The Southeast Advocate 04-23-2015

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The Advocate n theadvocate.com n Thursday, April 23, 2015 n 1G

EPISCOPAL SENIORS PRESENT PROJECTS AT NEW ORLEANS POP-CULTURE FORUM ä 4G

THE SOUTHEAST

ADVOCATE

COURSEY • HARRELLS FERRY • MILLERVILLE • OLD JEFFERSON • PARKVIEW • SHENANDOAH • TIGER BEND • WHITE OAK THEADVOCATE.COM

Darlene Denstorff AROUND THE SOUTHEAST

DDENSTORFF@ THEADVOCATE.COM

Stars align for Astronomy Day Spend an evening among the stars Saturday as Highland Road Park Observatory, 13800 Highland Road, holds at its ninth annual International Astronomy Day celebration. The event is from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. One day every year, astronomy clubs, observatories and other groups of sky lovers band together to discuss the wonders and excitement of astronomy. Officially, Astronomy Day is celebrated “to promote the forerunner of all scientific endeavors and to provide information, resources and encouragement in all facets of astronomy,� but showing that astronomy is fun is really what it’s all about, a news release from BREC said. The observatory’s International Astronomy Day celebration invites guest to explore a range of activities, including Scope-on-a-Rope, homemade comets, a renaissance sundial, radio telescope demonstrations, a sky tour at dusk and a slide and bounce house. Exhibitors will include the Baton Rouge Gem and Mineral Society, the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport, the Baton Rouge Zoo, the Bluebonnet Swamp Nature Center and LIGO. The Baton Rouge Amateur Radio Club also will teach patrons to send their name using Morse code; Episcopal High’s KnightVision Team will present the robot it entered in this year’s U.S. First Robotics Competition; and St. Joseph’s Academy will demonstrate 3-D printing. The event is free and features raffles, food and games for all ages. For information, visit hrpo.lsu.edu/programs/ astronomy_day.html or call the observatory at (225) 7689948.

Get your hats ready

The Hat Run starts at 7 a.m. Saturday at Pennington Biomedical Research Center. The event, which features a 1-mile fun run and walk, and a 5K run and walk, proäSee SOUTHEAST, page 4G

Teacher’s struggle in math exemplifies style, expectations BY C. J. FUTCH

cfutch@theadvocate.com Michelle Perk doesn’t think much about balancing work and family life, because every student she’s ever taught is like family to her. “Each class becomes family,� said the Southeast Middle School Teacher of the Year, East Baton Rouge Parish Middle School Teach of the Year and Regional Semifinalist for State Teacher of the Year on April 17, pausing to speak to some students in her room studying. She’s close to all of them on some level and takes the time to get to know each student, she said. Some students talk about their family problems, life problems or any problem in general in class, and others talk about nothing but math — Perk teaches math to stu-

dents at Southeast who struggle with the subject, and many of her students are in her room during breaks for extra tutoring. “I love it! I love what I do, because I know what it’s like to struggle with math,� she said. In fact, math was the one subject she failed in college. “Twice,� she laughed. Now she teaches math, including geometry and algebra to her eighth-graders. “I couldn’t teach something that came easily to me,� she said. “I couldn’t tell you how it worked. I’ve never had to think about it. Math, I had to break down into steps. I had to really work at it.� She got her degree in sociology from LSU and was prepared to go to law school when she discovered she was pregnant with her daughter, Annabella, now 7. She moved back to Baton Rouge

Kids learn science behind clean water BY C.J. FUTCH

cfutch@theadvocate.com

Photo submitted by MICHELLE PERK

East Baton Rouge Parish Middle School Teacher of the Year Michelle Perk, left, poses with her daughter, Annabella, 7, her inspiration for becoming a teacher, at a äSee TEACHER, page 2G ceremony to honor teachers of the year.

TRAINING DAYS

LEFT: Officials cut the ribbon Saturday at St. George Fire Department’s new administration and training complex on Airline Highway. ABOVE: Fireman Frank Dellucky watches as Mason Dellucky crashes his vehicle while using a driving simulator. Advocate staff photos by JOHN OUBRE

Children participating in the Louisiana Art & Science Museum’s Engineer It program on Saturday spent the afternoon learning about the water they use every day to stay hydrated, clean and fed. In Engineer It: Water Works, a team of engineers from MWH Global’s Baton Rouge office took turns answering questions about both our local water supply and water supplies in general. Engineer It is part of a series of lessons presented by members of Baton Rouge’s local engineering community at the museum on the third Saturday of the month, said Sheree Westerhaus, planetarium educator. Last month’s program was on bridge building, she said, and LASM is in the process of coming up with more ways to expose area students to engineering, in itself a combination of art and science. The design process for artists is very similar to the problemsolving process used by engineers, said Douglas Kennedy, communications coordinator for the museum. Students learned, when presented with brown water from the Mississippi River just outside the museum’s doors, how the water they drink goes from dirty to clean. “Now, we don’t get our water from the Mississippi River,â€? Thomas said, “but the city of New Orleans does.â€? The students mixed in some potting soil to represent the silt and sediment that would normally be in water drawn directly from natural sources, then learned how municipalities go about cleaning the water up for residents. Jeff Duplantis, Sparkle Noble, Theresa Kelly-Brown and James Thomas, of MWH, led the students, ages 6 to 12, through the process of building their own water filtration system with recycled 2-liter bottles, sand and rocks. Jesse Noble, 8, paired up with Cale Carlisle, 7, at one end of their makeshift laboratory table while Cross Carlisle, 10, and Sadie Noble, 12, were at the other. Each station had coffee filters and the 2-liter bottle, cut in half. Following instructions from the engineers, the students put the coffee filter around the neck of the bottle, secured it with a rubber band, and inverted it into the bottom half of the bottle, which would be used to catch the filtered water. Students then added layers of sand and different-sized äSee WATER, page 4G

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