2012 ExcEllEncE in Education awardEEs
Jason Brown EarnEstinE carr lachrisa crEnshaw
duanE M. fostEr
dorEtta a. walkEr andrEa n. haYEs
larhonda l. wilson JaquElinE storMan turnagE Monsanto school of ExcEllEncE coluMBia ElEMEntarY, slPs 2012 lifEtiME
sEMo counsElors of thE YEar
kYnEdra ogunnaikE karEn VErstraEtE
arlY childhood Education award
Our community must place education at the peak of its priority list when it comes to supporting children and youth in our region.
If we are serious about education, we can change the course for many of our students at the beginning of their educational endeavors and intercept the path of others who may not have received the foundation of support that every child needs in order to be successful.
If we are serious about education, each of us will make a commitment today to identify a single child, school or program for which we will engage our personal intellect as a tutor, mentor, reading partner or homework helper.
The United Way of Greater St. Louis is joining the St. Louis Cares Mentoring Movement and the St. Louis American Foundation to build a partnership with local organizations that have a national presence to assist with the recruitment and training of individuals who heed the call to serve our youth as mentors, tutors, reading partners and homework helpers. This collaboration, called the Education Express, will help recruit mentors for organizations and several schools throughout the metropolitan community,
Donald M.Suggs President
St.Louis
American Foundation
in order to help strengthen the academic success of our students.
We can help our dedicated educators change the course for many of our students at the beginning of their educational endeavors and help intercept the path of others who may not have received the foundation of support that every child needs in order to be successful. Each of us can make a personal commitment today to identify a single child, school or program for which we will engage our personal intellect as a tutor, mentor, reading partner or homework helper.
It is estimated that there are nearly 100,000 youth in Eastern Missouri who
could benefit by having a caring adult in their life, who would focus on support that enhances academic success. When we note statistics that tell us that 98 percent of youth that are matched with mentors stay in school or that 97 percent of teens that are matched with a mentor avoid pregnancy or that 85 percent of the youth who have these caring adults in their lives do not do drugs…How can we not willingly serve in this capacity?
We acknowledge that the path to solving attendance issues, improving student academic achievement and graduating students from high school is hard work and that we may encounter bumps along the way. We cannot afford to give up on our youth or expect that someone else will solve one of the most challenging issues facing our community. However, we must envision the ultimate destination. It is comprised of a child or young adult who values education and utilizes it to master all of the possibilities that yield success.
Serving as a mentor helps our youth and builds an entire community. We owe them. They need us.
We hope you will get on board!
General Co-Chairs:
Vanessa Foster-Cooksey
Hon. Michael McMillan
Dinner Committee Co-Chairs:
Anisha Morrell
Michael B. Kennedy
Honorary Chairpersons:
Richard Banks
James H. Buford
Maxine Clark
Steven Cousins
William Danforth
Dr. Myrtle E.B. Dorsey
Hon. Charlie Dooley
Johnny Furr
Dr. Henry Givens Jr.
Hon. Darlene Green
Richard Mark
Michael Middleton
Kathleen T. Osborn
Peter G. Sortino
Henry S. Webber
Donna Wilkinson
Dinner Committee:
Dr. Kelvin Adams
Malik Ahmed
Judy Armstrong
Anita Banks
Gerald S. Brooks
Yvette Butler
Nina Caldwell
Flint Fowler
June Fowler
Sherman George
Thomas F. George
Laurna Godwin
Gabe Gore
Richard Gray
Becky James-Hatter
Eleanor Higgins
Michael Holmes
Dr. Charlene L. Jones
Darryl Jones
Mike Jones
Dr. William Jones
Roger Macon
Sal Martinez
Diane Miller
Deborah Patterson
Cheryl D. Polk
Joshua Randall
Dana Grace Randolph
Paul Randolph
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By Sandra Jordan Of The American
Until this school year, Jason Brown was the director of Fine Arts at Riverview Gardens School District. He now works for Niles Township School District 219 in Skokie, Illinois outside of Chicago as curriculum director of Fine Arts.
“We know that exposure is one of the biggest things that students in our community lack,” Brown said. “My goal was to expose students to the entire fine arts – art, music, drama, dance – and we brought all of those facets of art into the district, which didn’t exist for probably the past six years.”
His mentor, Ron Carter – former band director at East St. Louis Lincoln High School who is now the director of jazz studies at Northern Illinois University –recommended Carter to the new district. It is a 2010 top-10 school with a more diverse and international student population and higher academic achievement data than Riverview Gardens.
Before he left St. Louis, Brown spent six years at Riverview Gardens, the first four as a principal at Lewis and Clark Elementary School.
The new Superintendent Clive Coleman noticed Brown’s extensive background with the arts “and knew that we had a great need for somebody to rebuild our Fine Arts Department because it had hit rock bottom,” Brown said. He was appointed as the director of Fine Arts a few days later.
“I was faced with rebuilding the entire K-12 Fine Arts Department and was faced with many challenges, because the
resources had totally been depleted,” Brown said.
And he didn’t have a budget. The district’s budget had already been established for the school year. Brown assessed the situation and wrote a fiveyear plan with targeted goals. He revitalized the program through an infusion of grants, new and rekindled collaborations and community support.
Brown said, “I had to be creative to try to find was to solicit funds and build partnerships with external groups,” such as the Arts & Education Council, the
Holland’s Opus Music Foundation and VH1’s Save the Music Foundation –“which gave the district $30,000 to purchase new instruments.
He reestablished the partnership with E. Desmond Lee Fine Arts Education Collaborative in the St. Louis area and became a member of its advisory board.
“Through that, I had a chance to connect with other arts organizations, such as the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Jazz St. Louis, the Sheldon Concert Hall,” he said.
Through Jazz St. Louis, professional musicians came in to work with high school students, including Carter, his mentor.
Through the Scottish Rite Partnership and E. Desmond Lee, the district garnered a week-long artist in-residence. Working with the Sheldon, more than a thousand students received bus transportation and tickets to attend performances.
“My goal was ultimately to expose students at Riverview Gardens to the same artistic experiences as students across the metropolitan area are having,” he said.
See BROWN, page 6
continued from page 5
There are academic benefits.
“All the research shows that students who excel in a quality fine arts program score higher on standardized tests than students who are not involved in fine arts programs,” Brown said.
He said schools get a bad name because they are not able to pass the MAPtest – especially urban schools where it is predominantly AfricanAmerican.
