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VOL. VI, No. 35;  Tuesday, April 10, 2007   

Dear Arthur,


Today's newsletter includes (Note: You can now click on the blue hyperlinks below to go directly to the story!):

Upcoming Events for Balance of 2006-2007 School Year

Next High School Discussion Group on Saturday, April 14

Urban Go-Team
Moves on To Hadley Township in Richmond Heights

Civitas Collaboration with Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting including workshop for Teachers

Teacher Jane Garvin Featured in Post-Dispatch Article

Update for Middle School Model U.N.

Civitas now takes donations and payment of fees with credit cards and PayPal.  If you want to make a tax-deductible donation or pay a fee, you may do so by clicking here.

 

 


 

 

Upcoming Events

DATE

TIME

PLACE

ACTIVITIES

 

 

 

 

Sat.,

04/14/07

9:00 AM -

11:00 AM

Crossroads

   Discussion Group #10

 

 

 

 

Wed., 04/25/07

9:00 AM - 12:00 PM

C.C.G.C.

Middle School Model U.N. Session #3

 

 

 

 

Thurs., 04/26/07

9:00 AM - 12:00 PM

C.C.G.C.

Middle School Model U.N. Session #4

 

 

 

 

Fri.,
04/27/07

9:00 AM - 12:00 PM

C.C.G.C.

Middle School Model U.N. Session #5

 

 

 

 

Sat.,

04/28/07

8:30 AM -
12:00 Noon







1:00 PM -
4:00 AM

KETC-TV (Channel 9)
3655 Olive
(63108)




Crossroads

   Optional (but inviting!) workshop for high school and middle school teachers on using resources of Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting




Urban Go-Team Activity #2 (We will go to the 'Hadley Township' area in Richmond Heights)

Wed., 05/02/07

9:00 AM - 12:00 PM

C.C.G.C.

Middle School Model U.N. Session #6

 

 

 

 

Thurs., 05/03/07

9:00 AM - 12:00 PM

C.C.G.C.

Middle School Model U.N. Session #7

 

 

 

 

Fri., 05/04/07

9:00 AM - 12:00 PM

C.C.G.C.

Middle School Model U.N. Session #8

 

 

 

 

Thurs., 05/10/07

9:00 AM - 12:00 PM

C.C.G.C.

Middle School Model U.N. Session #9

 

 

 

 

Sat.,

05/12/07

9:00 AM -

11:30 AM


12:00 PM -

3:00 PM

Crossroads

 


Junior High Park in Maplewood

Urban Go-Team Activity #3

 


Picnic & Softball

 

 

 

 

Mon., 05/21/07

4:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Chevy's in Crestwood

Middle School Teacher Meeting #4

 

Rev., April 3, 2007


Discussion Group this Saturday, April 14 at Crossroads

Our tenth (count 'em, 10) discussion group of the school year is this Saturday, April 14, at Crossroads School (map) from 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM.  The discussion group has nothing to do with the Urban Go-Team; it is strictly discussion.  It should be a great time to talk as Congress will be back in session and things may well be coming to a head regarding continued funding of America's expedition into Iraq.  And just last week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Bush Administration cannot prevent the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from enforcing regulations to reduce the spewing of pollutants into the atmosphere.  On the local front, we have the continuing saga of the St. Louis public schools, the upcoming madness of more closings of Highway 40 (I-64), and then Arthur's favorite topic of the year, "the socially redeeming values of proms."  Well, at the very least, are they too expensive?  Hope to see you there!


"Urban Go-Team" will move from '63112' to '63117'

After a most successful activity on Saturday, March 31 in the Skinker-DeBaliviere neighborhood around Crossroads School [Zip Code 63112] , the Civitas Urban Go-Team will be moving about three miles to the southwest to the Hadley Township Area near the Richmond Heights Community Center [Zip Code 63117] for its next session on Saturday, April 28.

Below is another map that hopefully will help you identify the area within the context of the central portion of St. Louis County.



The reasons why we are so interested in this area are many, but three that come to mind immediately are: (1) most of it is schedule for demolition in the next year as a new development takes shape.  Many people will be moving out; many moving in. (2) The neighborhood is adjacent to Highway 40 (I-64) and it will have to endure many of the hardships of everyone along the immediate corridor of the construction the highway over the next three years or more, and (3) the neighborhood is immediately north of where another similar community was uprooted five years ago to make room for a Wal-Mart, Lowe's, and a host of smaller retail outlets.  With the Hadley Township area, Civitas has can provide students with an opportunity to observe and possibly influence a wholesale change of a long-standing neighborhood in our community.  The project will begin this April and Civitas' involvement will continue for a number of years.



Our first excursion to the area is on Saturday, April 28, from 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM (this is a change of time from previously reported).  The first steps will be extensive mapping and photographing of the area (similar to what we did on March 31 in the Skinker-DeBaliviere area).  If time permits, we will begin interviewing residents.  If we cannot begin the interviews on April 28, we will do so on the morning of Saturday, May 12 when we have our final Urban Go-Team activity of the school year (prior to the summer program).

