A Fond Farewell from Becky

As many of you know, this is my last week as the Director of the center. It has been my honor to spend almost 9 years here. I've met some wonderful people and will cherish those memories for the rest of my life. When I came here in February 2000, I had no idea what I was in for, and wow, what a ride! I could have never guessed the kind of adventures I've gotten to experience.

Please continue to support the center! Hopefully after the new director begins, posts will become frequent again and you'll be able to keep up with activities!

There are no prospects yet to fill my position, but stay tuned!

Thanks again!
- Becky

Meet Lisa!

Each of the next few weeks we'll be introducing you to our new AmeriCorps members. This week it's Lisa!

Lisa Caruthers is serving as our Middle School Coordinator this year. Here's some fun information about Lisa so you can get to know her a little better!

Hometown: Nashville, TN

College Attended: Tennessee State University

In my free time I enjoy... Watching Football and reading with my son

My favorite movie is... The Color Purple

If I were irresponsible and maxed out a credit card at my favorite store, it would be at...
Sams... I don’t ask for much, but I like it in bulk…

What I look forward to most about working at the Learning Center is... Seeing the children laughing and having a wonderful time and accomplishing the small things like helping a fellow student with a homework problem or just telling someone “thank you”.

We're Back & We're Cooking!

Our elementary students had a great time this Wednesday making Rice Crispies Treats and No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter cookies. Ms. Casey, a friend of the center, came in to show them how to do it!

AmeriCorps Still Needed!

We are still looking for qualified individuals to become AmeriCorps members this year and work at our center and the Martha O'Bryan Center. Please read the description below and contact Debbie Holley if you are interested!!

AmeriCorps for THRIVE - Martha O'Bryan Center, Inc.

Position Description - Responsibilities and Requirements:
AmeriCorps member positions are now opening at Martha O’Bryan Center. Our youth development program, THRIVE, is looking for people over the age of 18 who want to help young people living in poverty in east Nashville to, well, THRIVE! Our AmeriCorps program will help children and youth ages 5 – 18 change their futures by placing members in local schools to mentor and assist the youth of the THRIVE program to succeed in school. AmeriCorps members will also participate in our after school tutorials, generate excitement about learning, and work to encourage parent participation, as well as participating in local community projects.

As a Team Tennessee AmeriCorps member at Martha O'Bryan Center your benefits will include:
• A modest living allowance
• A $4,735 education award to use of college, graduate school, vocational training, or existing student loans
• Health insurance
• Student loan deferment
• Child care (if eligible)
• Training
• Networking
• And most of all, an opportunity to be instrumental in changing the future for the young people we serve.

Ideal candidates are service minded individuals who are ready to dedicate a year of their lives to develop the future leaders of our community. We encourage diversity and will consider people of all abilities and backgrounds who can enrich the lives of our youth.

Contact Information and Procedure:
If this sounds like you, call Debbie Holley at (615) 254-1791; send resume to Debbie Holley, Martha O'Bryan Center, 711 So. 7th St.; or email AmeriCorps@marthaobryan.org.

Debbie Holley
Martha O'Bryan Center, Inc.
711 So. 7th St.
Nashville, TN 37206

Email: AmeriCorps@marthaobryan.org
Website: http://www.marthaobryan.org
Phone: (615) 254-1791 ext: 124
Fax: (615) 242-3411

Volunteer Needs This Fall

We are back in the swing of things with school starting back this week! We have enrolled our maximum of 62 students for the fall and already have 14 students on a waiting list! It's been a busy week! With all of those students comes the need for volunteers to help us provide our students with the individual attention they need! Our volunteers help with homework and enrichment activities planned by our staff. The following are our needs as we see them now...

On Mondays, we need 1-2 volunteers from 4:00-6:00pm to work with our elementary students and 3 volunteers from 3:00-5:00pm to work with our middle and high school students.

On Tuesdays, we need up to 4 volunteers from 4:00-5:00pm to work in one of our elementary classrooms. We also need 2 volunteers from 3:00-4:30pm and again from 4:30-6:00pm to work with our middle and high school students.

On Wednesdays, we need 1-2 volunteers from 4:00-6:00pm to work with our elementary students and 3 volunteers from 3:00-5:00 to work with our middle and high school students.

On Thursdays, we need up to 4 volunteers from 4:00-5:00pm to work in one of our elementary classrooms. We also need 2 volunteers from 3:00-4:30pm and again from 4:30-6:00pm to work with our middle and high school students.

If any of these fit your schedule and you are interested in volunteering, please email us at cwacayce@bellsouth.net and we'll set up a time to meet!

Time to go back to school!

It's hard to believe, but our students go back to school on Monday! This year we will begin our afterschool program, now called THRIVE, on Tuesday, August 12th!