“Districts like Riverview Gardens are continued to be pressured by the state on student performance and that test seems to guide everything, ” Brown said.
“We know that academic achievement is very important, but we are not really interested in dealing with some of the main problems that contribute to children not achieving at the highest level – and it goes back to the home.”
Brown said he is proud that he had an opportunity to be raised in East St. Louis, where he received a rich fine arts experience at Lincoln High School.
“It was because of those rich experiences that I received in District 189 that I wanted to go on and share those experiences with students – especially students
“My goal was to expose students at Riverview Gardens to the same artistic experiences students across the metropolitan area are having.”
– Jason Brown
who were like me,” Brown said.
And he had a chance to do that, serving as band director at East St. Louis High School; in St. Louis Public Schools as a director of music, choir and band; and as a leader in fine arts in RGSD.
“There is always going to be a great need to support fine arts education in those kinds of communities,” he said, “and I am grateful that I had the opportunity to change students’lives and expose them to some of the similar rich experiences that I’ve had.”
Brown is pursuing an educational doctorate degree at Lindenwood University. He earned his Master of Arts in Educational Leadership at Saint Louis University and a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary and Secondary Music Education from Eastern Illinois University.
By Sandra Jordan
Of The St.Louis American
For 35 years, Earnestine Carr has been teaching children with learning disabilities and behavioral disorders. At Gateway Middle School, she teaches students with autism, encouraging her pupils to reach their learning potential in math and social sciences.
Carr said she always knew she wanted to work with children. It was when she was a school girl that she decided on her particular vocation.
“It was early on – I would say it was the sixth grade. I felt that at that point, if I was going to be an educator, I wanted to really work with children that really, really needed me,” she explained.
“The general ed. population didn’t need me, but I just thought my career would be more rewarding to me and to the children if it were something dealing with special ed.”
All students have different ways of learning. From the Individualized
Earnestine Carr teaches students with autism at Gateway Middle School
“If I was going to be an educator, I wanted to really work with children that really, really needed me.”
– Earnestine Carr
For example, a student was struggling with identifying numbers on the number line, although he could count up to 20. He could master up to number 5 – and then it went downhill. Homework review and even working with a teacher’s aide didn’t seem to help.
“One day when I was working with another kid, he just sat there, and he watched me, and I would tell him, ‘Go work on yours; I need to work with Johnny at this time,’” Carr recalled.
“And he sat there and watched me work with the other kid. He just watching me really go through the process and work with this other kid. The next day he came in and he went up to 10, and I almost hit the ceiling!”
See CARR, page 11
continued from page 9
She said it goes to show you that children, as well as adults, are sometimes visual learners.
“For him to actually see me work handson with this other kid, it was like everything just popped into place,” she said.
“We still haven’t mastered up to 20, but to get him past that 5 let me know that sometimes, to just let them sit and watch you work with other kids – they pick up on things.”
and rewards.
“Alot of times, it’s the little bittiest things – it just gives me joy,” Carr said. “With autistic kids, you never know what to expect – the little bittiest things that we take for granted – it’s big things for them and it’s just amazing. I love it.”
“With autistic kids, you never know what to expect – the little bittiest things that we take for granted – it’s big things for them and it’s just amazing.I love it.”
– Earnestine Carr
She said it is very rewarding to see students accomplish things they’ve tried so hard to achieve. And each day is different. What is known and mastered one day may not be there the next.
Teaching students who have special needs presents extra challenges
Over the years, Carr has also worked as a special education teacher at Fanning and Grant middle schools and at Oak Hill School, all in St. Louis.
Carr is a St. Louis native and graduated from Soldan High School.
She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Education from Harris Teachers College (now Harris Stowe State University) and an Associates degree in Liberal Arts from Forest Park Community College in St. Louis.
She is married to Herbert Carr and has two sons, Bruce Randle and Dwayne Randle.
By Sandra Jordan
Of The St.Louis American
When you think of education, test scores may come to mind. Or physical buildings, equipment, school supplies. Or people – teachers and students. But it’s the underlying factors affecting a child’s education that LaChrisa Crenshaw works to resolve.
As dean of Student Support Services at KIPP Inspire Academy, Crenshaw focuses on issues stemming from situations outside of the classroom, particularly for children of poverty and disadvantaged circumstances.
their baggage in their backpacks that they have to unpack and still go through and thrive in the classroom.”
She came to KIPPtwo years ago as a social worker to create a community school model, which is about meeting those basic needs for students.
“The community school model is about trying to really – when you look at Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs – that you’re really meeting basic needs,” she said. “The social and security needs of the kids come first so you will be able to solicit their support and get them to be more productive in the classroom.”
“Counseling services over the past couple of years – we’ve had a lot of major things happen to students.”
– LaChrisa Crenshaw
“We want them to be excelling academically, but they don’t always have their social, emotional or physical needs met before it can get to that point,” Crenshaw said.
“They are not looking at all the underlying reasons that kids bring to school –
Whether it is food, eyeglasses or emotional needs, finding service providers and community partners to take care of basic necessities help displace those worries for children.
“Also, counseling services over the past couple of years – we’ve had a lot of major things happen to students,” she said.
Stress and other health issues can exacerbate the 10-hour school day at KIPP, where learning is year-round for
See CRENSHAW, page 14
LaChrisa Crenshaw,dean of Student Support Services for KIPP Inspire Academy, is one of the St. Louis American Foundation’s eight 2012 Excellence in Education awardees.
continued from page 13
grades five through eight.
“From 7:10 in the morning till 5:15 in the evening; that gives them a long bus ride home, and then a hour’s worth of homework – you have to have some services on board to help students be able to tackle a full day like that,” Crenshaw said.
Student support services at KIPP also encompasses high school placement.
“Once you get your students on level and they are ready to grow and do great, you want to get them placed in high schools that help keep challenging them and be on that competitive edge to get into their colleges,” Crenshaw said.
Though the mentoring program at KIPP, Crenshaw said she reminds students that “giving back” is important.
“Academics is key – but being great people is key too,” Crenshaw said.
“And be the kind of people that reach back and help others. You can achieve, but it doesn’t take anything from you to help someone else – it actually adds more to you.”
Crenshaw co-oversees a Parent University (along with a parent liaison) to build parent involvement and provide tools they need to help with their child’s growth and development. For example, physicians will teach medical issues, like obesity, or bank representatives will
“The social and security needs of the kids come first so you will be able to get them to be more productive in the classroom.”
