NEWBEGINNINGS
Former Donaldsonville store transformedintoneeded earlylearning center
BY JOYHOLDEN Staff writer
To altersystemicissues like povertyand incarceration, Ascension Parish decided to start with its youngest residents. Ascension Parish Government partnered with Nicholls State University andMultistudio,anarchitecture firm in New Orleans that focuseson community-centeredprojects, to develop a quality early learning childhood center in Donaldsonville.
Three branches of Ascension Parish the parish government,the parish library and the Sheriff’s Office —collaboratedwith Multistudio and Nicholls to transform the B. Lemann &Bro. DepartmentStore Buildinginto the West Ascension Early Learning Center
The150-year-old Lemannbuildingwas designed by the architect James Freretand once housed the oldest family-owned department store in Louisiana.
Genesis of theproject
The idea of investing in early learning came to John Diez, the former chiefadministrative officer of Ascension Parish, after studying the Perry Preschool Project, a Michigan longitudinalstudy that tracked agroup of children with access to quality early learning for 40 years.
The study showed that theearly learning group had higher academic performance, higher graduation rates, higher test scores, greater positive attitude, lower juvenile delinquency and higher earnings than the group that did not have access to formalearly learning. Diez proposed an early learning center as an act of prevention in the parish.
“The early learningcenter is funded by the parishcollection of amillage in Ascension Parish for juvenile justice,” said Colleen Ar-
ceneaux, directorofhealth andcommunity development for Ascension Parish. “Workingwith our area legislators and our parish sheriff’s office, the legislature passed abill that allows us to use juvenile justicefunds for prevention. Those excess funds paid for the renovation and also support thecenter.”
Multistudio entered the project while working on the new Ascension library branch in Donaldsonville, which is down the street from the Lemann Building.
Lexi Tengco, theproject manager andlead architect on theproject, got to know Donaldsonville andthe AscensionParishGovernment as theproject manager of thelibrary renovation.
“A host of different partners cametogether to make this project possible,” Tengco said.
WhyDonaldsonville?
On thewestbankofthe Mississippi
River,Donaldsonville’sdifference in the poverty rate and kindergarten readiness islower compared to the east bank, Arceneaux said, which was the catalystfor Ascension Parish choosing the town for the center
“The idea wasreally to bring aquality early start to educationtothe families and children of Donaldsonville so that once theygot to kindergarten they were ready tolearn andread,”she said.
Tengco said that the dividends of an investment in early childhood education pays off because childrenwho participate inprograms like this are more likely to graduatefrom high school, earn higher income, avoid crime and aremorelikely toown their own home.
“Theredirected funding from ajuvenile detentioncentertoanearly learning cen-
ä See LEARNING, page 2G
Sevenyearsago,afriend asked me, “Do yousay ‘Rabbit rabbit’?” Ihad no ideawhat the question meant.
She went on to explain that some people,Sarah Jessica Parkerspecifically,believe that saying “rabbit rabbit” as the first words of anew month brings good luck.
SJPisnot alone. Pres. Franklin D. Rooseveltalso followed the first-of-the-month-say-rabbitutterancepractice.
In 1935, the British Nottingham Evening Post reported that “Mr Roosevelt, the President of the United States, has confessed to afriend thathesays ‘Rabbits’ on the first of everymonth —and, whatismore, he would notthink of omitting the utterance on any account.”
Eversincemyfriend told me about“rabbit rabbit,” Ihavepaid more attentiontothe first day of the month. And, yes, Itry to say “rabbit rabbit” before Isay anything else
Do Ibelieve it makes me lucky? Idon’t know. Maybe? But then, what could it hurt? Surely,myawareness of the first dayofthe month hasmade me much more mindful of the passage of time.I’ve also turned the tiny ritualoftrying to remember to say“rabbit rabbit” into aminipersonal celebrationofthe new month at hand. It mayfeel like just anothermorning, but it’s “rabbit rabbit” day. With so much adoabout luck, Iwill confess that, in general, it confuses me. Thatisnot the casefor my husband. It doesn’tconfuse him. He doesn’tbelieve in luck.
