A pair of industrial fans blow in the gymnasium at West Side High School in Newark. A yoga instructor introduces the mountain pose to about one-hundred members of the school’s staff.
Schools
College-bound NPS graduate hopes to advocate for Newark kids
This is the first line of “Art is Home,” a rhythmic, reflective poetic piece written by recent Arts High School graduate Kayla Muldrow—one that typifies the young artist’s relationship with creative expression.
Source: https://www.tapinto.net/towns/newark/articles/college-bound-nps-graduate-hopes-to-advocate-for
Education reform advocate and BRICK founder to open innovative new charter school
It’s a Friday morning in late August—just weeks from the beginning of the new school year—but Dominique Lee is cool and calm as he sits across a table at BRICK Academy headquarters and speaks in quiet, measured tones.
‘It’s starting to hit me,’ Newark graduate gets ready for Harvard
By: Karen Yi | kyi@nullnjadvancemedia.com | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
The 18-year-old graduate of Malcolm X Shabazz High School, pushes back her brown hair hanging a few inches over a T-shirt that reads: “Straight off to Cambridge, MA.”
Boerrigter is going to Harvard University this fall — on a full scholarship.
“Now the days leading up to it, it’s starting to hit me,” Boerrigter said. “It’s mix of excitement and just being really grateful to have this world-class education and I don’t have to break any bank accounts to get it.”
She was the valedictorian of her class with a 4.2 GPA, presented novel enzyme research at the largest earth and space science conference in the world and is an avid reader of Edgar Allen Poe.
But she admits she loves playing video games, too, and geeked out when parts of the Harvard campus resembled the Great Dining Hall from Harry Potter.
“They had stained-glass in the freshman dining hall,” she said. “And like chandeliers.”
In the months since her Harvard acceptance, Boerrigter has received an outpouring of support from the city: Municipal resolutions supporting her achievements, widespread congratulations on Facebook and a $2,500 donation from a stranger whose mother was a Newark teacher.
“Once it hit me, that the whole, literally the whole city was coming together over this, I thought it was really the most wonderful thing,” she said. “Usually the whole neighborhood comes together for candlelight vigils at Penn Station when god forbid something bad happens but now that I could be the reason for the whole neighborhood coming together and it’s a good thing — my heart skipped a beat.”
‘Science is life’
Born in Germany, Boerrigter came to Newark when she was 3 years old and was raised by her mother. Her father is Nigerian but not involved. She said she knew she wanted to be a forensic pathologist since she was 12 (she watched a lot of NCIS).
“I’ve always had an interest in all my science classes,” she said. “It’s fascinating to me, the fact that we are here and the planets exist, that life exists the way it does, that all these conditions are so perfect to the point that we could be having these conversations right here and the very fabric that we’re made of not being ripped apart, science is life.”
For Boerrigter, perseverance is everything. She’s kept up her German and is fluent, and convinced her mother to let her live a year in Germany with her grandmother when she was in the third grade. At Shabazz, she spent nearly two hours every other day seeking more knowledge from her math teacher Patrick Murray during his planning periods. He helped her conceptualize math and how to apply it to science.
“When I’m in class and I don’t understand something, it bothers me to not know,” she said. “I don’t just want the A, I want to know how I got it and what I need to do to get it.”
Murray said Boerrigter was instrumental in the school’s Bio-Geo-Chemistry Team that traveled to the American Geophysical Union Conference in San Francisco to present their cutting-edge enzyme research. Andrew Steen, a professor at the University of Tennessee, is publishing a manuscript using much of the novel data, Murray said.
“She’s doing graduate level science without all the coursework,” he said. “She’s going to be the one who writes the protocol (forensic pathologists) use … she’s going to shake this stuff up.”
Boerrigter leaves Tuesday for her freshman orientation and says she’ll miss the city she grew up in, including her favorite staples: Vonda’s Kitchen and Sabor Unido.
She sees her career path, though, as one that could one day have an impact on communities like Newark. She hopes to major in human evolutionary biology, go to medical school and advance the field of forensics to help bring closure to families who have lost loved ones.
“I see it as a public service and it’s something I can give back to people,” she said. “Many of my friends have been to more funerals than they should have at the age of 18 and so when you don’t even see some of your peers being able to graduate from high school … that’s some closure that people will never get.”
‘It worked out nice’
About 5-10 Newark students are accepted into Ivy League schools every year, the school district said, but some can’t afford to go.
Boerrigter said she’s lucky for the opportunity. Without the scholarships she couldn’t afford Harvard’s $65,000 tuition. Her mother often works 12-hour shifts as a home health aide.
“Me coming from traditionally environments where people don’t seem to have the availability of resources, I just find it amazing that I’ll be able to do all these great programs and not have to worry about where the next meal in school is coming from,” she said.
