St. Andrew’s School Hosting Event Tomorrow Evening

Tomorrow (Thursday) evening at 7 pm, the St. Andrew’s School is hosting “a community conversation” at The Woman’s Club at The Historic Bolling Haxall House (211 E. Franklin Street).

Here is more information:

The Carol Wingo Dickinson Thought Leaders Series
Cradle to Career: Equity and Social Justice in Early Childhood Education
Thursday, April 11, 2019
7:00 p.m.
The Woman’s Club at The Historic Bolling Haxall House

Please join us for a thoughtful conversation on how our community can work together to ensure
that all of our children are given equitable educational opportunities that lead to future success.

Featuring:
The State of Early Childhood Education in Virginia
Kathy Glazer, President, Virginia Early Childhood Foundation

Keynote Address
Dr. Beatrice S. Fennimore, Professor of Education, Indiana University of Pennsylvania

With a panel discussion moderated by
Dr. Cynthia Weldon-Lassiter, Ed.D., Head of School, St. Andrew’s School

Panelists
Mrs. Q’Sheka Banks, Family Member, St. Andrew’s School
Dr. Andrew Daire, Dean, VCU School of Education
Dr. Beatrice S. Fennimore, Professor of Education, IUP
Dr. Kate O’Donnell, Principal, St. Andrew’s School

If you would like to attend this event, please RSVP to Ashley Landes at development@St-Andrews-School.org or 804.648.4952 ext. 123.

Suggested admission is $35 per person.

If you would like to give the suggested admission, please make your check payable to St. Andrew’s School, 227 South Cherry Street, Richmond, VA, 23220 or click here to give online.

This inaugural event was named after Carol Wingo Dickinson, a lifelong community servant who, along with her family, supported the St. Andrew’s School community for almost 20 years. During her time at St. Andrew’s, Carol served as a Lunch Buddies volunteer, joined the Board of Directors in 2011, and assumed the role of Board Chair in 2017. Her knowledge, experience, and dedication to the school made her an invaluable leader and advocate for providing access to quality, life-changing education to our students. The Thought Leaders Series honors her memory and invites the whole community to work together for social justice and equity in education.

St. Andrew’s School is a well-established equity-driven community organization that engages in positive community change by providing access to high-quality K through 5 education and forges relationships that strengthen the greater Richmond community’s cradle to career continuum through the perspectives of equity and social justice in education.

Radio IQ WVTF: “At This Elementary School, Every Kid Learns the Violin”

Virginia Public Radio station WVTF aired a nice story about the Advanced Music Ensemble/violin program at St. Andrew’s School this morning. You can hear it again on 92.5 FM at 8:44am, 5:44pm, or read/listen by clicking here.

Here’s an excerpt:

The St. Andrews program was founded in 2013 by Amanda Ellerbe. Ellerbe says the violin packs a punch in terms of a musical education.

“Movement, notation, connecting music to other other art forms,” she lists.

Ellerbe based the program off El Sistema, a now global movement that began in Venezuela in the 1970’s – when one man used music education to connect with at-risk youth.

Students at St. Andrew’s also come from disadvantaged backgrounds. Ellerbe says music is a clear way for them to realize that despite systemic inequality, if they work hard they can change their lives.

VCU SGA’s “The Big Event” Coming Up Next Month

VCU’s Student Government Association is sponsoring “The Big Event” on April 20th.

The Big Event at VCU is a one-day, student-run service project where Rams come together to say “Thank You” to the residents of Richmond. VCU Student Government Association is excited to provide leadership and vision for a new tradition that shows our appreciation to the surrounding community, completing service projects such as yard work, window washing and painting for residents of the community. We share in the mission of similar programs throughout the nation – “One Big Help, One Big Thanks.”

Do you know of a project requiring attention in Oregon Hill? Does an elderly neighbor need yard work done? Any graffiti that needs covering up? Need something heavy taken to Goodwill? VCU students can help with that! Submit your request online at https://thebigevent.vcu.edu/residents/

Open High Students March For Climate

The Times Dispatch has a nice article on Open High students’ participation in today’s international youth march for climate awareness.

Here’s an excerpt:

About 100 Open students – roughly half of the school’s population – left their studies in the Oregon Hill neighborhood at 9:30 a.m. and marched down Belvidere, Franklin and Broad streets to demand the city and school system take action to stop the effects of climate change.

“This is our future,” said senior Ian McCoy. “The generations before us screwed up our environment and now we have to suffer.”

McCoy helped organize the Richmond protest, one of an estimated 2,000 across the world on Friday. Global students drew inspiration from Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old Swedish activist who has held demonstrations outside the Swedish parliament since last year. Thunberg was recently nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

What I really appreciated was that the article included specific demands from Richmond students to their school administration and City government:

1. Have the city and Richmond School Board recognize the need “to include steps to mitigate climate change with the long term and short term goals.”
2. Use green building standards in school renovations and construction.
3. Have the school district stop using Styrofoam and other non-recyclable, one-time-use plastics in school lunches.
4. Reduce energy usage and improve energy efficiency in schools.
They made those requests known in a meeting Friday with Richmond Public Schools Chief of Staff Michelle Hudacsko and Mayor Levar Stoney’s Senior Policy Advisor for Youth Initiatives, Eva Colen.

Bring on the solar schools!

Alex Jonestown Massacre‎/W I S H/AJM/Soul Meets Body/Strawberry Moon at Mojo’s Friday

From FaceBook event page:

Awesome show at Mojo’s on Friday, March 15th!

Strawberry Moon
Lo-fi Bedroom Pop
https://strawberrymoonrva.bandcamp.com/

Soul Meets Body
Pop Punk Bangers for the Underdogs
https://soulmeetsbody.bandcamp.com/

Alex Jonestown Massacre
Agitprop Punk
https://alexjonestownmassacre.bandcamp.com/

W I S H
Noisy Shoegaze Alt-Rock
https://wishrva.bandcamp.com/

Doors @ 8
Show @ 9
21+
$5 suggested donation!

Trash/Recycling Pickup Tomorrow

This Wednesday is a “Red Wednesday”, which means trash and recycling pickup. Ideally, rolling recycling containers are stored and deployed in the back alleys along with trash cans. Please make sure you pick up containers after pickup tomorrow night.

If you have not done so already, don’t forget to sign up for your Recycling Perks.
In order to take your recycling to the next level, read this: 10 ways to improve your recycling.

In Virginia recycling news, the last recycling plant in Sullivan County, Tennessee, that handles paper and plastics for local governments is set to close, affecting recycling efforts across the region. The Bristol Herald-Courier reports Tri-Cities Waste Paper’s Friday closure will also affect Bristol, Abingdon and Washington County in Virginia. In other news, the annual Virginia Recycling Association (VRA) conference will be held on May 6-8 at the Virginia Crossings Hotel and Conference Center in Glen Allen, VA, near Richmond. The conference theme is “Changing Behavior to Encourage Recycling.” VRA members and non-members are welcomed.

In international news, the Indian government announced last week that it will ban scrap plastic imports as part of its efforts to strengthen the implementation of environmentally sound management of hazardous waste in the country.

Happy National Retro Video Game Day!!!

Rainy start to weekend might mean a good time to sit back, order some delicious food from Peddler on Pine and play some video games. Tech Exchange up on W.Cary just posted this deal. They also have a great deal on video game cartridges that ends soon.