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News and Events October 2009 $10,000 Verizon Foundation Grant Supports Afterschool Writing Academy for At-Risk Students in Five Montgomery County, Md., Public Schools SILVER SPRING, Md. – Montgomery County public school students with a passion for writing can further boost their skills thanks to a $10,000 Verizon Foundation grant to Passion for Learning, Inc. The funding will support Passion for Learning’s after school Young Writers’ Academies for 75 at-risk students at five Montgomery County public schools in Silver Spring, Md. – Pine Crest Elementary; Oak View Elementary; Strathmore Elementary; Eastern Middle; and Argyle Middle. “We are extremely grateful for Verizon’s support of our Young Writers’ Academies,” said Dr. Alan S. Gregerman, president of the board of directors of Passion for Learning. “This much-needed funding will open doors for many young people by encouraging a passion for writing and advancing their literacy skills through after school writing and digital media workshops. Our after school program makes writing come alive by providing a continuum of dynamic enrichment for academically at-risk students from low-income families.” The Young Writers’ Academies are taught by language arts educators, journalists, authors, poets, storytellers, playwrights and digital media professionals. These talented and committed adults engage kids in a wide array of writing activities and project-based learning to boost students’ skills and help them see writing as an important ‘tool for life.’ Tara Potter, assistant vice president of government affairs for Verizon Maryland, said, “Verizon has a long-standing tradition of investing in our communities by supporting organizations that make a positive impact in the lives of others. Good writing and literacy skills are the foundation for a strong educational base students need to compete in our global society. Our grant to Passion for Learning is just one more way we’re helping to better prepare our youth to succeed in the classroom and the workplace. www.verizonfoundation.com June 2009 News about Young Writers' Academy Family Events Thanks to the generosity of the Jim and Carol Trawick Foundation, we were able to hold three Family Writing Nights for students and their families from five schools. 1. March 31st at Strathmore Elementary School. Mary Amato, author of many popular Scholastic children's books, led a lively and engaging writing workshop for kids and their families. She also provided a personalized and autographed copy of her latest book, "The Naked Mole Rat Letters," for each of the Young Writers who attended Sixteen students went home with free books! 2. April 1st at Long Branch Community Center with Diane Macklin, The Story Lady, who conducted a folk-tale writing workshop. Diane told part of the folk tale about "The Fish and the Turtle" and then had the students and their families write and illustrate their own versions of the folk tale ending. Families then presented their folk tales to the audience, to great acclaim! 3. June 4th at Long Branch Community Center with Lisa Pegram of DC WritersCorps. She performed readings of the students' best work and led kids and families in a fast-paced poetry writing workshop. Families wrote and illustrated their own poems and then the students displayed and read them to the appreciate audience. November 2008 Passion for Learning receives "Enterprise Award" from the Catalogue for Philanthropy: Greater Washington On November 17, 2008 at the Harman Center for the Performing Arts, we were honored with an "Enterprise Award" from the Catalogue for Philanthropy: Greater Washington. This recognition came as a result of how we leveraged our inclusion in the 2007-8 Catalogue and used its resources to increase our profile and cultivate new donors and friends. Seven organizations out of sixty-eight were chosen for this honor. Our Executive Director, Cynthia Rubenstein, made remarks at the ceremony on behalf of Passion for Learning, Inc. This event celebrated the 2008-9 Catalogue for Philanthropy and the fine local charities selected for the current year’s catalogue. For more information about the Catalogue for Philanthropy, see www.cfp-dc.org See our profile on the Catalogue for Philanthropy web site GRRL Tech feature: November 2008 In the 2008 annual report from The Community Foundation of the National Capital Region, our after school GRRL Tech program is featured with the rock band, O.A.R., one of our benefactors through the awesome "Sharing Montgomery Fund" at the Montgomery County Community Foundation (MCCF). O.A.R. is a successful indie rock band founded by three graduates of Montgomery County Public Schools, who formed the band in 1996 while attending Wootton High School in Rockville. The members of the band have never forgotten their Montgomery County community and are true believers in philanthropy. In 2006, O.A.R. decided to donate 50 cents from each concert ticket to a charitable fund it established at MCCF. The fund is called "Heard the World" and to date, has provided $80,000 in grants to local charities through the "Sharing Montgomery Fund." We’re honored and gratified to be featured in the 2008 annual report. Our GRRL Tech students think it’s like, totally cool to have a rock band that supports them. We do too! GRRL Tech girls dove into technology over the Fall 2008 semester! Pine Crest Elementary School: Girls learned how to design web pages with animation effects. Ms. Jo Doerrman, who teaches computer technology at Pine Crest, has opened up a whole new world of special effects that the girls are using in their web sites. Georgian Forest Elementary School: Girls worked on HTML programming language for their first web site, about female role models. Their instructor, Ms. Candace Lattimore, is one of our GRRL Tech teacher treasures. She’s a true Pied Piper. Wherever she goes, the girls follow! Takoma Park Middle School: Sheila Galagan and Rebecca Drobis are professional photographers and taught the technology and the art of digital photography to fourteen lively girls in 6th through 8th grade. Eastern Middle School: Every Tuesday, we had a room full of budding bloggers! The girls designed and wrote the "GRRL Tech Blog" under the guidance of Angela Render, a web developer and professional writer. Sligo Middle School: At Sligo, the girls learned to script, film and produce their own short films. They did storyboarding, camera and sound work as well as digital editing of a film project about animal abuse. They learned under the tutelage of Gandhi Brigade youth media film-makers, Katya Hernandez and Heather Bradley. Young Writers’ Academies: Fall 2008 Oak View Elementary School: The kids worked with Lisa Pegram and Isaac Colon of DC WritersCorps, two of our most popular workshop leaders. Students did a variety of writing projects to increase their vocabularies and improve writing skills. At the end of the semester, Ms. Lisa Pegram remarked: "I absolutely love that class. They are incredibly creative and super smart!" Strathmore Elementary School: Ms. Pam Jackson led 20 students in learning all about the theatre arts and then writing mini-plays with well-developed characters and dialogue. Students applied the elements of "setting, time, character, plot and theme" to their plays. On December 18th, they performed their works at a special "Showcase" event for an appreciative audience that included their families, friends and the Assistant Principal, Ms. Tavinia Goins. Pine Crest Elementary School: Again this year, Ms. Adele Steiner led a variety of workshops with the kids in story writing, poetry and journaling. The students even wrote scary tales to share with their classmates just before Halloween! Next semester, in addition to a new series of after school writer-led workshops at five schools, we’ll be holding a series of "Family Writing Nights" for all of our students and their families, at Long Branch Community Center and Strathmore Elementary School. These events are being funded through a generous grant from the Jim and Carol Trawick Foundation. Eastern Middle School: For the second year, we’re working with the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County and the Collaboration Council at Eastern Middle School. We’ve been able to tap Round House Theatre Education Center and Montgomery Community TV as writing workshop partners. For the first semester, the students produced "Telling My Own Story" writing projects under the guidance of Paco Madden of Round House Theatre Education Center. Professional actors from Round House performed a formal theatrical reading of the students’ work at our party and celebration on December 18. Over the second semester, the students will be writing and filming their own video blogs with the help ofMontgomery Community TV/Access Montgomery videographers and producers. They’ll perform on camera and help produce a documentary of student work which will be presented to an audience of teachers and fellow Eastern MS students in the school’s Media Center in April of 2009. Family Writing Nights - March 2008 ... more>> 11-18-2007 - Passion for Learning Featured in Washington Post Column by Marc Fisher, "Young Writers Academy" ....more > > May 2, 2007 The Catalogue for Philanthropy: Greater Washington has selected Passion for Learning as "one of the best small charities in Greater Washington." Our organization was one of 68 chosen from a very competitive field of almost 250 groups. This begins a year-long partnership designed to create a wonderful Catalogue and help connect new donors with our work to make all children amazing students. Passion for Learning will appear as one of the featured best small charities in the 2007-2008 Catalogue (The Fifth Anniversary Edition) which will be distributed widely throughout the Washington Metro Area to foundations and prospective donors. Watch this space for more exciting developments in the coming months. See also www.catalogueforphilanthropy-dc.org See our profile on the Catalogue for Philanthropy website News Archive