Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Happy Times Update


Hi All,
Just wanted to share that I talked with Ms B. at Happy Times last night and she told me that everyone was doing well and had survived Gustav and the evacuation without any big problems. She also mentioned that every time she returns to NOLA after evacuating she is reminded how much she loves the city and that she will always come back to it. I told her I have a sense that many of us feel the same way.

Friday, September 5, 2008

join us at Heartland Cafe Sept. 11

hi friends - Trish and Brigid ("The Betty Fords") will be joining me for an acoustic evening of songs and fun at the Heartland Cafe on Thursday, Sept. 11, from 8-10 pm. Suggested donation is $7 per person and food and drink are plentiful. I have performed at the Heartland before and when I heard them during the NOLA trip I thought - wow~ They're great ~ I'll invite them to do a guest set. I hope a lot of you from the trip can come that night - let's call it a reunion!! Bring your photos, etc - and stories. Heartland Cafe is at 7000 N. Glenwood 1 block N of the Morse el stop. Free parking for cafe patrons is one block North on the W side of Glenwood. Hope to see you there!! Kristin/*

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Pictures of progress

Relaxing after a hard day of work.
NLU's 2008 service team to NOLA: (back: Eunice Shapiro, Kennen Lems, Adrienne Waller, Karen Roth, Alex Schnitzer, Pam Kosinski, Tracey Lio, Kristin Lems. middle: Trish Difazio, Martina Smith, Helen Kelliher, Brigid Gallagher, Angela D'Agostino, Nina D'Agostino. front: Corbin Leafman, Robyn Kelton, Melissa Harris.)
Eunice and Bonita (one very happy office manager).

Central City Neighborhood.


Boxes and boxes of Books. Matt, Kindergarten teacher with Alex after a day's work.


Shelving the 1000's of books.
Brigid, Alex, Corbin and Pam preparing furniture.

KIPP Central City Academy courtyard.



KIPP Academy hallway.
June construction.
Courtyard construction.
2nd floor balcony looking at courtyard.





When I visited the KIPP Central City Academy site, on Thalia and Magnolia, in June, I saw a school building under heavy construction. I was surprised at the work that was still in progress when we arrived mid-August. The photos document the rebuilidng of the school building and the work of the team to get KIPP Central City Academy ready to open August 18, 2008.








Wednesday, August 20, 2008

I'm beyond grateful for this incredible experience. It is hard for me to put my thoughts into words at this time so I'll let some of my photos speak for me.

The lower 9th ward....3 years later.

More lower 9th ward.

Last day at KIPP.

One of the KIPP classrooms. (photo taken by Melissa)

Royal Castle

Royal Castle

Happy Times

Happy Times

Happy Times

Happy Times
During the past year I have traveled to New Orleans 4 times to work with schools and teachers rebuilding after the 2005 hurricane season, these trips have proven to be life changing experiences for me. Through our work in NOLA I have learned a great deal about politics, poverty, inequality in education, and advocacy. It is never a dull moment in NOLA, and this trip in particular came at a time in my life when I needed to be reminded of the power of hope, the process of recovery, and that lasting change is incremental—and at times, painfully slow. I feel very blessed to have been able to share this experience with all of you.
(Photo taken outside the House of Blues, New Orleans)

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Reflecting on Nola

This trip was truly enlightening. I was never aware of the inequities of urban education. The school facility itself, was a work in progress and was lacking in some of the most essential supplies. I am truly glad that we as a group were able to go down and help these people. The school immediately welcomed us and shared their dedication to learning and to their students. They paid attention to even the smallest of details for their students (washing all the windows so the students have a clean environment in which to work). The people in the neighborhood were extremely happy to have us there and gave us a friendly greeting each morning. I feel this trip has allowed me to grow professionally by seeing all the different ways to set up classrooms and explore different educational and school philosophies. The trip has also helped me grow personally by learning to work as a team member with people from all different backgrounds. I look forward to returning on next year’s team with new ideas and ways to help.

