Arts grant recipients honored by Orange County Commissioners

The Board of County Commissioners of Orange County honored the Orange County Arts Commission’s Fall 2011 arts grant recipients with the presentation of award checks at its Tuesday, Feb. 7, regular meeting.
The fall 2011 grant recipients are:
• A.L. Stanback Middle School
• ArtsCenter
• Christ Church Preschool
• Franklin Street Arts Collective dba FRANK Gallery
• Free Spirit Freedom Institute & Gallery (fiscal agent Hillsborough Arts Council)
• Friends of the Carrboro Branch Library
• Grady A. Brown Elementary School PTA
• Hillsborough Elementary School
• Historical Foundation of Hillsborough & Orange County
• Kristi Vincent Johnson
• McDougle Elementary School PTA
• Preservation Society of Chapel Hill
• Susan Simone
• WCOM-FM
• Sean Wellington
• Women’s Voices Chorus
These awards represent $23,251 in Orange County funds awarded to nonprofit organizations and artists for arts programming during calendar year 2012.
The Orange County Arts Commission is a county agency that strengthens the arts in Orange County, which includes the townships of Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Hillsborough. Created in 1985 by resolution of the Board of County Commissioners, the Arts Commission’s 15-member citizen advisory board meets the second Monday each month (except for July) from 6 to 7:30 p.m. The Orange County Arts Commission is housed in the Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau, 501 W. Franklin St. in Chapel Hill. For more information, contact Martha Shannon at (919) 968-2011 or visit www.artsorange.org.

Pet Pals celebrates one year expanded service

No one can deny the immediate connection between humans and dogs. Wendy Stewart, school social worker at Hillsborough Elementary School and Partnership Academy, capitalized on that bond a few years ago when she first certified her pooch, Ella, as a therapy dog and began bringing her into Partnership. This spring, Wendy's program—dubbed Pet Pals—celebrated its first year using community volunteers (instead of just Wendy's dogs). About 15 volunteers visit five different Orange County schools, watching their canines help children of various ages read and practice social behavior.

For more information, see the Wednesday, June 15, edition of the News of Orange.

Stanback takes inspiration from Orange County, Fla. middle school

At the literacy pep rally last week, A.L. Stanback Middle School literacy coach Joyce Gilbert played the following video, created by Ocoee Middle School in Orange County, Fla.:

Ocoee Middle School Gotta Keep Reading from Michael Cardwell on Vimeo.

Pretty incredible, right? Gets you all pumped up about reading.

Enjoy!

coming up this week

Here's what I've got on my plate and what you can expect to see (more or less) in this week's paper from moi:
• The McKee CornField Maze is up and running. I'll have a feature on this perennial local favourite.
• An EcoEternity forest is opening up at Camp Chestnut Ridge. Don't know what that is? Find out next week.
• The middle schools have started organizing clubs this year, and A.L. Stanback's selection is literacy-based.
• I participated and photographer International Walk to School Day (as mentioned in a previous post).

There's a few other things I'm working on, but we'll see if they pan out for this week.

I'm also trying to resurrect the Educator of the Week feature, and I would love nominations from the public. Is there a teacher in your child's school that is especially talented? A media assistant or assistant principal that deserves recognition? What about a teacher assistant or custodian? Let me know! Drop me a line at v (dot) shortley (at) newsoforange (dot) com or give me a ring at 732-2171.

donorschoose.org

I was surfing around on all the schools' Web sites, when I came across a link to DonorsChoose.org on Hillsborough Elementary School's site. DonorsChoose is a site that allows teachers to post projects they need money for so people can donate money to whatever school or project they chose.

In Orange County Schools there are 12 projects across four schools — nine at New Hope and one at each of Gravelly Hill, Central and A.L. Stanback.

This is a great resource, if you're looking for your money to have a direct impact on the classroom.