population in Buffalo.<br />
“There are a number of programs to support English language learners, but their numbers and diversity are growing, which calls for an increase in services and support,” Henry said.<br />
The network was formed in the spring after the U.S. Department of Education issued a federal initiative notifying schools and communities across the country to create a support system for English language learners based on the model, “from cradle through college to career.”<br />
James Williams, superintendent of Buffalo Public Schools, was present at the conference and addressed the network in terms of financial and operational support. Williams said he is considering the BELL Network in his process of delegating a FOR A $500,000 grant the Buffalo Public Schools received for the 2010-2011 school year. Williams also said whether the school system is able to support BELL financially or not, it is in full support of the plan in place and will try to work along side BELL to address the many issues it faces trying to support English language learners.<br />
<br />
Schools Superintendent James Williams, on the need for more language programs:<br />
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The future of the network looks promising. Consisting of representatives from organizations across the West Side with valuable skills and plenty of experience, the network has a strong core. Welborn said the next step is sending out conference “wrap-up packets so everyone can see the progress that was made.” After that is complete, another meeting is planned for January and Welborn is encouraged.<br />
“The commitment is there to move this project forward,” Welborn said. “The next step is figuring out exactly how to get the job done.” <br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><i>Edited by Steven Jagord</i></div>Bengal News Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03209451649003025385noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5715478791958186590.post-34900904668869562272010-11-18T11:10:00.000-08:002010-11-18T11:18:09.453-08:00West Buffalo Charter School in battle over location<b>By Allison Jagow and Patrick Simons</b><br />
<i><b>Bengal News reporters</b></i><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTGFFmT1i2KNvmEwj7_A_H65VkMg8qzb5tiKgYZ5PL2asQL7FW37ZGWCBqUG5SGH_gp6fC_LIexZ806kCv-4UZoRXtkstA1IxlxpduQs3EMLFaaXMqGQ0DZX0ISorcO6TNShxhqGUJxkBk/s1600/photo_1-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTGFFmT1i2KNvmEwj7_A_H65VkMg8qzb5tiKgYZ5PL2asQL7FW37ZGWCBqUG5SGH_gp6fC_LIexZ806kCv-4UZoRXtkstA1IxlxpduQs3EMLFaaXMqGQ0DZX0ISorcO6TNShxhqGUJxkBk/s320/photo_1-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> With the current school year underway, <a href="http://www.elmwoodvillageschool.org/">Elmwood Village Charter School</a> and <a href="http://westbuffalocharter.org/West_Buffalo_Charter_School.html">West Buffalo Charter School</a> continue to fight for the vacant building at the corner of Days Park and Cottage Street.<br />
There was a resolution determined on Oct. 19 by the court. Any independent appraiser that is on the Appraisal Review Board’s approved list can now appraise the property. The council will then make a decision based on a two-thirds vote on which school will occupy the building for the next five years.<br />
West Buffalo Charter School has been approved by the state and has obtained its charter for the next five years. By not having a building to run the school out of, they are losing valuable time on their charter. According to Ellicott District Council member Curtis Haynes, West Buffalo Charter School will lose its charter if it is unable to identify a location by Dec. 1.<br />
The controversy over which charter school will occupy the Public School 36 dates back to July when Erie County Supreme Court Justice Patrick NeMoyer blocked the sale of the building to Elmwood Village Charter School.<br />
The decision was made based upon the failure by the Appraisal Review Board to consider all appraisals before setting the property value. Under the direction of Samuel Savarino, chief executive officer of Savarino Cos. and the landlord of Elmwood Villages, West Buffalo Charter School bid the property at $800,000. Elmwood Village Charter School put its bid in at $540,000, which is what the appraisal board set the appraisal at initially. The review board failed to consider other offers at the time.<br />
Samuel Savarino addresses the importance of the location for West Buffalo Charter:<br />
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It has been decided by NeMoyer that the Common Council will be making the final decision on which school will occupy School 36.<br />
West Buffalo Charter School was set to open this fall with 162 students enrolled in kindergarten through second grade. Although that date has been pushed forward until next fall, the school has a plan once it opens.<br />
West Buffalo Charter School will focus its curriculum mainly on teaching students speech, language, literacy and personal skills. The school will also have art, music, technology, dance, theatre, physical education, and computer classes.<br />
The school is expecting to have smaller class sizes with approximately 18 students to a class, as well as a longer school year extending through July. <br />