She applied to 22 schools and was accepted to other prestigious universities like Johns Hopkins.
Harvard wasn’t always on her mind. In fact, Boerrigter said it wasn’t until some family friends suggested she apply that she decided to try.
“It worked out nice,” she laughs.
Harvard-bound grad reflects positive changes in Newark Public Schools
By: Elana Knopp | www.tapinto.net
Cambridge, Massachusetts, is known for its cool arts scene, historic architecture and top colleges, but as much as Lucia Couto loves the scenic city that sits on the banks of the Charles River, she hopes for the opportunity to one day return home to Newark.
Couto, who recently graduated from Newark’s Arts High School and will be attending Harvard University on a full scholarship this fall, says that she wants to give back to the city that helped her prosper.
And prosper she did.
Couto, who is the valedictorian of her graduating class and will be pursuing medical physics at Harvard, grew up in Newark’s North Ward, the daughter of parents–both from Portugal–who never had the opportunity to pursue their own educational aspirations but who pushed their children to aim for the top.
“My mother always tells us the story of how she wished to go to school every single year,” said Couto, who attended First Avenue Elementary school. “She wanted to learn, wanted to be in an environment where someone could show her something she did not know yesterday. She only got to complete one year in elementary school and because of this, she would never let us give anything less than the absolute best we could produce. To my parents, messing around in school was something that would really disappoint them, which is not something that my siblings and I ever wanted to do.”
Couto is one of seven graduates from Newark Public Schools this year who will be attending Ivy League schools on a full scholarship. More than 75 percent of NPS seniors will be attending two or four year colleges or universities. In addition, 71 students will be graduating from high school with Associate’s degrees.
In 2016, Newark’s high school graduation rate increased to 73.5 percent, up four percentage points from 2015, according to data released by the New Jersey Department of Education. The data also shows that there has been a steady increase in graduation rates for four consecutive years, up 15 percentage points since 2011.
Early projections show that NPS will once again increase its high school graduation rate this year.
Newark Public Schools Superintendent Christopher Cerf said Couto represents the many success stories of Newark school students.
“Our school community is so proud of the accomplishments of our seniors and wishes each of them success as they continue to advance toward their college, career, and life goals,” Cerf said. “As we celebrate our graduates’ achievements, I would also like to thank their committed parents and families, along with our teachers and community members who are so instrumental in supporting and shaping them into the brilliant young men and women they are today.”
To those who view Newark in a negative light, Couto responds with citing the many successes that Newark has helped create.
“I would say that there are a lot of different people and things–amazing things–that come out of my city,” she said. “I feel like society has made us so aware of the negatives that people sometimes only focus on the negative things that they hear. They don’t realize how many truly amazing people have come from the same schools as me.”
Couto said she is optimistic that the city’s reputation will soon come to an end.
“The reputation about the strong people and hard workers that make up this city, will soon come to light,” she said.
Throughout her school years, Couto stood out as a leader, an accomplished athlete and dancer and as a member of the National Honor Society.
At Arts High School, Couto was a peer leader to incoming freshmen, the captain of both the soccer and volleyball teams, and has acted as something of an ambassador to her school.
“One thing that my siblings and I were instilled with was the idea that there was a possibility to learn in every moment of every day, whether it be in class or in a practical situation, which is something we are extremely grateful for,” Couto said. “It means the world to me that despite not having the full experience for themselves, my parents pushed my siblings and I as far as we could go.”
Couto says that the diversity at Arts High School helped her learn some lifelong lessons.
“The most valuable lesson I learned from attending a school as diverse as my class at Arts High School was to understand that different circumstances lead to very different viewpoints from different people, and while some people believe that there is a right answer to everything, everything should be considered through multiple perspectives before arriving at a conclusion,” she said.
Though she is entering the STEM field, which is fact-based, she said she always loved the Socratic Seminars.
“It really shows you that one thing can be interpreted so many different ways and you understand something so much more when you can take a step back and look at it from every angle possible,” Couto said.
“Being able to go to a school where that diversity of opinion existed helped me to have such a better understanding of not only the topics that we were studying, but also how people understand and feel about what is happening today in 2017.”
Ricardo Pedro, principal at Arts High School said he noticed Couto’s talent, leadership skills and discipline from the beginning.
“From Day One, Lucia exhibited leadership amongst her peers,” Pedro said. “As a dancer, Lucia’s teacher noticed she had the discipline to follow direction. She has a strong personality and she is very much a leader, very much of an ambassador. She will be an ambassador and leader wherever she goes.”
Arts High School Vice Principal Diane Delrusso chalks up Couto’s success to one standout quality.
“She has grit,” Delrusso said. “She just has it. She’s determined to succeed. She’s always smiling, always positive and always comfortable with herself. She was an exemplar student in the classroom; it’s just amazing how she applies herself. She’s a perfectionist.”
