Beyond the Blackboard with Stacey Bess

Last night, St. John's University students had the opportunity to listen to a lecture by the inspiring, award-winning educator and author Stacey Bess. During her motivational talk, Bess spoke about how she overcame the odds during her first teaching assignment: a K-6 educator at "The School with No Name" in Salt Lake City, Utah, home to severely impoverished children and their families. Despite overwhelming obstacles, Bess realized what it was that those seemingly "unteachable" children really needed: love, acceptance, and someone who believed in them. As her book, Beyond the Blackboard explains, "Stacey discovered that by teaching and modeling love, self-worth, personal power, and courage she could reach children who had previously been labeled unteachable." As future educators, we can all take something away from Bess' inspiring story. The evening ended with an opportunity for all students at the lecture to receive a free autographed book.

For more information about Stacey Bess' story, visit her website: http://staceybess.com/index.php

What did you think of Stacey Bess' story? What lessons did you take away from her words? We hope mentors and their buddies were able to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity together. Tell us your thoughts!

Stressbuster

The Stressbusters program enhances campus life by continuously training and dispatching teams of students to give free and effective backrubs, health information and resource referrals at events, residence halls, study halls and wherever else the stressed gather!

Stressbusters bust stress with far-reaching benefits that address today’s top barriers to academic success:

• Studies demonstrate that the type of backrubs provided by Stressbusters reduce anxiety, heart rate, blood pressure and depression.
• Stressbusters provides convenient relaxation breaks for large numbers of sometimes hard-to-reach students and staff where they live, work and play.
• Stressbusters gives student participants re-occurring stress reduction training, service engagement opportunities and social support connections.
• Popular Stressbusters events serve as permanent vehicles for health information, screenings, referrals and other wellness resources.

We are in the company of many other universities who have seen the need to make wellness and stress reduction a priority for their campuses (Columbia, Brown, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, NYU).

The Stressbusters program provides much more than just back rubs.  Its stress-relief focus attracts students and staff from all corners of campus, providing sustained and diverse opportunities to address many interrelated health issues, prevention strategies and support services:

• Training, Engagement and Support for Hundreds of Students
• Linking Students and Staff with Campus Wellness Resources
• Connecting and Advancing Healthier Campus Initiatives

Stressbusters cultivates continuous working relationships between campus leaders, student organizations, administrative departments, and even faculty.  As a result, it can be used to build and expand a community wellness network and enhance healthier campus initiatives.

If interested please e-mail: 
stressbusters@stjohns.edu  

SOE BBQ

A little bit of rain didn't stop SOE students to attend the first SOE BBQ of the school year. We had a lot of students who attended and they got a chance to meet SOE faculty and their S.T.A.R. Mentor/Buddy. We hope to see all of you at different KDP events. Keep in touch with your mentor/buddy. 

New York Transit Museum

The New York Transit Museum, one of the city's leading cultural institutions is the largest museum in the United States devoted to urban public transportation history, and one of the premier institutions of its kind in the world. The Museum explores the development of the greater New York Metropolitan region through the presentations of exhibitions, tours, educational programs, and workshops dealing with the cultural, social, and technological history of public transportation. Since it's inception over a quarter century ago, the Museum, housed in a historic 1936 IND subway station in Brooklyn Heights, has grown in scope and popularity. As custodian and interpreter of the region's extensive public transportation networks, the Museum strives to share, through its public programs, this rich and vibrant history with local, regional, and international audiences.