“If Ibelieve lucky things happentome, thenIhavetobelieve bad-luckthings happentoo,”he said when Iasked. “And Idon’t.” Iaskedhim, giventhat perspective,about the long-ago Sundayafternoon bingo game at ouryoungerdaughter’sschool Pernormal, he hadnoidea what I wastalking about.
Irefreshed his memory.The whole school community —plus grandparents, friends and neighbors —filleda gymnasium to raise money for the school. At least350 people were playing bingo,mostwith multiple cards. There were likely more than a thousand bingo cards in play Whenthatmanypeople play bingo,games don’ttake long.
The incredible part of that day wascenteredabout aninth-grade student named Collin Pooler from Lafayette, who happened to be in my daughter’sclass. He wassitting arow over from us. Overthe course of 10 games, he wonatleastthreegames,maybe four.Hewas playing with one card.
Whenitcame time for the
ä See RISHER, page 2G
LouisianaInspiredhighlightsvolunteer opportunities across south Louisiana.Ifyourorganization has specific volunteeropportunities, pleaseemail us at lainspired @theadvocate.com with details on the volunteer opportunity,organization and the contact/registration information volunteers wouldneed
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NewOrleans
The Idea Village, 638 Camp St., NewOrleans, is anonprofit organization withamission to identify, supportand retain entrepreneurial talent in NewOrleans and thesurrounding region. For volunteer opportunities, visit ideavillage.org
PROVIDED PHOTOSBYBRYAN TARNOWSKI
Early childhood teacherssit withtheir tinystudents to help them eat during mealtime at the West Ascension Early LearningCenter
West Ascension Early Learning Center after Multistudio renovation.
‘Itisa hard job, butit’sanoble calling’
PearsonCross on fosteringunity in Louisiana
BY LAUREN CHERAMIE
Staff writer
Pearson Cross serves as aprofessor and director of the School of Behavioral and SocialSciences at the University of Louisiana at Monroe where he teaches Louisiana and American politics. At ULM, Cross oversees the psychology,criminal justice, political science, social work, gerontology and sociology departments.
His most recent book is“The Party is Over: The New Louisiana Politics” (LSU Press, 2022) with Christie Maloyed. Hehosts abimonthly public affairsradio program on Louisiana politics, Bayou to Beltway,onMonroe’s NPR affiliate station, KEDM90.3 FM.Aprofessionaljazzpiano player who has appeared with the Lafayette and Monroesymphonies, Cross plays regularly at venues throughout northeast Louisiana. He is married with two high school-aged children. What strategies could help improvevoter turnout in Louisiana, especiallyinrural and underserved areas?
Voter turnoutoftentimes has to do withcampaigns.There are lots of other factors, but one of the main factors, in the context of anelection, is acampaign
Is acampaign gripping? Is a campaign actually reaching out and getting voters to come out— and are thosevoters the ones who actually come out?
Every election cycle haschronic voters, thosewho aregoing to always vote in everyelection no matter how big or small. In Louisiana, they probably makeupa hard core of 25-30% of all voters. As theelections increase in visibility,then you’ll start getting
moreand morevoterturnout.
The other factor that complicatesthe issue is that we know that voter turnout depends on other factors likeage,education, affluence, having ajob andconnection to other people. Those are thefactors that are really interesting in terms of voterturnout.
Do youknowofany stepsthatcould be taken to improve public educationoutcomes, particularly in underfunded districts?
Iwish there were easy ways to get at this because there is such anaffluence dividewhen it comes to achievementand education. In fact, the single factorthat tracks most closely with educational attainment or performance on standardized tests or reading scores or any other measure is family affluence.
There are exceptions, but generally speaking, statistically,the more affluent families do better, and thelessaffluentfamilies do worse. That,ofcourse,isincredibly complicated. Obviously,affluencehas todowiththe state economy —which, the extent to which families are struggling, has acorrelation with education.