Monday, August 18, 2008

What an experience!!!! :)

I am so glad that I had the opportunity to go to New Orleans to set up one of the new Kipp charter schools in Central City. Every day was a new adventure at the school from the first to the very last. The first few days were spent washing windows and wiping down cabinet surfaces. However, Wednesday to Friday was a lot more productive with "balling" chairs and desks, unboxing new library books for the library and shelving them, and cleaning up the school by taking trash out to the dumpsters. Every day was pretty exhausting, but also rewarding at the same time. As we walked through the neighborhood on the way to school, people would smile at us and say good morning to show appreciation for the hard work we were doing to get Kipp Central City School up and running. New Orleans is a great city and one that I am very eager to go back to and possibly teach. I mean what other city has live jazz every night and hardly ever snows?? :) This volunteering experience has also shown me that each and every one of us should take the time to do some volunteering and "give back" to our own communities or other communities that need our help. I really feel that we have made a tremendous impact on Kipp Central City School by all of the work and volunteer time that each of us put in. I'm hoping to join next year's team to NOLA next summer!!!

Otter Plays with Toys in Aquarium

The New Orleans Aquarium is absolutely fantastic, and the IMAX called "Hurricane on the Bayou" is not to be missed. Kennan took this video of one of the otters.

Brigid prepares to Sing



Brigid sang wonderfully for us, both solo and with Trish, and regaled us with stories of life in the fast lane with Trish as an Open Mike Rock Folk Duo!!

Trish on the axe

Part of our impromptu jam session in the breakfast room at the Bienville the second night - Trish played some licks for us!

Check Point Charlie Club



I mean, who can beat this? not only a bar, grill, music club, and game room, but a LAUNDROMAT! On Decatur Street right down from our hotel.



Martina under a rain parka - it rained every day except one, and we got drenched every single day.

Magnolia Street plaque



Magnola Street is very important in New Orleans hip hop and rap - so it was very meaningful to see this plaque right by the school.....

On the Spot Conference


It took a while to figure out how to be most effective. Spot conferences like this were frequent. Junior high principal standing behind....Karen Roth our fearless organizer weighs possibilities

Adrienne cleans a classroom


This was a common sight the first two days - we were all applying the spray bottles and wiping down every surface we could clear. Here is Adrienne in what would become one of the Kindergarten classrooms!

MLK Street on the way to the School


We walked about 8 blocks from the Streetcar to the KIPP Central City Academy, and there were many homes in a state of collapse, from the combination of poverty, the hurricane, and the flood. Wooden frame houses seeemed to fare especially poorly.


This is the hotel pool - it looks extremely elegant here, but it's smaller than it looks. We all had a lot of fun splashing around in it after a long day's work.

Volunteers Dine out the First Night


Here are some of the volunteers we joined the first evening in Nawlins...the food was great.

New Orleans and the spirit of Hope

I caught this as the train went by the building, coming into the station.
Kennan and Kristin on the Amtrak going down.....

Friday, August 15, 2008

A week of work is nearing the end

Here it is Friday morning and I am just posting for the week. We arrived safely and as others have posted, we met a team of construction workers Monday morning still finishing up at the old Guste Building, the new KIPP Central City Academy school. We walked around construction debris, cables, windows and doors yet to be installed, boxed desks, chairs, shelving, tables, books, etc. The grass had just been laid in the multipurpose courtyard and there was mud everywhere.

The team did there best to clean up the classrooms the first day of all this dust. We were not feeling very useful as it was difficult for the new teachers as well to get to their classrooms. Boxes of school supplies and materials were being delivered the middle of the week. We stayed til 2 pm and found our way back to the Bienville House where we are always welcomed by the staff, curious about our work and how the school is shaping up.

Tuesday was a bit more productive. Half our team traveled to our new partnership school, Royal Castle Kids Preschool, located on Eagle Way near the Mississippi bridge to the Algiers parish. Preschool director, Perlie Harris, welcomed the team's expertise in the infant, toddler and preschool classrooms so she could meet with her staff as they prepare for NAEYC accreditation. Kristin Lems brought her guitar and sang with the children. Perlie was grateful for the opportunity to have this time with her staff as the need for quality preschool teachers (subs and full time) is great in NOLA. The rest of the NLU service team continue to sort, unpack and become more acclimated with the very large school building.