– LaChrisa Crenshaw
talk about being money smart. Parent-U has also brought in professionals to talk to parents about what to expect during puberty.
“We had Planned Parenthood come in and talk about their children’s body changes and their new interest in the opposite sex,” she said. “Anything that can help empower a parent.”
Previously, Crenshaw was a social worker in the Wellston Public School District and a treatment coordinator for the Hopewell Center. She also ran a K-12 afterschool program that served students from SLPS and charter schools.
Crenshaw is a St. Louis native who graduated from University City High School. She earned a Master’s in Social Work from Saint Louis University and a Bachelor’s in Social Work from the University of Missouri – St. Louis.
She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.
Her son, Ryan Stokes is in his third year of medical school in Kansas City and she attends St. Paul AME Church.
By Sandra Jordan
Of The St.Louis American
Transforming a storage area into a vibrant venue for performance at Normandy Middle School took more than a creative mind – it took leadership and vision to turn hopes, dreams and aspirations of urban students into dance, song and drama.
Duane M. Foster was the perfect choice to get it done.
ABroadway performing artist with roles in “Ragtime,” “Porgy and Bess,” “AHouse of Flowers” and “Purlie,” Foster made what he thought was a temporary move back to St. Louis.
“I came back in 2006 not to teach, I came home to take a break,” Foster said. He had been a full-time performer on the production “Ragtime.” After the show closed, it was time to re-group.
“I was doing a lot of gigs that were seven weeks here, 12 weeks there –it wasn’t consistent enough for me and I didn’t feel like I was making any type of impact on anything,” Foster said. “So I had a meltdown and came home.
Neither his “meltdown” nor his break time lasted very long. Within two days, one of his mentors presented him with a challenge that took him in a different
direction.
“I received a call from my mentor [Jeffrey Rone], who helped me get off to college, saying they needed at teacher at the middle school,” Foster said.
“The phone call led me to the middle school to be a sub initially, but after they saw my credentials and saw I had the academic requirements, they were like, ‘Why don’t you stay for a while and see how you like it?’”
Foster completed the school year and went back to New York the next summer.
That didn’t last long either.
“The second day into the school year, the principal called and asked me if I would come back and basically create a theatre program in the middle school,” Foster said. “I thought about it for a week and came home, and I’ve been here ever since.”
Initially it was hard, Foster said, but it’s easy now.
“My life was in New York – my apartment – other job opportunities came up that I had to turn down, but the
growth that I saw in the Theatre Department made up my mind.”
Parents helped him clean and clear off the stage and Foster put together the “Soul Shack Café” in the place where old desks, books and equipment were once stashed. Students impersonated Motown groups with song and dance, and it was a hit.
“That was really, really wonderful for three years, then the choir teacher from the high school retired,” Foster said.
Foster now serves as the fine arts chairperson and choir, drama, and dance director at Normandy High School. He directs the Normandy Chorale and is the founding director of the Normandy After School Dance Academy.
“They see that they have goals and my whole lesson always starts with the finished product,” he said.
“We look at what we want to look like before we start any song, any dance, any play or musical – we see the final picture and we work backwards. Success is tangible for them. They’ve tasted success, so they try to get success in other avenues of their lives.”
Success through fine arts is vital for students who may come to school with
See FOSTER, page 18
continued from page 17
issues, he said.
“Whether it’s peaceful – it could be something monetary, but it’s something that gives you validation and gives you a purpose.”
That validation may be making its way into other classrooms as well. Foster said he received lots of comments about his dance students in particular.
“When they come in the classroom, it seems like they are really engaged and ask very important questions and they want things to be right,” he said. “For the first time this past semester, I really tracked my students in a very detailed manner attendance-wise as well as academics, and over 80 percent of the kids had perfect attendance.”
To improve academics, Foster started a recording studio program “for my boys who like to be boys and come to school when they want to come to school and do what they want to do when they get there.”
“The incentive was you maintain a 2.0 [GPA] in every class and you come to class every day and you could use the recording studio,” Foster said.
“I ended the year with eight boys in the program who at the end of the year I
know for a fact they would have either ended up at (the Positive Alternative Learning school) or would have been home.”
Those eight students from last year are now leaders of the program this year.
“Hopefully, I can pull in some more young men,” Foster said.
Foster is an alumni of Morehouse College in Atlanta where he majored in vocal music and is a member of the Phi Mu Alpha music fraternity. It was his other mentor, Dwayne Buggs, a longtime Normandy educator, who steered him to Morehouse.
“He got the application for Morehouse and basically made me fill it out,” Foster said. “It’s a full circle moment as I’ve been able to send two of my students to Morehouse.”
Foster received his dance training and certification from the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center. His After School Academy hosted the Houston Ballet and Alvin Ailey in residencies two years ago.
Last year, Foster received the Yale Distinguished Music Educator Award, which is given to only 50 public school music educators across the country.
“I could not have done any of this or sustained any of this without my mother,” he said. “Clarsteen Foster – in moments when I felt like going back to New York, she was like, ‘Those kids –it’s not about you.’”
By Malena Amusa
For
The St.Louis American
“Who says you can’t accomplish what you want to do?” Andrea N. Hayes implored her language arts students the first week of class at Hazelwood Southeast Middle School. “Here are your map scores,” she told the 7th graders. “Now what are you going to do to change them?”
Hayes then played a clip of Olympic gold medalist Gabrielle Douglas talking about overcoming the separation of her parents and a slew of personal doubts to become the world’s top gymnast. Later, her students set their own goals and strategies for achieving them.
“I tell my students the first week, ‘I have high expectations and I’m not lowering them,’” says Hayes, who won her school’s Teacher of the Year award this year. “I’ll help you get there but I’m not lowering my expectations at all. I mean business.”
At 38, Hayes is beacon of inspiration for students and peers who say her sheer energy is contagious. But what has led to her acclaim is nothing short of triumphing despite the odds.
Aformer professional dancer, cancer
survivor and lettered master of teaching, Hayes is an ace at keeping her expectations high no matter what.
“She is a mentor, friend and role model,” says Alexandria Seay, a former member of the dance team Hayes coached after school from 2006 to June 2008. “After overcoming cancer, she truly lights up a room when she enters.”
Anative of Hazelwood, Hayes grew up determined to be a professional dancer.