Big changes this year include:

• The addition of three full time AmeriCorps members! One member will be our Middle School Coordinator, one our High School Coordinator, and one our Parent Coordinator. They will spend their mornings in the schools and the community and their afternoons here at the center during THRIVE time! Click on the link to learn more about what AmeriCorps does.
  
• The addition of a Literacy Coordinator! We will have a Literacy Coordinator who will oversee all of our reading groups this year. All 60 of our students will receive reading tutoring this school year! Our LC will be responsible for overseeing our tutors, testing students, and making lessons.
• As you've seen already, the name of our afterschool program is now THRIVE! This name encompasses the youth program at our location and the youth program at the Martha O'Bryan Center. One program, two locations.

So as we hire these individuals, we'll make sure to introduce them to you on our blog! Next week we'll have some volunteer information posted!

Our Last Week of Camp!

Seven continents in seven weeks! Needless to say, we're a little jet-lagged! This week we were in Asia. With the Olympics coming up in just a few weeks we wanted our students to be more familiar with the continent on which they are taking place.

While "in" Asia, we learned to use chopsticks...


We also made dragon kites and tried to fly them outside...

The last day of camp (yesterday) the great people at VF Imagewear sponsored an Olympic Day at Shelby Park. They had games and a yummy lunch planned for everyone. And the weather was perfect... probably the prettiest (and least humid!!!) field trip day we've had all summer!

The center is closed next week while we unpack our bags and relax from all of our travels! Leave us a comment and let us know where you went this summer!!

Our next post (August 8) will fill you in on all the work that has been happening over the summer to increase our staff and our capacity for the school year!

A Trip To Africa

Last week our students studied Africa. Here are two videos from our day of African drumming and dance with Ms. Daisy!







This week we also went to the Nashville Zoo!

Royalty Arrives At The Center

For Europe Week, our elementary students became royalty and enjoyed afternoon tea together!

Khadija showing off her crown!

Students enjoying their tea and cucumber sandwiches!

Students also performed a play in our backyard this week! Here's a photo taken while they performed!

Next week we're off to Africa!!

Antarctica & Ice Cream

This week we are in Antarctica! And to celebrate that continent, we made the yummiest, coldest thing we could think of... ICE CREAM!

Rahama "churning" her ice cream!

Hussein showing off his vanilla ice cream!

Here's the recipe if you want to try it at home...

Ingredients:

• Measuring cups & spoons
• 2 oz. milk, cream, or half & half
• Vanilla extract or chocolate syrup
• 1 tsp. sugar
• Ice
• Salt
  
• Sandwich size freezer bag and large size freezer bag
• Newspaper or towel to help "churning"

In the smaller bag, add the milk (or cream or half & half) and a dash of vanilla (or 1/2 teaspoon of chocolate syrup). Seal the bag and "squish" and shake it to mix things up.

Now fill the larger plastic bag half full of ice and add a generous portion of salt.

Make sure your small bag is completely sealed and place it in the larger bag filled with ice and salt. Seal the larger bag.

Wrap your large bag with newspaper or towels. Shake and "churn"! Check every few minutes to see if ice cream has frozen.

When its frozen take it out of the bag and EAT!

Summer Fun Continues!

Sorry for not posting last week!

Our summer fun continues. Last week we were in North America and this week in Australia! So far this week the students played Kangaroo games, had a day at the swimming pool, and made boomerangs out of paint stirs.

In addition to our cultural exploration this summer, we are using Junior Achievement curriculum once a week to teach our students about money and entrepreneurship. Yesterday our middle school students had to develop a commercial for a product they were assigned. The following is a video of Waladi and Deone selling cupcake holders for lunch boxes!

Cupcake Holders:
Sick of the mess, don't be mad
We have something bigger than your dad
The cupcake holder is something new
Try it out and you won't feel blue

Next week, we're off to Antarctica!

South America Week!

This was the first week of our summer program and we learned about South America! Check out some of our fun!

We learned about the Andes mountains and volcanoes. Here Khadija's volcano erupts all over the table!

We had a crazy Carnival costume contest while learning about the Brazilian celebration! Mohamed & Fatuma were our winners!

We also learned Latin dance from a ballroom instructor, watched a video about the rain forest, made Quetzel (rain forest birds), and made Inca masks out of aluminum foil!

We're headed back to North America next week!

Computer Class Graduation!

Our first adult computer class of the year graduated last Friday afternoon! They spent eight weeks learning computer basics, Microsoft Word, Publisher, Excel, Internet and email! We are very proud of those who stuck with it those eight weeks!

A HUGE thank you to Jim and Rebecca who volunteered their time to teach the class every Friday afternoon!!

Here's a picture of them with their certificates!

L to R: Jim (volunteer), Jeffery, Felicia, Lois, Rebecca (Volunteer), Vernell, and Becky

End of the School Year!