Because these activities will be away from Crossroads, they will constitute field trips and students  will need signed permission forms.  Students listed below have valid forms through the end of the school year as a result of their participation in the February "Nuke Conference:"

Bonastia Bailee St. Joseph's
Coughlin Samantha M-RH
DeBaun Morgan Rosati-Kain
Dobinsky Jodi Parkway North
Fanning Katie Lindbergh
Faulkingham Logan M-RH
Ghidey Teresa Parkway North
Gunning Kyle Hazelwood Central
Hendricks Anna Crossroads
Hopkins Mary Kate St. Joseph's
Jacobsen Jenna St. Joseph's
Kowalski Mandi Collinsville
Kramer Laura St. Joseph's
Kroeger Matthew Hazelwood Central
Lynch George Crossroads
Madden Colleen St. Joseph's
Madden Molly St. Joseph's
Marks Kyle Hazelwood Central
McGinnis Zora Metro
Niedringhaus Megan St. Joseph's
Reed Allison Rosati-Kain
Rochester Katie M-RH
Rodriguez Patty Parkway North
Rogers* Meg Rosati-Kain
Roper Mandi Rosati-Kain
Slovinski Ashley Collinsville
Smith Vanessa Crossroads
Spaunhorst Amanda St. Joseph's
Webb Terrie Rosati-Kain
Weeks Brynne Crossroads
Witherspoon Colin Crossroads
Yeckel Jeff DuBourg
* Form in but signature missing

Others will need to submit signed permission forms prior to April 28.  Interested students may download blank forms from these two sites:

Permission Form (Acrobat PDF Format) Permission Form (MS Word Format)


Completed forms can be:

(a) Sent to Civitas at 10845 Olive Blvd., Suite #155; St. Louis, MO  63141-7760.
(b) Faxed to Civitas at (314) 367-7742.
(c) E-Mailed as attachments to us at civitas@swbell.net.
(d) Brought by hand to Crossroads where we will meet at 1:00 PM on Saturday, April 28.


As stated previously, Civitas will once again have a program this summer in which students can intensely learn and act upon urban issues in our metropolitan area.  We'll do some studying, we'll have lots of field trips, we'll have interesting speakers, and we'll even try out some tasty restaurants.  This year, we call the program the Urban Go-Team: "Show Me the Money in St. Louis!"

If you are interested in being a member of the Urban Go-Team, it is not too late.  Just show up on April 28 or e-mail us at
urban-go-team@civitas-stl.com.


  • Civitas Begins Exciting Collaboration with Pulitzer Center

 


We are all aware of the schlock (yes, it's in the dictionary, "something of cheap or inferior quality; junk") that often characterizes today's mainstream news.  Fortunately, there are still some real journalists out there and among them is Jon Sawyer, director of the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting.  The Pulitzer Center was established several years ago with the expressed intent of covering under-reported international stories that are important in themselves and important to citizens of the United States.  Over the past two years the Center has covered over a dozen important stories from Africa, Asia, the Balkans, and elsewhere.

It is not only important to report the stories; it is important to have a broader audience.  As the Pulitzer Center contracts with a number of accomplished journalists and videographers, it is also working to expand its readership and viewership into a number of colleges, universities, high schools, and middle schools.  Fortunately, St. Louis is becoming the flagship for their high school and middle school outreach.

One of the projects that the Pulitzer Center is working on is the reclamation of the Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique in southeast Africa.  The park was trashed during the civil war from 1975-1992, but due to a strong commitment and lots of dollars from an American philanthropist, it is being restored.  The sunshine story is not without its problems, but this is all being reported by the Pulitzer Center.

Director Jon Sawyer will be coming to St. Louis along with his assistant Nathalie Applewhite and Gorongosa reporter Stephanie Hanes from April 25 - 28.  Thanks to some terrific work by Parkway District Social Studies Curriculum Coordinator Liz Morrison, they will be spending Thursday, April 26 in the Parkway district.  With tremendous support from KETC-TV Vice-President for Educational Services, Amy Shaw, Channel 9 will be creating a series of multi-purpose videos in part from the classes in the Parkway district that day.

On Friday, April 27, Jon, Nathalie, and Stephanie will be coming to St. Joseph's Academy (9:30 AM), Collinsville High School (12:00 Noon), and Maplewood-Richmond Heights High School (2:05 PM).  In all cases, they will be discussing the importance of the Gorongosa story and how it relates to students' lives.  Most importantly, they are open to taking any and all student questions.

Finally, on Saturday, April 28, all parties concerned will join together to sponsor a workshop for high school and middle school teachers who are interested in using the myriad of resources from the Pulitzer Center.  Invitations to teachers involved in Civitas programs were sent last week from Amy Shaw at KETC-TV (Channel 9).  If you misplaced the invitation, you can RSVP to Amy at ashaw@ketc.org.

