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!