Our last day with our students in Homework Club was last Wednesday. To celebrate the end of a school year, each of our students were traced on a large piece of paper (from the waste up), colored the figure to look like them, and then wrote what they learned this year on their picture.

Here are some examples:





When the pictures are all lined up, it looks like everyone is holding hands around the room.

We also spent the last day saying goodbye to Mr. Adam, our Middle/High School Coordinator and Miss Aimee, our Argosy Intern.

Ilham Graduated High School!

One of our very own has graduated high school! Ilham Eli graduated as Salutatorian of East Literature Magnet School. We are so proud of her accomplishments. Ilham has been in our afterschool program since the fifth grade and we are thrilled to have been part of her journey. It has been our pleasure watching her grow into a very smart and beautiful young lady. Ilham has enrolled with Belmont University for the fall semester and found enough grant money and scholarships to pay for the entire year without having to take out a loan!

At her graduation ceremony, Ilham gave a speech and did such a wonderful job that we wanted to share it with you. HOWEVER, I'm having trouble uploading the video. I'll keep working on it, so check back!

And here is a picture of Ilham with a VERY proud Miss Becky!


Today is the last day of school for Metro! Next Friday, I'll post the video of what our students worked on their last few days.

Summer Is Coming

This summer we will again host a summer program for our community called Passport to Anywhere! Running June 9 through July 24, students will learn about a different continent each of the seven weeks.

Week One: South America
Week Two: North America
Week Three: Australia
Week Four: Antarctica
Week Five: Europe
Week Six: Africa
Week Seven: Asia

Students will get to experience the culture on those continents, learn languages, sample foods, and practice geography. They will also go on five field trips, including a trip to the Chattanooga Aquarium.

The program is for rising 1st through 9th graders and will be Monday through Thursday each week from 2:00-5:00pm. The cost for the whole summer... just $25 per student. If you'd like to sponsor one of our students or know of some great international resources to help in our planning, please contact me at cwacayce@bellsouth.net.

More Conference Pictures

At the Neighborhood Networks RTAW, our center was recognized for our contributions and advocacy of Neighborhood Networks. Here are pictures from the presentation!

Becky receiving her award

Vicki receiving her award

Ed Phillips, TN HUD Office; Vicki Crick, CWA Apartments; Becky Taylor, CWA-Cayce Learning Center; Les Neely, TAMCO

Our Events Last Week!

As we said in our last blog, the Neighborhood Networks RTAW was here in Nashville last week! On Friday we were very proud to show off our center to about 40 of the workshop participants and Neighborhood Networks staff! They seemed excited to see our center and asked wonderful questions.

Here are some pictures from the tour!

Touring our computer lab

Enjoying some snacks and filling in our NN MadLib!

Learning about our afterschool program

In honor of the 50th anniversary of MadLibs, we did a Neighborhood Networks MadLib as a group with everyone contributing words. Here's how it turned out!

"This week at the Nashville RTAW we met so many wonderful people and learned so many PRODUCTIVE things. The accommodations at the SPOKANE were terrific. During the workshops our DOGS were well prepared to TALK the topic that was covered. One of my favorite workshops was about HOUSE. Networking was also important at this SPOON. I met someone named BURMAN who lives in COLUMBUS ZOO and is the director of a DOG. He told me all about SKIING. I think he talked for SIX minutes!

In the evenings, we WALKED the ENERGETIC city of Nashville! It was interesting to see how people EAT in this city! I even decided to take the MONKEY downtown and CREATE a song about this experience.

ACTUALLY, though, we realized our RTAW was all coming to an end. When I go to VAIL, CO I plan to tell my SWEET coworkers about what I VOTED while I was here!"

Neighborhood Networks Conference

As we've explained in earlier posts, we are a part of a national initiative called Neighborhood Networks. Neighborhood Networks, through the US Department of Housing & Urban Development, began this initiative in 1995 to provide technology access and other resources in HUD-insured or HUD-assisted properties.

Next week Neighborhood Networks is hosting one of its two Regional Technical Assistance Workshops (RTAWs) here in Nashville! We are very excited to host this year and are especially excited that they are bringing 50 RTAW participants to our center for a tour on Friday. We were the first in the country to become a MODEL center (the highest level) in Neighborhood Networks classification system and will be offering participants a chance to see what we do in action.

All of that said, next Friday will be a busy day and we will likely not have a post. But look for a new one early the next week with pictures from the event!

English Class Field Trip

This week one of our adult English classes went on a field trip! Bill Myers, husband of our English teacher Bonnie Myers, invited the students to see his one man art show on the campus of Belmont University. Here are some pictures from the trip!

Bonnie explains some of Bill's work to the students.

Miss Annie all dressed up for the occasion.

Monica signing the guestbook

Painting the Town Red... And the Water Blue!