Civitas has the pleasure of working with the Pulitzer Center and others on this project.  One of our projects is to work to prepare students and teachers and St. Joseph's, Collinsville, and Maplewood-Richmond Heights for the Pulitzer visits on Friday, April 27.  Last week, we had an opportunity to meet with a terrific A.P. class at Collinsville taught by Mark Schusky and Barbara Lindauer.  Wow, what a terrific group.  We truly appreciate their fine interest, questions, and most importantly, understanding of the need to focus on stories such as Gorongosa.  Photos (taken by Collinsville student Leslie Miller) are available by
clicking here.

Also, a number of students from St. Louis high schools have been communicating on the Gorongosa blog with journalist Stephanie Hanes.  You can access their questions and comments as well as Stephanie's fine responses by
clicking here.




St. Joseph's Jane Garvin Featured in Post-Dispatch Article


Special thanks to Amy Shaw, Vice-President of Educational Services at KETC-TV (Channel 9) for alerting us to the article that appears below that appeared in Friday's Post-Dispatch.  It features Jane Garvin, teacher of world history, geography and psychology at St. Joseph's Academy.  Jane has been an outstanding faculty advisor for Civitas for a number of years.  We are delighted to see her receive well-deserved recognition.

Teacher Challenges her Students with Field Trips
 



Jane Garvin teaches world history, geography and psychology at St. Joseph's
Academy, but the impact she makes on her students go beyond her classroom.

Garvin says students learn best when they become involved in the material
they're learning, so she challenges them to take personal field trips to
observe and participate with people about whom they are learning, especially in
psychology class.

"Some may go to an Alzheimer's unit at a nursing home or visit a school with
kids who have disabilities," Garvin said. "They say they learn a lot from the
people there."

Outside her role as a teacher, Garvin sponsors clubs and activities that
encourage students to understand area and global humanitarian issues.

Garvin began sponsoring a service club called Angel Outreach last spring. In
the past year, more than 300 students have become members of the club. One of the most popular activities in the club is working with Team Activities With
Special Kids at St. Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Church. St. Joseph's students
help children and teens with disabilities play various sports and take part in
dance activities and other recreation each week.

Each month, the club posts a calendar with needs for volunteers. "There are
always kids in the hall outside my classroom signing up for various
activities," Garvin said.

Garvin's latest plug for the needy is to raise awareness of a program called
The Invisible Children Organization, which talks about the plight of child
soldiers in Uganda.

Garvin has invited a speaker to the school on Thursday who will talk about how children and young teens are being abducted by warlords in Uganda to be used as soldiers and be exploited in other ways.

Garvin has taught at St. Joseph's for 16 years.

More about Garvin:

Where did you go to high school? Nerinx Hall High School.

Education: bachelor's degree in political science and history from St. Louis
University; additional coursework in psychology from the University of
Missouri-St. Louis

Hobbies: "I like spending time with my family, reading and hanging out with
friends."

Who inspired you to pursue a career in education? "I always thought I would
love to teach since the time I was in school myself. I always looked up to my
teachers."

What's the best part of your job? "Getting to meet so many really fine young
women who give me hope for a future."


Middle School Model U.N. Update


It's the calm before the storm so to speak for Civitas' Middle School Model UN program.  After two successful General Assemblies at the end of March, we've enjoyed a couple weeks of relative tranquility.  Now the next "storm of resolutions" is upon us as we gear up for the General Assemblies on April 25, 26, and 27, and May 2, 3, 4, and 10. 


Teachers are reminded to email their resolution rough drafts as soon as possible to Lisa if they haven't done so already.  She'll send your students feedback on those drafts within a day or two so they can make appropriate revisions in their final drafts.  Our goal is to have all the final drafts turned in and posted on our website two weeks before the session so that students have plenty of time to preview and prepare their thoughts on all the resolutions.  From the drafts we've seen so far it's obvious that the middle school students are tackling timely issues that are vital to our planet's future! 

If you have any questions at all, feel free to email (
granichkovarik@sbcglobal.net) or call Lisa (865-4704).  The General Assemblies will be held at Creve Coeur Government Center, 300 N. New Ballas Road, and will last from 9:00 until noon.  Here is a link to directions if you need them: http://www.civitas-stl.com/map/cccc_dir.htm.

 

 

 


ADDITIONAL LINKS

Civitas Home Page

Photo Gallery

Civitas Calendar for 2006-2007 

Civitas Intranets Site

Civitas Blog

Maps & Directions

Previous Newsletters

General Assembly Countries

Security Council Countries 

Conference (Feb., 2007) on "The Nuclear Club"  

Checklist for Writing a Model U.N. Resolution

Resolutions (High School U.N.) for 2004-2006 

Make donation to Civitas 



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