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!