As far as strictly educational initiatives to improve performance, engagement and early connection is therealkey
We seestudentsstart to fall behind fairly early.Students come to elementary school with deficits already.This is where the typical affluenceissue showsup— a child from an affluent household will come toschool with avocabulary that’salready twice that of astudent from apoor family
Thatadvantageismaintained all the way through school
The waytobreak out of thatcycleistodevote serious resources early on —I’m talking pre-K, kindergarten,grades first through third.Insome cases,that means overcoming gaps thatthe student arrivedwith.
How can the state and the local government collaborate more to addressthose gaps?
It needs to be an all-hands-ondeck approach. There are some public organizations like Kiwanis andRotarythatfocus on education, butthis is an areawhere local government and local organizations should partner to work with and provide resources for students so that they’ll enter schoolready to learn.
Part of this has to do withsupporting teachers. The teaching profession is losing people all thetime. We don’tvalue andsupport teachers the wayweshould,
andthatmeans treating them as professionals,makingsurethat they’re making enough money, givingthem the resources they need as educators and therespect they need as educators.
It is ahard job, but it’sanoble calling.
Given the past political climate in the countryand state, how can Louisiana foster agreater sense of unityand reduce polarization among citizens? It has to be on aperson-by-person basis.
Memes, for example, are very divisive, and they’re intended to have an effect. The social media messages that are intended to put ridicule on the other side or provokeoutrage are, by definition, unproductive for moving our society forward.
So, one of the things that Inever do is share ameme. They’re cheap shots —and it’stoo easy to
get into that cycle of outrage. We see something, we’re outraged, we post about it, we get adopamine hit, and then the cycle continues.
Do you have anyother tips forengaging on social media without getting angry?
When you see asocial media post, the main thing that we notice is that it’snot strangers. It’s people we know.What’shelpful is to actually engage constructively on an issue and find out what’sbehind it.
For example, ask them, “Do you really believethis? Is this what you think is aserious issue? Are you sure about these facts?” Lots of times, I’ll fact check them, and I’ll linktoanarticle that puts issues into perspective.
The other thing is, people have circles, and they tendtobe close to people who believe the same way.Ifthey get input from someonewho doesn’t agree with them, it’ll probably be shocking to them —and it may cause them to reconsider what they’ve said.
Having friends who disagree with you leads to productive conversations with people whowill engage in actual conversation anddialogue.Bothsides should trytofosterthatwheneverpossibleand avoidthe reflex, “This person is so stupid or misguided” reaction.
We all have to do the requisite amount of self-checking to make sure that we’re not the person who’sspreading the false and misleading information.
This Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.Louisiana culture editorJan Risher contributed to this report.
Email Lauren Cheramie at lauren.cheramie@theadvocate. com.
LEARNING
Continued from page1G
ter really signified apriority shift,” said Tengco. “The center symbolizesaninvestment in thenext generationand acommitment to the communities’ youngestmembers The hope is to shape the future leaders of Donaldsonville.”
Newpurpose
Kevin Kelly, owner of the Lemann Building, started developing artist apartment spaces on the upper floors about four years ago. Arceneaux says theparish hasa good partnership with Kelly,and when theyknew he was purchasing and renovating the space, they worked withhim to lease the bottom floor forthe early learning center
Tengco says the Lemann Building isan“adaptivereuse project, whichmeans alot of of (building) codes.”Adaptive reuse architectureisthe processofreusingan existing building for apurpose other than which it was originally builtordesigned for MartinTovrea, principal architect of Multistudio, says the natural light in the building is his
favorite part.Heismostproud of “salvaging the storefront windows from the 1800s building that allows the toddlers to be abletoromp aroundinthe daylight.”
Instead of traditional classrooms,the center’sclassrooms aremultifacetedand designedfor interaction
Multistudio’sdesign philosophy was to createand design spaces to inspire exploration and play.The West Ascension Early Learning Center includes the following design features:
n Classrooms filled withnatural light
n Biophilic design (nature-inspired materials) thatyoungchildren caninteractwith n Awelcominglobbyspace for parents and grandparents to drop off children
n Amulti-functionalcafeteria for eatingand movement space, in case the weather is notgreat
n An outdoor play area.
”I’m so elated to seethe project come tofruition in Donaldsonville,” Tengco said.
Nicholls State
Ascension Parish looked for the right partner to operate the learning center,and Nicholls
wonbecause of itswell-established early childhood education programs.