After nabbing performances for The Muny at age 8 and dancing for the St. Louis Steamers soccer team from age 9 through 11, she set her sights on Broadway. Working two jobs since the age of 18 and not taking a single summer off, Hayes cut her teeth doing featured dance roles for the Black Rep and That Uppity Theatre Company. In 2003, she traveled back and forth to New York City, taking tap, jazz, and Dunham at the Alvin Ailey studio, and balancing audi-
tioning, bartending, and substitute teaching.
But by 30, she outgrew her Broadway goals, and at the same time Hayes kept getting compliments about the management of the classes she subbed for. Soon, she decided to use her skills to wowing a different crowd – a budding generation of middle-schoolers in serious need of communication skills.
“The transition was smooth,” Hayes says of her glide from dance force to communication arts teacher.
Hayes excels at differentiating the teaching experience so kids can learn better and enjoy learning. Bright and tough-loving, Hayes doesn’t shirk on the in-class assignments, is quick to pull you aside and talk, and likes to play music and let the students dance.
In essence, Hayes leads comprehensively with knowledge, practice, and spirit. Instead of compartmentalizing a child’s learning, she assesses their whole being – that is, their need for regiment and relationship. The first day of school, she tells the students who she is, where she comes from, and builds those ties of respect and understanding.
See HAYES, page 22
continued from page 21
Hayes then goes out of her way to find interesting reads such as Langston Hughes’“Thank You Ma’Am,” and actively probes the literature through their literary, historical, and contemporary backdrops.
“I want my students to know what was going on then,” Hayes says. “At this age group, it’s hard for them to see there was a world in existence before they got here. They need to appreciate the people who lost their lives for them to get here.”
In 2007, Hayes began pursuing her master’s in teaching from Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri, in addition to teaching full time.
Afew weeks before graduation in 2009, she was diagnosed with stage four glandular induced cervical cancer, which started in the glands of her uterus and spread to her cervix.
Five days after crossing the stage, Hayes underwent a life-saving surgery, all the while leaving lesson plans on her desk for a sub to follow. “I am most proud of the fact that I’m a cancer survivor,” she says.
Despite battling low blood pressure and hormonal changes after her surgery, Hayes earned her second master’s, mak-
“I tell my students the first week, ‘I have high expectations and I’m not lowering them.’”
– Andrea Hayes
ing her an education reading specialist in 2010, and is eyeing a doctorate in curriculum and instruction to further discover new ways to engage the many different learning styles of students. Now more than ever, Hayes leads her classroom and life knowing tomorrow is not promised, and every day is a new license to do better.
Like many teachers across America, Hayes faces an uphill battle against students’shortening attention spans and digital info overload. When confronted with one particular student with attention deficit disorder who struggled to read by himself, Hayes introduced the audio book and discovered the student required verbal stimuli to activate his thought process.
“I don’t care what that child did yesterday, I don’t care what the child did last year,” Hayes says. “Every day is a new day with that child.”
By Malena Amusa
For The St.Louis American
Inside Storman Academy, the children are not only learning, they are bubbling with excitement and confidence.
Four pre-K students croon the alphabet as Ms. Williams prompts them in sign language. Kindergartners search a wall of words and belt out vowels. Fourth-graders pounce on a trivia match.
“What is the second largest continent?” the teacher beckons.
“Africa!” a girl yelps.
This may all seem like a dreamland of learning, and that’s because it is.
“This is a utopia, but we prepare students for going out into the world,”
Jacqueline Storman Turnage says about the private school she founded 31 years ago, currently serving 100 students from pre-school to 8th grade, located at 10600 Bellefontaine Rd.
Step into Storman Academy and you enter a special place where teachers brazenly invest in every child and students studiously balance technicality with creativity. “My mission is to provide a well-rounded education,” says Turnage.
In doing so, Turnage has created a
legendary school and a remarkable legacy of excellence.
AStorman morning kicks off with a character-building power hour, and a student-led convocation in which students learn to become skilled orators.
Throughout the day, foreign language classes, drama, computer skills, music and gardening vivify a curriculum rich in
reading, math, and social studies. After school, students can stay until 6 p.m. to study, practice lines for the school play, and participate in jazz band, violin, karate and piano.
“We don’t shake a tail-feather without doing our work,” Turnage says. “You have to be terrific academically.”
In addition to academic rigor, read-athons, ice cream socials, African Soirees, and galas sprinkle the school calendar like a birthday cupcake, creating bonds between students, parents, and teachers that enrich and inspire.
“This is a partnership education,” says
Turnage, who deeply involves parents in the school and makes sure there are drinks and snacks in the activity room where any child can go and eat. “This is a home away from home.”
Further, students must fulfill 200 hours of community service, but a slew of perks are promised. Every fall, students venture to cities like Chicago and Indianapolis to visit museums and other places of learning. In the spring, they partake in a heritage-rich rites of passage ceremony where “we talk about evolving and becoming your own person,” Turnage says. In the past, students have traveled to California, New York, Hawaii, Nassau and Jamaica and now Turnage is planning a trip to South Africa.
With this dynamic education, many Storman students go off to become high achieving communicators, doctors, lawyers, and engineers “who know who they are,” Turnage says firmly.
Turnage bursts with a passion that stirs your hopes. “I go home thinking about my students,” explains the wife and mother of two daughters. “I want every child to have a positive and mean-
See TURNAGE, page 26
continued from page 21
ingful educational experience.”
The daughter of a seamstress and a father who led one of the country’s earliest fights to integrate public schools, Turnage grew up among go-getters in East St. Louis who met life’s challenges with entrepreneurialism, family-focus, and love of self and community.
What resulted was a nurtured young woman, overflowing with self-pride and a dedication to excellence.
But also, Turnage leads with a deep care, so much so that she personally raised two students whose parents dropped them off at school one day and never came back to pick them up.
“We have to care about someone else other than ourselves,” Turnage philosophizes. “If not, we are a lost people.”
“This is a partnership education.”
– Jacqueline Storman Turnage, Founder and Headmistress of Storman Academy
When Turnage began at a predominately white high school her freshman year, she was shocked but not deterred when a teacher gave her a “C” on a writing assignment and refused to change the grade despite her revisions.
“I did not go quietly into the night,” Turnage says. “I wanted her to know that I expected an ‘A’. I was not going to sit back. That was the last ‘C’I got!”
Knowing how assertiveness and focus inoculates even the most nuanced of life obstacles, Turnage requires students to take public speaking where they learn to define and defend their opinions.
It’s the third day of class, and Turnage swarms the school on foot, greeting bright-eyed students and teachers and cheering on their day.
