Volunteers spruce up Verona elementary school
Check out a photo slideshow from 2011 Outreach to Teach
About 75 people spent Saturday cleaning, painting, decorating and fixing Verona Elementary School in Battle Creek.
Students from several Michigan colleges who are future teachers and members of the Student Michigan Education Association chose the school at 825 Capital Ave. N.E. as their annual Outreach to Teach service project.
"All day I have been walking the ELL students around Verona before I work with them in small groups, looking at the improvements. We are filled with gratitude for all the work and improvements the Student MEA project brought our way. This morning I overheard several teachers using the teachable moment of how all of us are responsible to take more pride in and better care of our building. I was blown away Saturday to know how far many of the students traveled and how cheerfully they attacked even the bathroom scrubbing.
And then, floating on a sea of gratitude to all of you who came so far and worked so hard to improve our environment...I went to lunch! Oh my gosh! Even though the area is not accessible to students, the lounge and restroom has to be the masterpiece! In a climate of public school employee bashing I cannot express how much the totally remade teachers' lounge and bathroom mean to me personally. It is a gift that will keep on giving through all of the challenges we face. I cannot thank you or all of the volunteers enough. We feel so fortunate that you chose Verona.
Jeannie Miralrio, Bilingual Instructional Specialist"
"Christina,
I can't tell you how exciting it was to come to school this morning and be welcomed by the wonderful projects done in the building! First, driving up to school, I wish you and your helpers could have seen the children on the playground:) Everything out there was a huge hit, and they were discussing how it all could have gotten there. They are also very excited about their white boards and the cart of supplies. We are going to go through that later today so they can see everything. Then to walk into the building and see the beautiful murals everywhere was just amazing and the kids are looking for new things everytime we are in the halls. I purposely stayed out of the staff lounge until lunch so I would have that surprise to look forward to. I must say, it didn't disappoint. It is absolutely beautiful, and I actually felt appreciated being in there today. Everyone was talking about how it isn't even depressing any more. I am so appreciative of all the work you put into this. It looks like an inviting elementary school now, and we will never be able to tell all of you how much this means to us. Everyone was so wonderful to work with! Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Karen Fettig
Verona School"
"Christina,
I wanted to pass along to you the student's responses to our building this morning.
It looks really nice!
I really like this idea. I feel like we are in a new school.
Thank you to who ever did this. Thank you for taking time from your weekend. We love it!
Sweet! Cool! Awesome! Wow! Colorful! Pretty!
I like the USA map!
I like that they repainted the outline of the basketball court.
The 4 square is great!
The kids were fired up and very excited about everything! Thank you so much for all that you did to make our school a better place to be!
Delynn Campbell Verona Resource teacher"
SMEA President Gary Scott Speaks at Rally
To chants of “Thank you Gary, thank you Gary”, our own Student MEA chair Gary Scott addressed a crowd of over 3,000 people rallying to support public education at our State’s capitol. At the end of a day filled with visits with legislators, chanting and speeches Gary addressed the crowd. Gary started his speech saying, “I decided to go into teaching to change the world, even if it may be one child at a time.” Addressing the various pieces of proposed legislation Gary said, “I'm not going to stand by while our elected officials cut funding to our public universities and tuition goes so high, fewer and fewer people can afford to attend college. I'm not going to ignore it when they slash funding to our public schools and force students to learn in overcrowded classrooms. I won't close my eyes and pretend it's not happening when our lawmakers force schools into a deficit so they can take them over, seize them and try to decide from Lansing what's best for the students…” He charged the crowd to stand with him and fight for the future of public education and our students. “Please don't leave here today and let this be all you do. Please don't let them make you believe there's no hope. There is hope! Please don't give up.”
Student Teacher Mentoring Program
Are you an education student?
Are you student teaching or about to be student teaching? Would you like a friendly and helpful resource to use as a sounding board for your ideas, fears and challenges? Are you a Student MEA member? If the answer is yes, read on.
MEA-Retired is working with Student MEA to build a mentoring program designed to support MEA student members who intend to become teachers. Students should be in the pre-student teaching or student teaching phase of their program.
This mentoring experience is intended to provide mentees a friendly and helpful resource to use as a sounding board for their ideas, to help them reἀect upon and analyze various teaching strategies, and to seek new or different ideas from experienced retired professionals.
Student Mentoring Program brochure.
Updated: June 3, 2011 2:39 PM
Calendar:
Statewide Outreach to Teach
Verona Elementary School, Battle Creek