Arts High School Vice Principal Antonio Lopes recalls Couto as a high achiever who handled her rigorous academic workload with discipline and equanimity.
“In her senior year, she had four AP classes,” Lopes said. “She was one of those kids who could handle it. We need more Lucias.”
Couto said the city she calls home has had a major impact on the person she has become.
“I was born and raised in a city that, to most people, was a city with a very negative reputation,” Couto says. “It was this preconceived notion of my home that helped shape the person I have become. The city made me a strong fighter, a person who would go down kicking and screaming, and would do everything she could to prove that the reputation that preceded her city was not a reputation that would continue long.”
Couto, who arrived in Cambridge just days ago, says that although she is having a great time in her new college city, there is still no place like home.
“I do believe that, if the opportunity presents itself and I would be able to return to Newark once I complete school, I would definitely take it for a few reasons,” she said. “Newark has been my home for my entire life, and if I had the opportunity to give back to the community that helped make me me, which I fully intend to do, I would love the chance to go back, be close to all of my family and friends, and helped the city that helped me prosper.”
Local Teacher Completes National Food Safety and Nutrition Training
From Farm to Table, Teachers Explore the Science Behind Nation’s Food Supply
[WASHINGTON, DC. August, 2017] Henie Parillon, a teacher at Abington Avenue School in Newark, NJ was one of 30 teachers nationwide chosen to complete a food science training program developed and implemented in a partnership between the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), and Graduate School USA. The one-week program for middle and high school science teachers, as well as family and consumer science and health education teachers, took place in Washington this summer.
Mr. Parillon said, “This FDA/NSTA Food Science Professional Development Program is one of the most informative and inspiring I have attended in a very long while. It exposed me to the efforts of federal and national agencies in helping keep the nation’s food supply save and provided me with the tools to further engage students and fellow educators on the topic of microbiology and food safety. I enthusiastically look forward to imparting the knowledge I have obtained with stakeholders in the Newark Public Schools (NPS) District.”
The training is part of the FDA/NSTA Professional Development Program in Food Science, a sustained effort to train U.S. teachers to use FDA’s curriculum in their classrooms nationwide and train additional teachers in their area of the country. The goal of the program is to educate teachers and students about critical food safety issues such as foodborne illnesses by exploring the science behind them. The program arms teachers with a unique topic and curriculum with which to teach science. In addition, participants learn about nutrition, food allergies, cosmetics safety, and color additives from FDA experts. The teachers also receive nutrition education material to help teach their students how to use the Nutrition Facts label to make better food choices.
“Many teenage students have jobs in the food service industry or have food preparation responsibilities at home,” said Louise Dickerson, FDA’s Project Manager for the Professional Development Program in Food Science. “This program will better educate them about the importance of handling food safely and why precautions must be taken. From FDA’s perspective, our professional development program for teachers is an effective way to support our goal of reducing the incidence of foodborne illness in this country.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 1 in 6 Americans get sick from food poisoning each year.
During the training, teacher participants learned firsthand about the development and spread of foodborne illnesses; the vulnerability of at-risk populations; and the science behind safe food handling, storage, and preparation. These teachers also learned how to better use the Nutrition Facts label to assess the nutritional value of foods. In addition, the teachers talked with scientists from FDA and conducted laboratory experiments at the University of Maryland at College Park to further increase their understanding of food science.
For example, teachers investigated how a single bacteria cell can multiply to millions in just a few hours, and they observed how different temperatures (heating, room temperature, chilling, and freezing) affect the growth of bacteria. The teachers explored these concepts by putting their culinary skills to the test. After cooking hamburgers to various temperatures, the teachers tested them for bacteria and other organisms that cause disease.
“Though the teachers have completed the training, the professional development experience has not ended,” said Al Byers, Associate Executive Director of Strategic Development & Research at NSTA. “They will implement the curriculum in their schools, conduct workshops for their teacher colleagues, and receive continuing online support beyond the onsite experience. This program models sustained teacher support espoused in the latest standards in science professional learning whereby teachers may collaborate locally with other colleagues as part of an ongoing professional learning community.”
The food science program is centered on a standards-based curriculum developed by FDA in partnership with NSTA. The Science and Our Food Supply curriculum is available at no charge to all middle-level and high school teachers; it explores the science behind the production, transportation, storage, and preparation of our nation’s food supply, and contains a video, hands-on experiments and activities, and evaluation tools. Other parts of the curriculum explore little-known facts about food science that affect millions of people every day, such as how a traceback investigation is used to stop the additional sale and distribution of contaminated food, the likelihood of certain foods to cause foodborne illness more than others, and reasons why salt serves as a good preservative.
For information on this exciting curriculum and information on how to apply to participate in the FDA Food Science Professional Development Program in Summer 2018, please email: isabelle.howes@nullgraduateschool.edu.