She points to pre-schooler whose parent she also educated at Storman and radiates pride like a light bulb. She boasts about one young man who was in a gang when he arrived at Storman but after three years of academic prowess, told Turnage “I will make honor society this year!”
Despite her successes, Turnage protests when you call her amazing or special. “This is not amazing. We are just hardworking teachers who have a strong desire to enrich our students,” Turnage says.
As her legacy grows, Turnage wants to increase the number of students, expand Storman to the 12th grade, and invite more community support for Storman Academy.
By Bridjes O’Neil
For The St.Louis American
“I was excited,” Doretta A. Walker, a retired administrative coordinator for Supplemental Educational Services at the St. Louis Public School District, said about receiving a 2012 Excellence in Education Award from the St. Louis American Foundation. “I never thought I would win anything like that.”
Before she retired in June 2010, Walker dedicated 39 years of service to the SLPS system. As administrative coordinator for Supplemental Educational Services (SES), she connected parents and students to tutoring services in reading and math. These services were provided by the SLPS or outside providers like Sylvan Learning Center.
SES is a state and federal program for SLPS students and those from charter schools who underscore on the Missouri Assessment Performance (MAP) Test. She was also coordinator for the SLPS Parents Support Specialist Liaisons.
Despite her retirement, she still finds time to volunteer with SLPS once a month.
Walker said several elementary school teachers inspired her goals to teach.
“I admired the way they carried themselves and the way they taught,” she said. “They made sure we learned.”
She recalled how one math teacher at Sumner High School always kept the word “think” on the blackboard.
“When he called on you to answer and you didn’t respond, he’d take his fist and hit the word,” she said. “We’d jump out of our seats.”
She earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Southern Illinois University
– Edwardsville and a Master’s in Education from the National College of Education in Chicago. She’s a certified Reading Specialist from Harris-Stowe State University and pursued further studies at Southeast Missouri State University.
“Walker was a substitute teacher in college. She taught 3rd grade students at Marquette Visual and Performing Arts Middle School, which is now Metro Academic and Classical High School.
“I found out working as a sub, I really
wanted to teach,” she said. “I just fell in love with it, and the children responded so well to me.”
As the years have passed, Walker noticed one crucial difference between parents today and those of the past.
“Those parents knew the teachers and principals,” she said. “They would work in the schools as teacher’s aides.” Today, she said, “you don’t have parents coming into the schools. You don’t have parents in the homes seeing to the children coming to school.”
She mentioned that there are a large majority of children forced into adult roles before their time. There also is a lack of community involvement in children’s education.
“Education of children must be a community endeavor,” Walker said.
She zeroed in on negative environmental factors like gangs and drugs.
“Kids are going with their peers because they’re afraid something will happen,” Walker said. “They have all kinds of outside things to take their minds off education.”
She doesn’t believe that students in SLPS are set up for failure. “There are a
See WALKER, page 30
administrative coordinator for Supplemental Educational Services at the St.Louis Public School District
By Bridjes O’Neil
For The St.Louis American
What do the late Wilda L. Wilson and Assata Shakur have in common?
LaRhonda L. Wilson, a 2012 Excellence in Education recipient, says her mother and the former Black Panther shared a common love of people. She learned from her mother that “love was the best way to approach people” and she loved Shakur’s strength and decency.
Wilson, assistant professor and program coordinator of anthropology and sociology at St. Louis Community College – Florissant Valley, is passionate about social issues. “If we took the discipline of sociology more seriously, we could resolve so many issues in this world,” she said.
In 2000, Wilson first taught adult male inmates at Southwestern Illinois Correctional Center. In an effort to decrease recidivism, inmates had an opportunity to earn an associate’s degree through Lake Land Community College in Mattoon, Ill.
“Somebody is more likely to hire someone who’s been to prison who has an associate’s as opposed to someone who doesn’t,” she said. When she encountered a “challenging” student, she gave him two options. “Either stay in the class and participate as a student or go back to the yard,” she said.
The following year, she began teaching sociology and anthropology part-time at St. Louis Community College –Florissant Valley and SLCC – Forest Park. In 2003, she taught part-time at Washington University’s George Warren School of Social Work.
“She knows what matters, and she spends an enormous amount of energy
See WILSON, page 30
continued from page 27
lot key people, myself included, who believe there are children in SLPS who can learn and want to learn,” she said.
She emphatically stated that “there are positive things going on in SLPS but it doesn’t get out in the media as much as the negativity.”
“Education
of children must be a community endeavor.”
dents, especially those who follow in her vocational footsteps. Bruce Green, principal at Carnahan High School of the Future and adjunct faculty at Harris-Stowe State University, congratulates his former teacher and present mentor. Green was a student of Walker’s at Marquette Visual and Performing Arts Middle School.
– Doretta A.Walker
Walker loves to work with children and vows never to give up on them. She advised her students that “there’s no such thing as ‘I can’t learn.’”
She said, “You drop the ‘t’and you can.”
Walker takes pride in her former stu-
continued from page 28 and intellect trying to help students achieve their educational goals,” said Nancy Linzy, dean of Liberal Arts at SLCC – Florissant Valley. “We feel that this recognition is extremely welldeserved. We, at St. Louis Community College, feel fortunate to have someone of her caliber in the classroom.”
In 2010, Linzy nominated Wilson for North County, Inc.’s “30 Leaders in their 30s” award. Additional past honors include “Who’s Who in Black St. Louis” and the Organization for Black Struggle (OBS) “Unsung Hero of Human Rights” award in 2007.
As Service Learning Program coordinator, which blends education and community service, she connects students to environmental activities, school district programs, services for children and families and communities of poverty.
“She’s a champion of Service Learning,” Linzy said. “Not only as a device for advancing social justice issues, but also for educating students about how to become good citizens.”
Last year, Wilson co-founded Florissant Valley’s Social Justice Club, which has welcomed documentary filmmakers and national activists.
Wilson earned a Bachelor’s of Arts in Sociology and a duel Master’s degree in Sociology and Criminal Justice from Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Mo. She’s a member of the Missouri Sociological Association and the American Sociological Association. She’s affiliated with OBS and a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.
Wilson did not begin her career as a
“In having her class, she always used positive reinforcement to re-direct me and help me stay on track,” said Green said, who was a 2010 Salute to Excellence in Education Award recipient. “She was always in my corner.” He thanks Walker for her effort. He said, “Because without people like her in the SLPS, I wouldn’t have made it through.”
