VOL. VI, No.
34; Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Dear Arthur,
Today's newsletter includes
(Note: You can now click on the blue hyperlinks below to go
directly to the story!):
Upcoming
Events for Balance of
2006-2007 School Year
Urban Go-Team Explores Skinker-DeBaliviere Area
Next High
School Discussion Group on Saturday, April 14
Civitas Collaboration with Pulitzer Center for Crisis
Reporting including workshop for Teachers
Civitas
now takes donations and payment of fees with
credit cards and PayPal. If you
want to make a tax-deductible donation or pay a fee, you may do
so by clicking here.
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Civitas Home
Page
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Upcoming Events
DATE |
TIME |
PLACE |
ACTIVITIES |
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Sat.,
04/14/07 |
9:00 AM -
11:00 AM |
Crossroads |
Discussion Group #10 |
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Wed., 04/25/07 |
9:00
AM - 12:00
PM |
C.C.G.C. |
Middle School Model U.N. Session
#3 |
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Thurs.,
04/26/07 |
9:00 AM - 12:00
PM |
C.C.G.C. |
Middle
School Model U.N. Session
#4 |
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Fri., 04/27/07 |
9:00 AM - 12:00
PM |
C.C.G.C. |
Middle
School Model U.N. Session
#5 |
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Sat.,
04/28/07 |
8:30 AM - 12:00 Noon
1:00 PM -
4:00 AM
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KETC-TV (Channel 9) 3655 Olive (63108)
Crossroads |
Optional
(but inviting!) workshop for high school and middle school
teachers on using resources of Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting
Urban Go-Team Activity #2
(We will go to the 'Hadley Township' area in Richmond
Heights)
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Wed.,
05/02/07 |
9:00 AM - 12:00
PM |
C.C.G.C. |
Middle
School Model U.N. Session
#6 |
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Thurs.,
05/03/07 |
9:00 AM - 12:00
PM |
C.C.G.C. |
Middle
School Model U.N. Session
#7 |
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Fri.,
05/04/07 |
9:00 AM - 12:00
PM |
C.C.G.C. |
Middle
School Model U.N. Session
#8 |
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Thurs.,
05/10/07 |
9:00 AM - 12:00
PM |
C.C.G.C. |
Middle
School Model U.N. Session
#9 |
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Sat.,
05/12/07 |
9:00 AM
-
11:30
AM
12:00 PM
-
3:00
PM |
Crossroads
Junior High
Park in Maplewood |
Urban Go-Team
Activity #3
Picnic &
Softball |
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Mon.,
05/21/07 |
4:00 PM - 5:00
PM |
Chevy's in
Crestwood |
Middle School Teacher Meeting
#4 |
Rev., April 3,
2007
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"Urban Go-Team" hits the
not-so-mean streets of '63112' last
Saturday
We saw
lots of window as we pounded the pavement in the
Skinker-DeBaliviere neighborhood around Crossroads School [in
zip code 63112] last Saturday (March 31), but the best window
was the one of opportunity that came our way that morning
between rain storms. After having been snowed out two
weeks before, we needed a little luck on the weather front and
we got it!
Ten students (Allison Reed; Rosati-Kain,
2008; Earl Taylor; Tower Grove Christian, 2008; Erin Casey;
Rosati-Kain, 2009; Eva Byrne, Rosati-Kain, 2010; Genevieve
Buthod, Rosati-Kain, 2010; Jeff Yeckel, Bishop DuBourg,
2008; Jenise Davie, Soldan International Studies, 2010; Jessica
Davie, Soldan International Studies, 2007; Karlee Sellars,
Bishop DuBourg, 2008; and Kyle Marks, Hazelwood Central, 2008)
gathered at 9:00 AM and after a brief description of our tasks
at hand, broke into three groups to study, photograph, and take
observation notes of three areas around Crossroads.
Below is a listing of the three groups and links directly to
the photos that students took from their area:
To the left is a photo of Jeff
Yeckel of the 'Delmar Group.' He
is in turn taking a photo looking into a building at the
northeast corner of DeBaliviere and Delmar. For at least
the past twenty-seven years it had been the home of
Stella Maris Day Care Center. It was as
recently as three weeks ago. However, when we went to
observe the area last Saturday, we saw that the building had
been vacated and a major asset to the neighborhood was
lost. We later learned that Stella Maris
had moved to a new location close by on Raymond
Avenue where they could own their own building
rather than rent.
Our next session Urban Go-Team session is on Saturday,
April 28, from 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM (this is a change of time from previously
reported). We will go to a nine square
block area in Richmond Heights called Hadley Township. It
is a "hot" neighborhood now; not because it is "sexy," but
because things are happening! It's a buy-out area and most
of it will be demolished within the next year. A developer
has big plans for the area and they will begin to take shape in
the fall. But what will happen to the over 150 families
currently living in the area. We are looking forward to
the Civitas Urban
Go-Team following this story for a number
of years. The first steps will be extensive mapping and
photographing of the area as well as interviewing of the
residents. We will start that process on Saturday, April
28.