Our middle and high school students are working on filling in a 7' x 5.5' map of the world! The map, printed on 64 sheets of paper and hung on our wall is just an outline of continents... the youth are doing the rest!

Mr. Adam and Annan start working on the map.

Annan has made it his special project to color in all the water! A really good way to learn that water covers 2/3 of the Earth's surface!

Science Day!

Our middle & high school students spent Wednesday doing science experiments.

Here Miray is listening for the sound waves to travel through the string attached to the coat hanger he's hitting against objects.

Ms. Kenithia is helping the girls test liquids (soda, lemon juice, club soda) to see what is an acid and what is a base.

All of our students participate in four science experiments each school year.

What was your favorite science project to do as a kid? Leave us a comment and tell us about it!

Spring Break Art Fun!

This week was spring break! As we have for many years, we partnered with the Frist Center for the Visual Arts to provide our students an art experience while they were out of school. The Frist Center has an Art Trunk program that sends us three fun art projects that correlate to their current art exhibit at the museum. So this week we learned about Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, and Salvador Dali.

Students used oil pastels to create their own Impressionist art on Monday.

Tuesday they made a collage to resemble a Picasso Cubist work.

And Wednesday, students used watercolor and collage to create a surrealist picture.

Thursday, all of those that participated went to the Frist Center to see the actual paintings they studied!

Adult Computer Classes Coming Soon!

Beginning March 28th, the Learning Center will be hosting computer classes for adults each Friday at 1:00pm for 10-12 weeks. Taught by two of our favorite volunteers, Jim & Rebecca, students will start at the beginning learning parts of the computer and move into word processing and, maybe even Excel. Our hope is to provide our students with the skills they need to get the job that will move them into the life they've wanted to lead.

Space is still available for 3 or 4 more students, so if you know someone who is interested, please have them contact us at the center before the 28th!

Spring Break Volunteers

This week we had visitors from the University of Mary Washington's BCM! They came on the perfect week since our Vanderbilt students were on spring break and we were very short on tutors! They helped us with homework, in the computer lab, and with our enrichment activities!

Here are some pictures of their week!

Our New Look

What do you think about the new look of our blog? It was just time for a change! Let us know what you think. And let us know what you'd like to see on our blog in the future!

Article on Social Networking and Fundraising

Our local nonprofit clearinghouse sent this article about the Case Foundation's challenges to the public to donate online. What are your thoughts? Have you donated online? Do you prefer a personal contact or do you prefer the ease of using your credit card online?

The Facebook Philanthropos

To leave a comment and let us know what you think, click on the "comments" immediately under this post.

Why Should You Want to Read?

We asked a few of our students this week the following question...

"What suggestions would you make to other students that do not like to read in order to encourage them to be active readers?"




Here are some of their suggestions...


"Start with adventure books and then read mystery books." Annan, age 10

"Ask them questions about what they are interested in and then find books about it." Ilham, age 17

"I would say that its more fun to read than to do homework. If you are mad, read a book at night and you will feel better. Sometimes it makes you happy." Raho, age 10

"I would tell them that reading is the greatest thing to do if they try. Reading helps me get away from everyday life and see other people's life. The greatest advantage I have is reading. As soon as I open a book I see the image play in my mind. And there is nothing better than that." Hani, age 16

Where Are They Now? JANNELLE

Miss Jannelle was our Education Coordinator/High School Coordinator/Middle & High School Coordinator from May 2005 to January 2007. Here's a note from her as to what she's up to now!

"I'm currently the Administrative Assistant for the Academics Department at Argosy University in Nashville. I am also a student at Argosy University, studying to get my Master's Degree in Professional Counseling. I still lead worship at my church, Gateway of Hope Christian Center in Lebanon, TN. I still come to visit and will probably be back real soon!"

Super Tuesday!

This week our elementary students participated in their own Super Tuesday election!

This year's candidates were Arthur and Junie B. Jones, two of our favorite children's book characters. Students read Arthur and Junie books to find out what characteristics they had that would make them the better president. They then cast their ballot in the voting booth.

When asked what characteristics make a great president, students said bravery, honesty, and someone who is responsible.

FYI... Arthur won by a landslide!

Welcome Mr. Adam!

This week we welcome Adam Siegel as our new Middle & High School Coordinator!
Below is some information to help you get to know Adam!

Hometown:
Grand Rapids, Michigan

College Attended:
University of Michigan

In my free time I enjoy...
playing basketball, mountain biking, skiing, traveling, going to see live music, learning to play the drums, and spending time with my family, my friends and my dog.

My favorite movie is...
Bottle Rocket

If I were irresponsible and maxed out a credit card at my favorite store, it would be at...
Best Buy

What I look forward to most about working at the Learning Center is...
getting to know all of the students while having fun and contributing to their educational progress.