“She spends an enormous amount of energy and intellect trying to help students achieve their educational goals.”
– Dean Nancy Linzy, on LaRhonda L.Wilson
teacher but in the social service field. She worked with youth in the foster care system at the Annie Malone Children and Family Center. Wilson’s mission was keeping families together and finding permanent homes for children in the State’s foster system. According to the Missouri Department of Social Services, there were 10,174 children in the custody of the Children’s Division as of December 31, 2010.
After a year, she left Annie Malone and worked for several adoption agencies. She experienced a major accomplishment as director of the Adoption Exchange-St. Louis Office. She spear-headed an adoption recruitment campaign that increased Missouri adoptions, among children awaiting adoption in the state’s foster care system,by 110 percent in 2006.
“Although I’m not in the field anymore, you can still find me recruiting foster and adoptive parents,” she said.
“When people think of me or my legacy, I want them to think of peace,” she said – “fostering the kind of understanding that can lead to the genuine respect and love for themselves and their neighbors.”
By Rebecca S.Rivas Of The St.Louis American
Dana M. Watts, center coordinator for Urban League Head Start, was studying social work when she first began working at an early childhood center for her practicum requirement.
“I would go home every night, and I would light up when I talked about the children,” Watts said. “My husband said, ‘It’s almost like you have a gift working with those kids, they really respond to you.’”
“A
lot of people just think that early childhood is play, but we all know that children learn so much through their play.”
With his encouragement, she went back to school to earn a bachelor’s degree in child development from Central Methodist University. She’s been an early childhood educator now for more than 20 years. The one thing she loves about the Urban League Head Start program is its attention to family – the reason she was originally interested in social work.
– Dana M. Watts
“Here at the Urban League Head Start, we truly believe in the childparent-educator partnership. It’s a collaboration. We work together to make sure every child is ready for kindergarten,” she said.
“I truly feel that early childhood is an important piece in every child’s life because it is that foundation and that basis on which all other education occurs and is built on.”
Watts is the recipient of the St. Louis American Foundation’s 2012 PNC Early Childhood Education Award.
At the Urban League, Watts started
off as a teacher, and then became a lead teacher and a then master teacher. Now as the center coordinator, she gets to coordinate all the program’s components, including the management team, the nutritionists, psychologists and teachers.
“I am working with the groups together to empower families,” Watts said. “In this position, I am living out the dream I’ve always wanted. Not only being an educator, but also working with that family component.”
At the center, Watts said each child is seen as an individual, and not just a group of children. Teachers aim to adapt
Dana M.Watts, center coordinator for Urban League Head Start,is the recipient of the St.Louis American Foundation's 2012 PNC Early Childhood Education Award.
their instruction to each child.
“Alot of people just think that early childhood is play, but we all know that children learn so much through their play,” she said. “They are learning a love for learning.”
Within the first five years, the brain grows at a rapid rate, she said. If children can get as much learning and higher thinking in those years as possible, they will be able to excel that much further in their lives, she said.
“Alot of times learning hands-on for the children is more than me saying, ‘This is why we do this,’” Watts said.
“What I love about early childhood is they get that hands-on experience. They get to get out there and touch and explore. They aren’t sitting at a desk all day.”
She believe it is imperative that our nation invest in early childhood education.
“I just feel that it is so important that as a nation we put more emphasis on early childhood, because its our foundation,” she said. “If our foundation is rocky, you can’t expect that foundation to stand up.”
By Bridjes O’Neill
For The St.Louis American
“I really believe in the importance of education,” said Karen Verstraete, College and Career Counselor at Webster Groves High School.
Jon Clark, principal of Webster Groves High School, nominated Verstraete for the St. Louis American Foundation’s 2012 SEMO Counselor of the Year award because of her “service to students, families and commitment to the counseling profession.”
“Sometimes the students who think they can afford college the least are the ones who can afford it the most.”
–
Karen Verstraete
For more than 10 years, Southeast Missouri State University (SEMO) has recognized commendable counselors in St. Louis who have nurtured first-generation and historically underrepresented students in postsecondary education.
It’s an equally joyous occasion for one of Verstraete’s former students.
The St. Louis American Foundation will award Kevin Redmond,18, with the 2012 Dr. Donald M. Suggs scholarship. He is a recent graduate of Webster Groves High School who is studying mechanical engineering at the University of Missouri – Columbia.
“I am so proud of him,” Verstraete said. “Kevin taught me a whole lot last year about perseverance, dedication and character. He’s just a special person.”
Verstraete, Redmond says, goes above
and beyond as a counselor and he considers her like family.
“She’s the one who initially told me about the Suggs scholarship,” he said. “She was originally going to be my guest at the Salute to Excellence.”
The two were pleasantly shocked to hear that Verstraete would receive her own award. “I was very honored and humbled,” she said.
Verstraete strives to reduce the amount of stress associated with students
who are transitioning from high school seniors to college freshmen. She says the challenges are often greater for first-generation students whose parents never attended college. The issue isn’t that their parents don’t want to help their children, they just may not be prepared to do so.
“There’s a lot of jargon that gets thrown around in the college admissions process that gets really overwhelming for a lot of parents who’ve not gone through
it themselves,” she said. It is during these moments in her role as counselor that she has the greatest impact on her students.
“We can call her any time day or night and she is always there for us,” said Cari Hill, 18, Verstraete’s former student and recent Webster Groves High School graduate. Currently, Hill is studying at William Jewell College in Liberty, Mo.
“Mrs. Verstraete means absolutely everything to me,” she said. “She was like a second mother.”
Verstraete strives to dispel a common myth among her students of lower socioeconomic backgrounds.
“Sometimes the students who think they can afford college the least are the ones who can afford it the most,” she said. “Because there are government grants, institutional grants and scholarships to help students meet their college goals.”
Verstraete relates to these students because she, too, was a first-generation college student.
Verstraete has been employed at Webster Groves High School since 1999. Overall, she has worked in education for 17 years. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Education from Missouri State University in Springfield and a Master’s in school counseling from Lindenwood University.
Verstraete is a certified social studies teacher who taught for six years prior to obtaining her counseling position. She taught for three years at Crystal City High School in Jefferson County and an additional three years at Webster Groves High School. She became a counselor in 2001.
She is a school coordinator for college credit through the University of Missouri – St. Louis and Saint Louis University. She is the professional development cochair of the Missouri Association for College Admission Counseling.