As stated
previously, Civitas will once again have a program this
summer in which students can intensely learn and act upon
urban issues in our metropolitan area. We'll do some
studying, we'll have lots of field trips, we'll have interesting
speakers, and we'll even try out some tasty restaurants.
This year, we call the program the Urban
Go-Team: "Show Me the Money in St.
Louis!"
If you are interested in
being a member of the Urban
Go-Team, it is not too late. Just show up
on April 28 or e-mail us at [email protected].
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Discussion Group on Saturday, April 14 at Crossroads
Our tenth (count 'em, 10) discussion
group of the school year will be a week from this Saturday,
April 14, at Crossroads School (map) from 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM.
This has nothing to do with the Urban Go-Team; it is
strictly discussion. It should be a great time to talk as
Congress will be back in session and things may well be coming
to a head regarding continued funding of America's
expedition into Iraq. And just yesterday (Monday, April
2), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Bush Administration
cannot prevent the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from
enforcing regulations to reduce the spewing of pullutants into
the atmosphere. On the local front, we have the continuing
saga of the St. Louis public schools, the upcoming madness of
more closings of Highway 40 (I-64), and then Arthur's
favorite topic of the year, "the socially redeeming values of
proms." Well, at the very least, are they too
expensive? Hope to see you there!
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Civitas Begins Exciting
Collaboration with Pulitzer
Center
We are all aware of the schlock (yes,
it's in the dictionary, "something of cheap or inferior quality;
junk") that often characterizes today's mainstream news.
Fortunately, there are still some real journalists out there and
among them is Jon Sawyer, director of the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting.
The Pulitzer Center
was established several years ago with the expressed
intent of covering under-reported international stories that are
important in themselves and important to citizens of the United
States. Over the past two years the Center has covered
over a dozen important stories from Africa, Asia, the Balkans,
and elsewhere.
It is not only important to report the
stories; it is important to have a broader audience. As
the Pulitzer Center
contracts with a number of accomplished journalists and
videographers, it is also working to expand its readership and
viewership into a number of colleges, universities, high
schools, and middle schools. Fortunately, St. Louis is
becoming the flagship for their high school and middle school
outreach.
One of the projects that the Pulitzer
Center is working on is the reclamation of the
Gorongosa National
Park in Mozambique in southeast
Africa. The park was trashed during the civil war from
1975-1992, but due to a strong commitment and lots of dollars
from an American philanthropist, it is being restored. The
sunshine story is not without its problems, but this is all
being reported by the Pulitzer
Center.
Director Jon Sawyer will be coming to St.
Louis along with his assistant Nathalie Applewhite and
Gorongosa reporter Stephanie Hanes
from April 25 - 28. Thanks to some
terrific work by Parkway District Social Studies
Curriculum Coordinator Liz
Morrison, they will be spending Thursday, April
26 in the Parkway district. With tremendous support from
KETC-TV Vice-President for Educational Services, Amy Shaw, Channel 9 will be
creating a series of multi-purpose videos in part from the
classes in the Parkway district that day.
On Friday,
April 27, Jon, Nathalie, and Stephanie will be coming to
St. Joseph's Academy
(9:30 AM), Collinsville High School (12:00
Noon), and Maplewood-Richmond
Heights High School (2:05 PM). In all
cases, they will be discussing the importance of the Gorongosa
story and how it relates to students' lives. Most
importantly, they are open to taking any and all student
questions.
Finally, on Saturday, April 28, all
parties concerned will join together to sponsor a workshop for
high school and middle school teachers who are interested in
using the myriad of resources from the Pulitzer Center.
Invitations to teachers involved in Civitas programs will be
sent from Channel 9 shortly.
Civitas has the
pleasure of working with the Pulitzer Center and others on
this project. One of our projects is to work to prepare
students and teachers and St.
Joseph's, Collinsville, and Maplewood-Richmond Heights for
the Pulitzer
visits on Friday, April 27. Yesterday (Monday, April 2),
we had an opportunity to meet with a terrific A.P. class at
Collinsville taught by Mark
Schusky and Barbara Lindauer. Wow,
what a terrific group. We truly appreciate their fine
interest, questions, and most importantly, understanding of the
need to focus on stories such as Gorongosa. Photos (taken
by Collinsville
student Leslie
Miller) are available by clicking here.
Also, a number of
students from St. Louis high schools have been communicating on
the Gorongosa blog
with journalist Stephanie Hanes. You can
access their questions and comments as well as
Stephanie's fine responses by clicking here.
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Middle School Model U.N. Resumes on April
25
Middle
School Model U.N. Resumes on April 25
Seven wonderful Middle School model U.N. sessions
remain this Spring. The next one is on
Wednesday, April 25. Teachers for this session and other
upcoming ones who have not yet submitted resolutions for those
sessions should e-mail them to Lisa at [email protected]. If you have any questions, call Lisa at
(314) 865-4704.
All sessions are held at the
Creve Coeur Government Center (map;)
and run from 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM (it's always advisable to arrive
early!).
See more photos
here.
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