Wednesday's early morning storm highlighted the leaks in the schools flat ceiling. Many of the boxes containing the newly purchased K-8 grade level books were heavily saturated with water. Our first task was to inventory and assess damage to these library books. We did the same with the boxes of school supplies and documents moved from the temporary school site. We are getting to know the teachers and 2 Principals better. The school will have a lower grades principal and a middle school principal sharing space in the building. The original charter called for a middle school but KIPP is expanding their contract with the RSD to include PreK - 4th. The 2 story building will eventually hold the Pre-K thru 4th grades on the first floor and 5th- 8th on the second. Due to timing and budgeting, Kindergarten, 5th and 6th grades will occupy the first floor this school year until final construction is completed

Beginning the work of the library and the classrooms is rewarding for the highly qualified NLU team of in-service and pre-service teachers, who are are early childhood, 5th grade special ed and reading specialist teachers. We spent the rest of Wednesday leveling and shelving the library books and preparing furniture for the 12 classrooms.

Thursday found us working side-by-side the Kindergarten teachers. Each classroom is staffed with 2 teacher, one veteran and one recently completing TFA (Teach for American)training and certification. Observing the progress of their work preparing the classroom, and how well the KIPP staff is working with our team of teachers, is a testament to their individual experiences. Some of the classrooms are coming together successfully, others are moving slowly. We do our best to listen to their needs and frustrations, carefully introducing ideas and recommendations. Though we have the talent, expertise and knowledge, we are cognizant that we will be leaving these dedicated teachers in 24 hours time. Each of the KIPP staff members have stories of uprooting and moving from other places in the US to teach for KIPP New Orleans. Most are renting, sharing apartments, just recently moved to this new adventure. They are young, full of energy, ideas, anxieties, curiosities and visions for the children and the school.

Thursday also found some of our team visiting and engaging in the work at Happy Times Preschool, a relationship/partnership begun last summer. There the work is continuing the clean-up of classrooms, still unfinished from wreckage of Katrina, spending time with the teachers and children who have so many emotional and social needs, and giving Director, Rocky, opportunity to connect with early childhood professionals. The children and teachers of Happy Times will always be a part of NLU.

This morning I took some time to catch up with this blog. We have been so exhausted at the end of each day. We drag ourselves back to our hotel. Occasionally we will get a ride back but more often the teachers are working late and we walk the mile to our St. Charles streetcar (do not call it a trolley), pay our $1.25 and fall back on the 1914 wooden seats for the 20 min ride to Canal Street. Another 20 min gets us to our hotel, begging for a shower and some down time. We have all enjoyed the food and evening in NOLA as we have been blessed with wonderful weather.

Monday, August 11, 2008

rainy day in NOLA

Kennan and I got in last night, somewhat the worse for wear from our 24 hour train trip on the famous "City of New Orleans." Now it seems like it was fun, but during the trip, we got pretty squirrely - at one point we sat in the dark in a forest with no power when the engine was taken off and affixed to a different car that was too heavy to get up a hill (we were told). Somebody shouted out in the dark "Like the Little Engine that Could!" and someone else started singing melodiously in the dark, "This train...has some problems, oh this train" to the old spiritual. Anyway it was all fine in a few hours and we weren't even very late to town!

Crawfish ettoufee - delish - and beignets and coffee and gumbo - all good. A hotel pool, tiny and salty water - relaxing. Pretty rooms and a "Mediterranean" feel to the decor (i.e. French/Spanish).

Today, some window washing at the KIPP School, but little else because the supplies have not arrived from the old location. We're looking forward to more substantive work tomorrow. Meanwhile the trolly has been fun, and talking to people even more so. Thanks for reading!

First 2 days

Truly exciting the way we are here helping! It was cool getting to know everyone! I sense that everyone involved with Kipp is appreciative we are here.
We met at the gate early Sunday morning, (7:30 am) a bit sleepy but excited. We met each other for the first time as all were not able to attend the orientation at Karen's house August 2nd. The team shared stories of their reason for volunteering, their expectations and anxieties. When we arrived, we hired a large bus (no keg on board) to carry us with all our luggage (many had extra bags with books and school supplies). Upon arriving at the Bienville House Hotel we were warmly "welcomed back" by front desk staff. We share 3 or 4 to a room at a discounted rate, compliments of the hotel.