Mistie Lasseigne, executive director of early childhood initiatives at Nicholls and the director of West AscensionEarly Learning Center,has been in the field of early childhood since her teen years. She has gained multiple degrees along theway,including her doctorate in curriculum and instruction in early childhood.
She oversees thecenter’soperations and works closely with the Ascension Parish government in terms of tracking financesand workingbehind the scenes at the center
“Weare giving the children an opportunity to be exposed to such an environment andgiving parents an opportunity to enter theworkforce or go back to school with atrusted place to send their child,” Lasseigne said.
After six months of being open, the center has hosted acar seat safety class that included freecar seats for families
The West Ascension Early LearningCenteremploys Donaldsonville residents as Nicholls employees with full benefits. Lasseigne says hiring within the communitywas a big priority —her assistant director and lead teachers are from Donald-
sonville.
“Westrongly believe in learning by doing,” Lasseigne said. “Playing and engaging with the kids is where the learning is going to happen.”
The center has 48 children enrolled,and Lasseigne hopes to be at capacity —73students —by the end of December.With23staff members, the center hasatleast two teachers in every classroom.
Lasseignesays that thelevel of support from community leaders from the mayor of Donaldsonville, to the sheriff of Ascension Parish, to Ascension Parish Government, to councilmen, to state representatives —have been instrumental in making this center work.
“Weknow the more hands we have, the better it allows us to give more individualized attention and instruction to our kiddos,” she said.
“Weare also pursuing getting all of our staff trained, going through (Child Development Associate) programs, and possibly tapping into our Nicholls associate program to get ourstaff credentialed as well.”
For more information, visit waelc. org.
Email Joy Holden at joy.holden@ theadvocate.com.
Continued from page1G
announcement of the day’sdoor prizes, guess who won the big prize of the day? That’sright, “Collin Pooler,come on down.”
The whole place was incredulous.
What are the chances? (If previous feedbackon this column is an indication, someone will likely email with the real odds on this incredible feat occurring —atleast for the bingo part of the equation.)
“That’sjust sheer chance. That’snature. That’sthe world,” my husband said when I reminded him of the details of that day Through the student’s mother,Iwas able to track Pooler down to verify the details. At 22 and in LSU’sMBA program, he said that he’s been lucky his whole life.
“Things just usually work out for me,”he said. “I do something stupid and things work out in my favor.My whole life has kind of been like that.”
He has been so lucky that he had basically forgotten about the dayhe won all the bingo games and the big door prize.
“Yeah,” he said, “Thanks for reminding me of that. It was an amazing day.Iguess alot of the early high school stuff has evaporated from my memory.” He does remember constantly going up to the front of the gym to accept the prizes.
“I remember thinking, ‘I don’twant to go up again. I’m going to get jumped after this,’”he said.
Pooler expects to graduate with his master’sin May 2026. He attributeshis luckiness to “just going about life with apositive attitude in general. Whatever happens, it will be good.” In the meantime, “Rabbit, rabbit.”
Email Jan Risher at jan.risher@ theadvocate.com.
PROVIDED PHOTO
Pearson Cross servesasa professor and director of the School of Behavioral and Social Sciences at the University of Louisiana at Monroe where he teaches Louisiana and American politics.
PROVIDED PHOTOBYBRYAN TARNOWSKI
Toddlers investigate a fish at the West Ascension Early Learning Center
Wheelchair basketball team rollsintoN.O.area
TheCajun Wheelers give children a chance to compete
BY RICH COLLINS Staff writer
Wheelchairbasketball has given Brian Marelo achanceto compete.
The 14-year-old Luling resident, who was born with acondition that limits his mobility below the waist, has participated in several adaptive sports programs overthe years,but they mostly emphasized participation versus competition.
For anaturally athletic kid, it was starting to get frustrating “At one point, Iasked my mom, ‘Whydoall the games end ina tie?’”hesaid.
Then Marelo and his family discovered the Cajun Wheelers, Louisiana’sonly team that provides youth athletes with lower limb disabilitiesthe chance to play competitive wheelchair basketball It was love at first practice.