The argument for West Buffalo Charter School to occupy School 36 is extensive according to Savarino. He said that West Buffalo Charter School would need the building because the curriculum is specific to the needs of the West Side. The students have lower language and reading skills according to Savarino, so West Buffalo Charter School would fulfill the needs of the community.<br />
The renewal of a school’s charter depends on the success of the school, according to Liz Evans, the founding member of Elmwood Village Charter School and chair of the board of trustees.<br />
Elmwood Village Charter School, located at 124 Elmwood Ave. has been a well-known charter school for the past five years starting in 2006. The school educates students from kindergarten through the sixth grade, with 25 students in each class. It recently has been approved for its charter to be extended for another five years. The school would like to expand its campus and double the amount of students enrolled in the school. An expansion would help the school be able to further educate more children on the West Side.<br />
Elmwood Village Charter School thinks that School 36 would be an ideal location because of its desire to expand. In the future, it would like to add seventh and eighth grade classes to the school. The school has also begun the process of adding a new kindergarten class every year until there are two classes for each grade level. Liz Evans, founding member of Elmwood Village Charter School and chair of the board of trustees, said that School 36 is an ideal location to accompany its increasing student enrollment.<br />
The location of the school on Days Park is an easy access location for students and parents. It is within walking distance and would not require bus transportation, Evans said.<br />
“Community is a big part of our charter,” Evans said. “We take the kids out to the neighborhood, so we interact with the community a lot.”<br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><i>Edited by Tony Fiorello and Natalie Lleras</i></div>Bengal News Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03209451649003025385noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5715478791958186590.post-31176232333551280012010-11-18T07:20:00.000-08:002010-11-18T08:12:40.580-08:00Tutoring program expands to aid West Side schools<b>By Ashley Brown and Brittany Sherman</b><br />
<i><b>Bengal News reporters</b></i><br />
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To combat the rash of recent West Side schools placed on the New York State Department of Educations ‘Schools In Need of Improvement List’, <a href="http://thehomeworkclub.org/">Upgrade Academics</a> opened a new location November 1 on Lafayette Street.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgetK0pJ97diVyCPaFf_DDXZcoUSIgbN3ZWIIpQm2_w5qc7xDVdSaC1uxyFWuHW8AlXa1muo3FNHY-_h2KdQrDwPzBLCAt_a4AtACXeg3eYIrhpBR0YJxZ2PxUSk2VSCGlTuAK_rx5FJpYa/s1600/photo_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgetK0pJ97diVyCPaFf_DDXZcoUSIgbN3ZWIIpQm2_w5qc7xDVdSaC1uxyFWuHW8AlXa1muo3FNHY-_h2KdQrDwPzBLCAt_a4AtACXeg3eYIrhpBR0YJxZ2PxUSk2VSCGlTuAK_rx5FJpYa/s320/photo_2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> Started in 2001 by Nancy Berger, Upgrade Academics is an afterschool and summer enrichment program that is designed to provide free tutoring services in math and reading to almost 1,000 low-income students throughout the city. <br />
The program, which is funded by the No Child Left Behind Act, started off with a focus on teaching students basic reading, writing and math skills. <br />
Today, Upgrade Academics has grown into one of Buffalo’s largest supplemental education service providers and has expanded its services to provide West Side students with SAT preparation, daycare and summer camp. <br />
The primary office of Upgrade Academics is in Williamsville, but it has have facilities all over Western New York. Four of the nine locations are on the West Side where students of <a href="http://www.buffaloschools.org/">Buffalo Public Schools</a> schools consistently fail to meet educational standards. Among the deficiencies:<br />
• At Public School 30 Frank A. Sedita Academy, 35 percent of students in grades seven and eight are at a beginner’s level in reading and writing; while 37percent are considered to be at an intermediate level.<br />
• At Public School 18 Dr. Antonia Pantoja Community School of Academic Excellence, grades four and five struggle to reach the learning standards in English.<br />
•At Public School 45 International School, grades three, four, five and eight partially met the learning standards in English and in math.<br />
“The kids at Upgrade Academics attend some of the worst schools in Buffalo,” said Kristen Shaffer, a tutor for Upgrade Academics. “Just meaning, test score wise, where the schools are, where they’re supposed to be isn’t up to par.”<br />
More from Upgrade Academics tutor Kristen Shaffer:<br />
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Once schools are placed on the Schools In Need of Improvement list they become eligible to receive outside aid from non-profit organizations such as Upgrade Academics.<br />
Shaffer has worked with students on both the East and West Sides.<br />
Through her work she said she has noticed that the family makeup of the students from both communities impact their learning styles. For this reason, Schaffer said, courses are individually tailored to meet student’s needs.<br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><i>Edited by Mike Gambini and John Patrissi </i></div>Bengal News Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03209451649003025385noreply@blogger.com1