The New York Transit Museum's mailing address is: 130 Livingston Street, 10th Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11201

Hours	Tuesday – Friday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed Mondays and major holidays
Phone	(718) 694-1600
Admission	Adults $7 Children 2 – 17 years of age $5 Senior Citizens (62+) $5 Seniors Free Wednesdays Museum members: Free

Directions

Located at the corner of Boerum Place and Schermerhorn Street, Brooklyn Heights » View Map Subway:     to Borough Hall,  to Court Street,    to Hoyt-Schermerhorn Street,    to Jay Street/MetroTech. *Weekdays rush hours only Bus: B25, B26, B38, B41, B45, B52, B54, B57, B61, B62, B63, B65, B67, B103 all stop within 1 to 2 blocks of the museum. Car: From Manhattan: take the Brooklyn Bridge, proceed straight on to Adams Street. Adams will become Boerum Place. Go two blocks to Schermerhorn Street. For more detailed directions and for directions from other boroughs, Long Island or New Jersey please call             1-718-694-1873

 

 

Which MetroCard Should I Use?

MetroCard offers you several ways to save on your commute.  Whether you choose the Pay-Per-Ride bonus card or one of the Unlimited Ride options, how much you save depends on how often you ride.  To help you figure out which card is best for you, use this chart:

Number of Rides	Buy This Card	Cost	Your Cost Per Ride
Occasional	$10 Pay-Per-Ride ($10.70 value with 7% bonus)	$10	$2.10
14 per week 20 per week	7-Day Unlimited	$29	$2.07 $1.45
50 per month 60 per month	30-Day Unlimited	$104	$2.08 $1.73
Express Bus Rider 5 days per week (10 rides)	7-Day Express Bus Plus	$50	$5.00
Occasional Express Bus Rider	$10 Pay-Per-Ride ($10.70 value with 7% bonus)	$10	$5.14

Jumpstart

Mission Statement: Working toward the day every child in America enters school prepared to succeed. 

Every child deserves the chance to succeed, yet studies show that children from low-income neighborhoods are at a greater risk of school failure. Jumpstart is a national early education organization that helps these children develop the language and literacy skills they need to be successful in school, setting them on a path to close the achievement gap before it is too late. 

Since 1993, Jumpstart has trained more than 20,000 college students and community volunteers to deliver its program to more than 90,000 preschool children nationwide.  

Jumpstart is a volunteer/work-study position depending on your financial aid. 

If you are interested in joining please visit Marillac, MB 34. 

It is possible that you may be paid through work-study, if you have any. Also AmeriCorp is providing a Educational Award for about $1,100 for completing 300 hours in the Fall and Spring Semester. 

Apply at:

http://www.jstart.org/site/PageServer?pagename=GetInvolved_Volunteer

Our Model

Jumpstart helps children succeed in school and in life.

Clear Vision: Jumpstart works because our goals are focused on serving children. We pair motivated college students and community volunteers with preschool students for an entire school year to foster: Community Collaboration: Partner with community stakeholders to strengthen and prioritize early childhood education and cultivate a new generation of early childhood educators and advocates; School Success: Build language and literacy skills while supporting family involvement with activities and resources for at-home learning. Quality Time: Jumpstart Corps members serve in classrooms twice a week for an entire school year; they read corestorybooks and participate in targeted and intentional activities based on these stories that help develop key language and literacy skills. Welcome: Children transition to Jumpstart from their previous activity and are welcomed to the Jumpstart session; Small Group Reading: Promote vocabulary and comprehension by reading high-quality children’s literature together; Circle Time: Encourage social interaction through group activities designed to develop and promote language and literacy skills; Center Time/Let’s Find Out About It:  Share fun learning activities that let children experiment and practice with words and ideas to deepen their understanding of books that they read; Sharing & Goodbye:  Ask children about their favorite session activities, using objects or examples of children’s work from Center Time and rich vocabulary to support the conversation

Read for the Record! October 6, 2011! 

Millions of children in low-income neighborhoods are at risk of school failure before they even start kindergarten. Jumpstart's Read for the Record®, presented in partnership with the Pearson Foundation, allows Americans to demand that all children receive the quality early education they deserve.

On October 6, 2011, more than 2 million voices will call for an end to America's early education achievement gap by reading Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney – setting a world record in the process! Sit down to read in your community.You'll be standing up for children everywhere!

http://www.jstart.org/site/PageServer?pagename=rftr_homepage