Why do so many students in urban areas drop out of high school?

Taimer Singleton, Program Coordinator for the Abbott Leadership Institute sent me this video.

It's a teaser to the documentary called Dropped created by the Youth Media Symposium under the Abbott Leadership Institute, which is under the leadership of Junius Williams. The documentary explores why students in urban areas drop out of high school in such disproportionate rates, compared to their suburban peers. In addition to documenting these causes, the students have pinpointed more effective ways to improve urban schools and keep students engaged to ensure a higher graduation rate.

The teaser below is about four minutes long, but you can also view the full 15 minute documentary at http://vimeo.com/15164113
 

Dropped... (teaser) from Abbott Leadership Institute on Vimeo.

The mission of the Abbott Leadership Institute, located on the first floor of Bradley Hall and directed by Junius Williams, is to empower parents, students, educators and community advocates of Newark Public Schools and surrounding urban communities with information and knowledge of effective methods for education advocacy and family engagement in schools. You can learn more by visiting www.abbottleadership.org

GlassRoots 10 Year Annniversary

As the only non-profit “hot shop” for young people in the greater New York metropolitan area, GlassRoots provides a nurturing environment in which otherwise underserved children can achieve self-esteem and creative expression while also learning basic business skills and valuable life lessons through the exploration of the unique art forms of glass making.

Working in the hotshop. Photo by Arthur Paxton

The program's founder, Patricia Kettenring, was honored Oct. 6, 2010 on the occasion of the 10th anniversary celebration for GlassRoots, which began at Rutgers, and which provides multiple opportunities for at-risk youth, ages 10-18, to realize their potential through the creation of glass art.

Kettenring is a long-time member of the Rutgers-Newark community, former director of Rutgers Business Schools' Business and the Arts program and currently teaching at Rutgers School of Public Affairs and Administration.

For more info. on GlassRoots, visit www.glassroots.org/

For a full gallery of photos from GlassRoots go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/rutgersnewark/sets/72157625115130704/

Blacklight Project: Art and Social Justice

Thanks to the folks at Rutgers Today for creating this video!

The Blacklight Project brings together young people to express themselves through dance and other forms of art in the name of building community in Newark. Aimee Cox, who teaches African-American and African Studies at Rutgers-Newark, spearheads the project.




For more information, visit http://www.theblacklightproject.org/.

Earth Day

On April 21 and 23 over ninety students, faculty, staff, alumni  and friends put on their gardening clothes and helped make Newark green and beautiful - and had a lot of fun doing it!

On the first day, the volunteers weeded and pruned the campus bird gardens. Yes, you read that right - we have over 100 types of birds visiting campus year round; in fact our resident expert, Professor Claus Holzapfel, is running bird watching tours every week in May.

Thank you to everyone for all their hard work!



Does this look like Newark? Well, it is!!

 

This year, we also installed a bird 'water feature' (aka a small pond) in the garden near Smith Hall.

NJN even stopped by to interview some of our students about the event.

On Friday everyone went over to the Newark Conservancy's Urban Education Garden on Prince St. and helped them with their compost heap - which according to Carlos, our liaison at the Conservancy, they save up special just for Rutgers every year.

Below, one of our students becomes a human sun dial.

Photos above are by Rebecca Yuschak, Helen Paxton, and myself. To see more photos, go to our Earth Day Photo Album

Newark Goes Green with a Little Help From Its Friends

This Fall, Sal Palatucci from Physical Plant worked with staff, students and the NJ Tree Foundation to plant trees 51 trees in our Newark neighborhood.

Shannon Buckley from the NJ Tree Foundation recently sent Rutgers a thank you letter along with photos, saying "Each tree that we plant through the Newark Renaissance Trees Program helps to restore the tree canopy in Newark, enhance the environment, improve air quality, improve aesthetic beauty of a neighborhood, cool off the community by reducing the effects of the urban heat island, and improve the overall quality of life."

In April '08, Rutgers worked with the Tree Foundation for the first time, planting trees along University Ave. from the Newark Broad St. train station to campus. Shannon wrote that she was proud to see these trees thriving and said "through this partnership, we have planted these 77 trees, saving the City of Newark and Rutgers over $40,000, and gained the support of more than 80 volunteers, students, alumni, and neighbors." Some of the trees planted include plum, lilac, zelkova and maple.

Who says Earth Day only happens once a year?

For more information on the NJ Tree Foundation, visit their website at newjerseytreefoundation.org