The Mid City Advocate 04-02-2015

Page 1

LSU GRAD STUDENTS OFFER LESSONS ON NANOTECHNOLOGY, PAGE 4G

ADVOCATE THE MID CITY

1G

GARDEN DISTRICT • SOUTHDOWNS • GOODWOOD • TARA • SPANISH TOWN • CAPITOL HEIGHTS • LSU LAKES THEADVOCATE.COM

Darlene Denstorff AROUND MID CITY

DDENSTORFF@ THEADVOCATE.COM

It’s splash time at BREC

From left, Dudley BrianSmith and Jan Smith, of Smithfield Fair, play for patrons at FestForAll in downtown Baton Rouge on Saturday.

FUN at the FEST

BREC opened its park splash pads at City-Brooks, Forest and Greenwood community parks Wednesday for the 2015 season. Each location will operate splash pads daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. through October. City-Brooks Community Park’s splash pad can be activated with a green push button on the three-foot brown pole next to the spray feature area at the edge of the brick near the landscaping. Forest Community Park’s splash pad can be activated with a green push button on the three-foot light blue pole located in the splash pad spray area. Greenwood Community Park’s splash pad can be activated with a green push button on the two three-foot yellow poles located in the splash pad spray area. At each park, the button will engage the systems’ spray features and run for approximately two to three minutes

YMCA splash pad

The Baranco-Clark YMCA’s Community Zumba Party and Splash Pad Opening is set for 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. April 11 at the facility, 1735 Thomas H. Delpit Drive. It’s opening day for the YMCA’s newly constructed splash pad. The Zumba party will feature multiple instructors to keep your family having fun while getting fit for the day.

Program training

The A.C. Lewis YMCA is hosting “Darkness to Light Child Abuse Prevention� training at noon April 22 at its facility on 350 S. Foster Drive. The program will provide information to help educate adults on how to prevent, recognize and react responsibly to child sexual abuse. Call (225) 924-3606.

5K walk registration

Registration is underway for the Crisis Intervention Center’s fifth annual Circle of Support 5K and Memorial Mile Walk set for April 18. The event raises funds and awareness of the free crisis intervention and traumatic loss services provided äSee AROUND, page 4G

Advocate staff photos by BILL FEIG

FestForAll patrons stroll the booths looking for treasures through downtown Baton Rouge. Krystalina Erschen makes a funnel cake at the Tres Flores Funnel Cake booth. Erschen is the third generation of her family to participate in the business, working with her parents. They have been in business 25 years.

Music lovers listen to Justin Garner singing at FestForAll on Saturday.

THURSDAY APRIL 2, 2015 H

Spotting signs at Fest for Life BY C.J. FUTCH

cfutch@theadvocate.com Chiquita McKinley has a history of breast cancer on both sides of her family, she said, so she was always careful about self breast exams. When she found a lump in 2012, she “was very emotional at first.â€? “I sat down, and I let myself have one good cry, and then I embraced everything (about the treatment process).â€? She researched her options and asked so many questions that everyone in the hospital, from the nurses and doctors to the billing clerks in the business office, knew her by her first name. After rounds of chemotherapy, radiation and surgery FEST FOR to remove LIFE FACTS t h e l u m p , Since 2008: she’s been 3,000 free cancer-free for almost cancer three years screenings n o w, s h e provided said, and she 250 abnormal made one fi- findings nal decision as part of detected her personal 10 cancers healing jour- diagnosed ney. “I’m going to talk about it,â€? she said. With her friends, with her cousins, with her sisters, with anyone who will listen. She’ll talk about cancer to the public from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 11 at Fest for Life, an outdoor festival at the Bon CarrĂŠ Business Center that just happens to include free screenings for several types of cancer, along with heart disease and stroke risk assessments, said Johnnay Benjamin, director of early detection and education at Mary Bird Perkins-Our Lady of the Lake Cancer Center. There’s a disparity in both detection and treatment outäSee FEST FOR LIFE, page 3G

GeoJourney immerses students in foreign culture BY C.J. FUTCH

cfutch@theadvocate.com Amara Chike stood over classmate after classmate March 25 at Baton Rouge Magnet High School, painting the Nigerian flag on their faces while she explained the role of kola nuts in Nigerian society. Chike wore a delicate, all-white woven dress with a dramatic white headpiece — traditional formal dress in Nigeria, the country she’s been researching all year as part of GeoJourney 2015. And she’s not alone. Every freshman in Kim Denson’s freshman geography classes must spend the semester doing an in-depth analysis of one country, either of their

Chisom Osiagwu, a junior at Baton Rouge Magnet and a native of Nigeria, sits at the Nigeria booth at GeoJourney 2015 while Amara Chike paints a Nigerian flag on his cheek.

choosing or assigned to them. In addition to a series of research papers on different aspects of their country’s society, landscape, culture and economy, students are required to participate in the GeoJourney Festival, in which students create a display and present information about their country to the students, faculty and parents who stop in. “They need to be able to answer questions about the country,� Denson said, adding that each student leaves the project with a much greater understanding of the world around them, and that’s increasingly important as technology makes the world a

!XzP !eLC`œ 2Wem !eLC`ÂœĂ‹ =eup $PXVWKepWeeN 2umPpbCp_Ptœ = tœœ

äSee GEOJOURNEY, page 2G

Advocate photo by C.J. FUTCH


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.