These games didn’tend inties
The action was intense. And,best of all, the tournaments brought together kids from all overthe region with similar experiences and interests.
“Plus it’savery,very fungame in general,” Marelo said More Louisiana kids willbeable to duplicate Marelo’sexperience nowthat the Lafayette-based Cajun Wheelers organization has expanded its activity to Greater New Orleans. The team,which is affiliated with the National Wheelchair Basketball Association, hosted several practices in Jefferson Parish this fall and planstoscheduleone permonth starting in the spring.
Thegoalistohavetwo local programs —one near New Orleans and one nearLafayette soplayerscan practice with their teammates more often.
In December,the Wheelers will compete in atournament in Dallas, followed by an Atlanta event inJanuary
On aroll
The Cajun Wheelers is anon-
profit organization founded in 2020 byAnn Guillotte, who wanted her grandson Eli to have away toplay competitive sports. Two years later, she handedthe reins toShanna Barrow,who previously served as the team’svolunteer coach
The organization runs aprep teamfor kids ages 6to13, anda varsity team for high schoolers. There’satotal of 17 kids playing in the two groupscombined, but Barrow hopes to expand both, andshe’slooking for more girl players, in particular.
The team covers all costsfor kids to participate, including wheelchairs, fuel, tournament fees, hotels and meals. Aroughly $100,000 annual operating budget issupportedbyfundraisers and a grant fromthe CraigH.Neilsen Foundation,which is committed to improving the lives of individuals living with spinal cord injuries.
To be eligible to compete in the NWBA youth league, all players must have apermanent lower limb disability. Many of thekidsonthe team
including Marelo —havespina bifida. Others have spinal cord injuries, cerebral palsyoranamputation. Notably,players do not need to usewheelchairsintheir daily life to play,which canbe confusing for families.
“Parents hesitate to put their kids in chairs, because theythink it’ssettingthemback,” Barrow said. “But as soon as they try it,
theydon’tleave.”
Rulesofthe game
Wheelchairbasketballdates back to the 1940s, whenitwas created as away for World War II veterans to compete. Nowit’s estimated that morethan 100,000 people play the sport worldwide.
The rules of the game are similar to running basketball. Each
team is trying to score points by shooting the ball through the opposing team’sbasket. The height of the basket, distance to the foul line andthe three-pointlineare allthe same.But modifications have been made.
There are afew different ways to dribble in awheelchair,and playerscan’tpush their wheels more than twice if they aren’t dribbling. There also are rules to manage fouls.
“They can’tbeplaying bumper cars in their chairs,” Barrow said.
Stopping can be achallenge, Marelo said.
“I have to have the ball and also grab both wheels at the same time,” he said. “So there’ll be times where Ihave to stop very quickly and I’ll put my chin on the ball and I’ll have my hands on the wheels to stop everything at once.”
Marelo said the sport is more exciting than people might think, especially at the varsity level.
“The majority of the game is crashing into another chair,but without getting fouls,” he said. “It’sa lot of strategy.Essentially, what you want to do is you want to turn the chair to where the side of it is pointed towards the opposing teammate. So whenever they crash into your side, that’snot a foul.”
Roll …Tide?
The Cajun Wheelers paid for ahalfdozen playerstoattenda summer wheelchair basketball camp at the University of Alabama, which has arobust adaptive sports program. The Louisiana-based Marelo family —including Brian senior and sister Madison— hadtheir reservations about doing anything in Tuscaloosa.
“Thefirstyearweattended, Itold Brian, ‘Don’tever tell anyone that your mom paid for this, andwe’re burning the uniform before we come home,’ said Gwenn Marelo, who grew up in Metairie, attended ULL androotsfor LSUfootball. “But now we’ve had to learn how to say ‘Roll Tide’ in our house in Louisiana.
STAFF PHOTOSBYSOPHIA GERMER
WoodyWilson, 15, throwsthe ball to ateammate during the Cajun Wheelers practice recentlyatMuss Bertolino Gym in Kenner
Bentlie Truelove,14, and AndrewSchlumbrecht, 10, shoot abasketball
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