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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16 THURSDAY 16, 2012
EDEN PRAIRIE
$1
news Will the EdVenture continue?
‘Together with the people of Mkyashi’ EPHS graduate raises funds to build an eco-lodge in Tanzania BY MEG O’CONNOR
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School Board to discuss before- and after-school program’s future
n the village of Mkyashi, about a mile up Mount Kilimanjaro, the average resident makes less than $2 a day, approximately 15 percent of the population is dealing with HIV/AIDS, and many children don’t have the means to go to school. Allison Crocker, an Eden Prairie High School graduate, has founded a group to help the village of Mkyashi.
She and her boyfriend, Sam Barns, started an organization in Tanzania called “Tuko Pamoja Mkyashi,” meaning, “We are together with the people of Mkyashi.” The hope of this project is to make the village of Mkyashi “prosperous, self-sustaining and empowered,” said Crocker. After graduating from Eden Prairie High School in 2007, Crocker started classes at Rollins College in Winter Park, Fla. In the summer of 2010 Barns and Crocker volunteered at an organization called “Orphans in Kilimanjaro,” on Mount Kilimanjaro. They helped children improve upon their English and math skills, as well as other projects throughout the village. “We wanted to do something different and meaningful for the summer before our senior years,” said Crocker. Barns and Crocker will be graduating from Rollins with their MBA’s in April of this year. The work that was done with “Orphans of Kilimanjaro” jumpstarted Crocker’s philanthropic mission, which led to the proposal of the organization “Tuko Pamoja Mkyashi.” “Tuko Pamoja Mkyashi will be an eco-lodge in Mkyashi Village on Mount Kilimanjaro catering to international, educated and adventurous tourists seeking a greater meaning from their experience in Tanzania,” said Crocker. With the building of this eco-lodge there will be employment and other professional development opportunities for the people of Mkyashi. The lodge will serve as a sustainable source of income and resources for the people of the village to someday start their own projects. “I believe that the people in Tanzania have all the motivation they need to succeed, they just don’t have
Tanzania to page 10 ®
BY KARLA WENNERSTROM editor@edenprairienews.com
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Eden Prairie graduate Allison Crocker is pictured in Tanzania, where she is working to raise money for a project to benefit the village of Mkyashi. The children pictured are on their way home from school and wearing their school uniforms.
School Board to page 10 ®
EP Police arrest alleged serial burglar BY KARLA WENNERSTROM editor@edenprairienews.com
Splendid table Arboretum furniture by renowned craftsman
Eden Prairie Police arrested alleged serial burglar Stewart Eugene Pesheck, 43, of Richfield last week. Pesheck was charged Feb. 8 with second-degree felony burglary and is in custody in Hennepin County jail. On Feb. 6, while out on bail and while under surveillance, Pesheck drove up to a home on Antlers Ridge in Eden Prairie. According to the Hennepin County District Court complaint, he left his vehicle in the driveway, entered the home, opened the garage door from inside, drove his vehicle in, then drove away. When officers checked the home, they found that a door had been
Burglary to page 10 ®
Kids EdVenture, the before- and after-school program introduced in the Eden Prairie School District this year, has “achieved very positive outcomes,” according to a report presented to the Eden Prairie School Board Tuesday. The School Board is expected to make a decision at its Feb. 28 meeting on whether to continue the Kids EdVenture pilot program for another year. The program replaced YMCA programming at Oak Point Elementary and Eagle Heights Spanish Immersion. Eden Prairie Community Education Interim Director Terri Johnson gave a presentation on the pilot program at the board’s Feb. 14 meeting. “I think both sides should be given equal time,” Eden Prairie resident Brad Weber told the board before its meeting. He said that representatives of the YMCA should also be able to discuss their program. Weber said his children have attended the Y program at Eden Lake and the Kids EdVenture program at Oak Point. He said in his opinion, the Y program has the edge. “You don’t change something just because it’s neat,” Weber said. “There’s got to be some concrete evidence or reasons to do so.” School Board Member Karla Bratrud said that’s a main question the board is hearing as well, “Why was the pilot started?” According to Johnson’s presentation, Community Education
BY MARK W. OLSON editor@chaskaherald.com
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE CITY OF EDEN PRAIRIE
A climate-controlled room at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum holds thousands of rare books documenting a half-millennia of natural history. However, Andersen Horticultural Library visitors might find themselves sitting on, rather than reading, an invaluable object. In the early 1970s, the late Gov. Elmer Andersen and his wife, Eleanor, filled the then-new library with commissions by master craftsman George Nakashima – tables, shelves, magazine racks, display cabinets and even a
Recovered items from multiple burglaries were photographed in the Eden Prairie Police Department.
Nakashima to page 10 ®
INSIDE OPINION/4 OBITUARIES/5 SPORTS/8-9 CALENDAR/14 CLASSIFIEDS/19-21 LIVING IN EP/22 TO REACH US SUBSCRIBE: (952) 345-6682 EDITOR: (952) 942-7885 OR EMAIL EDITOR@EDENPRAIRIENEWS.COM.
PHOTO BY MARK W. OLSON
Master craftsman George Nakashima highlights the grains of the wood.
VOL. 38, ISSUE 15/7 © SOUTHWEST NEWSPAPERS
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