Verstraete wants her legacy as a counselor to be that of a person who made a difference in the lives of her students. As her students reflect on their lives and education 10 or 15 years later, she said, she wants her students to say, “Mrs. Verstraete helped me.”
That certainly is true for Cari Hill, one of those students who didn’t think she could attend college on her budget.
“She was looking up different scholarships that personally fit me,” Hill said of Verstraete, “and now I’m going to college for free.”
By Rebecca S.Rivas
Of The St.Louis American
Kynedra Ogunnaike, a guidance counselor at Vashon High School, has been working in the St. Louis Public School District for 16 years. But her family legacy in school counseling goes back much further.
“My passion for counseling came as a direct result from being around my mom, who was a guidance counselor in the district as well for over 36 years,” she said. “I think of it as a selfish occupation. I give so much, but I get so much in return.”
Like her mother, Ogunnaike almost always has a child at her house. Some days, her students may need hair assistance. Other days, she is driving a student’s grandmother to the Social Security office to get some things squared away.
“Watching my mom, I would come home and people from her school would always be there,” Ogunnaike said. “She instilled that in me, and that’s what I do.”
Ogunnaike is one of two counselors receiving the St. Louis American Foundation’s 2012 SEMO Counselor of the Year Award.
Ogunnaike received a master’s degree in education from University of Missouri – St. Louis and another master’s from Lesley University in education technology. She is working on a doctorate degree in education technology as well, and is excited by the role that technology can potentially play in the mental health.
“From working here with students, I realize that it’s the way to really capture them. It’s a way to key into the students,” she said.
“Alot of times students will not come out and say things. They will email you,
especially the ones that normally wouldn’t say anything. They will use technology.” She does not recommend for students to use site such as Facebook as a way to
work through their issues because it attaches a face to them. Her ideal use of technology and counseling for young people would be sites that give encouragement and would allow users to share
“It’s important for me to work with students who are underserved.I get a lot out of being a mentor to them.”
– Kynedra Ogunnaike
anonymously in monitored, small online groups. However, she has not found any sites she would recommend to her students yet. Instead, she offers them a bit of caution.
“The most important thing I’ve learned is trying to get students to realize that once you put it out in cyberspace,” she said, “you cannot get it back.”
Ogunnaike knows that she has a strong impact on her students. The cases that she likes to think about are the students who come into her office freshman year and say they have no ambition to go to college.
“I say, ‘Oh yes you are, you just don’t know it yet,’” she said.
Then come senior year, she sees them coming in with acceptance letters, and she knows she had a part to play in that. She also told the story of a student whose mother passed away her freshman year. Ogunnaike took the student under her wing.
“I picked her and her grandma up and took them places. Her grandma and I have a good relationship,” she said.
“Originally she wasn’t doing well in classes, so we got her into tutoring and night classes, and now she is on track. That is a typical story, and that kind of thing happens all the time.”
Ogunnaike grew up in single-parent home in the inner city. She attended private school and lived in the areas where most people went to public school.
“That played a key role in me wanting to work with students at Vashon,” she said. “It’s important for me to work with students who are underserved. I get a lot out of being a mentor to them and giving back.”
The school is not located in the best neighborhood, but it’s not the worst, she said.
“We take what we have and we make dreams come true, that’s what we do,” she said.
By Rebecca S.Rivas
Of The St.Louis American
What separates you from the person who has nothing – no future, no family, no education and no hope?
“Do you want them back with a more sophisticated criminal mind because we have locked them up, or do you want them educated?”
– Judge Jimmie M.Edwards
“It is easy to go through life without ever asking the question, never contemplating where we might be without the opportunities we were born into or were lucky enough to stumble upon,” said Judge Jimmie M. Edwards of the 22nd Judicial Circuit Court of Missouri and founder of Innovative Concept Academy. After serving 20 years as a judge in St. Louis, Edwards understands that children without adequate adult supervision and education will have a bleak future. Because of the Safe Schools Act and “zero tolerance,” he has watched teenagers get kicked out of school, land in his courtroom and then drop out.
So in 2007, he started the Innovative Concept Academy in North St. Louis. It’s the only school in the country that invites children with the toughest juvenile cases to reform themselves and refocus on education so they can return to their regular schools. The school provides strict security and supervision, along with a full curriculum, job-readiness training and mental health services.
Judge Edwards is the St. Louis American Foundation’s 2012 Stellar Performer.
Atypical day at Innovative Concept Academy runs 10 hours, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. After the regular school day, the academy offers free but mandatory afterschool activities, including music, dance,
Judge Jimmie
cooking and chess classes.
“Most of my kids are impulsive, reactionary and they lash out without thinking through the consequences,” Edwards said. “Chess teaches them patience and teaches them that there are consequences to bad decisions.”
“In chess, you can lose your queen,” he said. “In life, you can lose your life.”
Edwards calls the academy a “unique hybrid community school.” Various fac-
tions of the community have played a role in making it successful. For instance, the chess program is funded by the local Chess Club and Scholastic Center, which opened in 2008.
The St. Louis Public School District pays for the teachers and the building, which is a formerly closed, three-story SLPS middle school. As students grow in the program, they enter into MERS Goodwill’s job training program.
Nadia Jones, a senior at the academy, currently has an internship in the MERS Goodwill office. She said her office position is a lot different than her job at Taco Bell.
“Now I have office experience,” Jones said. “If I was by myself, I’d maybe go and put in an application and maybe don’t even put it in. With them, they have helped me find something totally different.”
A place where they belong
Brandy Turner, a junior, arrived at the academy in October 2011 because she pushed a teacher (who, she said, pushed her first).
“At first I didn’t want to be here,” Turner said. “I cried.”
When she first heard Edwards tell her to “get to class,” she thought he was mean. But now she thinks the world of him.
“Some people are caught in the wrong situation at the wrong time and they have to face the consequences,” Turner said. “Most of the people who go here, once they get the hang of it and meet everyone, they don’t want to leave. Like I don’t want to leave.”
Jones said the school creates a safe space.
“You have great teachers and great staff who are willing to help you,” Jones said. “Even if you are not getting it at home, you can come here and it’s guaranteed that you’ll get it here.”
Jones thought she had been through the worst, she said, but now she knows kids who have been through way worse.
“This is a school where all of your kind are here. Everybody from robbing to anything, they are all there,” she said.