Our first meal together was at the Gumbo Shop, a local favorite. We spent the rest of the evening acclimating ourselves to the 90 degree weather and getting to know our neighborhood.

Today we left the hotel at 8:15 am for the school. We hopped on the streetcar and walked a mile down Martin Luther King Dr. to KIPP Central City Academy. Lo and behold: we were delayed, because there was a movie set on our way! They were filming a movie called "Bad Lieutenant" with X-Ibit (from Pimp My Ride) and Nicholas Cage!!! I'm pretty sure we screwed up a few shots, because we were ALL too excited to see him, "RIGHT THERE!!!!" He looked very sweaty (drunk and old) in his beige three piece suit with a HUGE pistol tucked into his belt! Once we were denied a picture with him :( we kept going towards the school.

The school is not finished and we worked on cleaning windows amidst the nearly completed construction. The classrooms are large and we are eager to set them up. Finance Manager, John Breyer, and Director of the middle school, Todd Purvis, were very happy to see us. Teachers of the KIPP Central City Academy are expected tomorrow to finish cleaning the large rooms and to set-up their rooms. We will either be paired with the classrooms teachers or the school librarian, or we will work with the school Directors'. Tuesday - Friday plan to be busy days.

Once we picked up our lunch, our picnic in the courtyard of the school was disrupted by a turrential downpour. The rain did NOT let up, even as we walked the mile to the street car, waited for the street car, and walked back to the hotel FROM the street car. "It was a real wet t-shirt contest, that's for sure!"

After returning to the hotel, continuing the "soaking wet" theme: swimming ensued. Complete with handstand and summersault contests! Tonight a jazz show and bignettes are in order!

Our First Two Days

We all arrived safely in sticky New Orleans on Sunday morning. We enjoyed lunch together at the Gumbo Shop and then split up to explore the French Quarter. I spent the afternoon in the French Market, along the River Walk and taking breaks from the heat. I think we are all attempting to taste the local fare.

Monday morning we split up into two groups. Some headed to the old site to finalize the packing for the move to the new building and the rest of us took the street car to the new site of the KIPP Central City Academy. We had a nice walk through the neighborhood, with a quick stop at a movie set with Nicholas Cage. The homes in the neighborhood reflect the socio-economic situation of the people who live there. We were greeted warmly at the school. There is still a lot of construction going on so we spent the morning washing windows. It was great to meet some of the school's administration and learn more about the school. We are looking forward to meeting the teachers and getting into the rooms. The afternoon brought a classic New Orleans rainstorm, off and on, and so we were all quite soaked by the time we reached the Bienville House hotel.

Friday, August 8, 2008

Quick pre-trip inspirational quote…


I'm really looking forward to this and appreciate all the work and care you have expended to make this happen. My son and I are sure we'll have a memorable time!

Pre- trip excitement - 8/8/08

In less than 48 hours, 15 of the 18 participants of the NLU's Service Partnerships with NOLA Schools, Summer 2008 Service Learning Team to NOLA will meet at O'Hare airport, American Airlines terminal, to begin a week of work with the teachers and administrators of KIPP Central City Academy.

This trip has been in the planning stages since summer of 2007 when 12 students and faculty traveled to NOLA to help KIPP Central City Academy set up classrooms in a temporary location on South Carrollton Street. We knew at that time that the school was waitng for word from the NOPS RSD system as to the condition of their permanent site, the old Guste school building on Thalia street, down the street from the Superdome.

A research/fact finding trip was completed in June, 2008 by Todd Price and Karen Roth to determine the status of reconstruction work planned for the new school site. (Look for a video clip of this walk through). In June it was a dismal perspective, but the call came the end of June from John Breyer, finance manager of KIPP to Karen Roth, asking for help. In one week the team of 18 was organized. Four members of this team are veterans of last summer's service trip and returned in November (2007) to present professional developement training to the teachers of Happy Times Preschool.

The team was orientated on August 2nd and we are ready to go. Last minute details include setting up lunches for the team in NOLA and collecting donations for the schools and children.