“You don’t feel alone, and you can bond together. Maybe your enemies are here. I think this school has brought people together that you would think weren’t going to be friends – or maybe even would have killed each other a year or two from now.”
Edwards feels his children are victims of the Safe School Act, which expels children for committing certain acts or infractions. As a result of the Missouri 1995 Safe Schools Act, several hundred
See EDWARDS, page 40
continued from page 39
children in the city of St. Louis were left without a school.
“In the spring of 2009, I was in my office and I read in the newspaper that the St. Louis Public Schools was going to be closing a school due to the reduction in population,” he said.
“I thought what a wonderful opportunity that would be for me to utilize one of those buildings to educate those children that I knew had been expelled from public schools for lengthy periods of time.”
“Even if you are not getting it at home, you can come here and it’s guaranteed that you’ll get it here.”
– Nadia Jones,on Innovative Concept Academy
Edwards was thinking of educating only 35 children. But the St. Louis Public School Board had a different idea. They asked him to take 250, and now he has 350. He has taken Innovative Concept students to speak before the U.S. Senate and Supreme Court because sadly it is the only school of its kind.
“It has given us the platform to have a conversation about zero tolerance all over this country,” he said. His message from that platform is clear.
“Zero tolerance, it does not work. Lock them up and throw away the key – it doesn’t work, because I know that when delinquent children reach a certain age, the legislative bodies in all 50 states say, ‘Release them,’” he said.
“The question that I ask is, ‘How do you want our children back?’Do you want them back with a more sophisticated criminal mind because we have locked them up, or do you want them educated with an understanding of what it takes to be lawabiding and to be a good citizen because we’ve taken the time to educate them? I prefer the latter.”
Edwards was raised by a single mother “in the shadows” of the Pruitt-Igoe public housing projects in North St. Louis. The academy is located in the exact neighborhood he was raised in. He had many people who cared about him and wanted to see him succeed.
“Growing up, given my circumstances and surroundings, my life could have gone an entirely different direction,” he said. “Where would I be today without the support of my family, the love and sacrifice of my mother and the dedication of my teachers? It’s something I can’t help but contemplate every day in the courtroom.”
Commencement speaker at Maryville University and John E.Simon Award recipient,2012.
and
Judge Edwards with ICA students at the Dr.Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial in Washington, D.C.
By Rebecca S.Rivas
Of the St.Louis American
In his newlywed days, Gerald Early, director of Washington University’s Center for the Humanities, was constantly turning on the television to old black-and-white shows.
His wife Ida didn’t understand his habit. One day, she asked him why he found them so appealing.
“His response floored me,” said Ida, secretary of the university’s Board of Trustees. “He said because these are genuine artifacts of the American imagination. And I thought, you know, I guess they are. Who could say it better?”
“You want to diversify the whole field of knowledgemaking, which is really what scholarship is – you are making knowledge.”
– Gerald Early
“He is a great writer and analyst,” Ida said. “He really helps us understand the experiences we are having as human beings, as citizens, as parents, as scholars, as teachers, and as students.”
In addition to leading the center, Gerald is also the university’s Merle Kling Professor of Modern Letters and a professor of English and of African and AfroAmerican Studies.
Gerald Early is the St. Louis American Foundation’s 2012 Lifetime Achiever in Education.
Gerald is a renowned scholar in the humanities, a respected leader at the university, a noted essayist, and a cherished teacher among students and colleagues. Yet, when the St. Louis American asked both Ida and Gerald what his greatest accomplishments were, they gave the exact same response (though they were not in the same room).
“Being a great husband and wonderful father and now he’s working on becoming a great grandfather,” Ida said. “I think he would think those are his greatest achievements.”
Early grew up in Philadelphia, and he wrote about the city in his essay on boxer and Olympic Gold Medalist Joe Frazier, “The Fire-Breather, the Gym and
the City.”
He wrote: “As I grew up among black and white working-class people in Philadelphia, boxing was in the blood, in the genetic makeup of the city. Boxers loomed over the landscape, symbolic and
ornamental, portentous and implike, like angels and gargoyles in the architecture. Boxing called to me from the pavement; it stalked me in the very air. My wife, Ida, on arriving in Philadelphia as a college freshman said the city ‘had an attitude. Hard, crowded, tough, untrusting, as if being nice was a sign of weakness. It seemed like a place where everybody lives on top of each other and everybody was at war with everybody else.’She was right.”
By the time he was a teenager, Gerald knew he wanted to be an essayist, he said. After earning his Ph.D. in English and American Literature from Cornell University, Gerald arrived at Washington University in 1982 as a black studies professor. He has been there ever since.
In the 1990s, he led simultaneously both the African-American Studies and the American Culture Studies departments.
In 2001, he became the director of the Center for Humanities (formerly the International Writers Center founded by William H. Gass). The center provides a forum and a space for humanities scholars to come and give lectures, bring guests, have conversations and dialogue, he said.
“On the whole, the humanities center is a catalyst to help make things happen,” Early said, “and a place where people can feel they have a second home outside of their departments.”
Under Gerald’s leadership, the center also moved from being on the outer rim of the campus into the university’s newest building in the middle of campus. Gerald localized on campus the focus of what had been a brilliant star in the international literary firmament, said Chris King, managing editor of the St. Louis American, a former faculty member in Gerald’s African-American Studies department, and now a member of the center’s advisory board.
“It took a tremendous amount of will to do this, since what Bill Gass had created had a ‘wow’factor you could never duplicate with ‘just another’humanities center,” King said.
But what Gerald did was very badly needed, King said. Instead of bringing world superstars to campus for episodic conferences, Gerald is using the center’s funding to strengthen and interconnect the humanities faculty and students who
continued from page 45
have committed themselves to Washington University.
“Gerald’s vision for humanities actually makes harassed, overcommitted, under-nourished and disconnected scholars and students feel like a nourished part of an engaged academic community,” King said.
What’s also untraditional about Gerald’s leadership of the center is that he opens all programs up to undergraduates – not just scholars, faculty or graduate students.
“It’s a precious opportunity for them to feel they are scholars in the making and to get feedback that they are accepted in this world,” said Dean Mary Laurita, College of Arts & Sciences. “It changes their lives.”
Laurita helps to oversee the Merle Kling Undergraduate Honors Fellowship, which encourages undergraduates to conduct research in the humanities and offers them a workspace.
“They are doing work they feel that fits into that mission; they’re attending lectures they wouldn’t have attended otherwise,” Laurita said. “They are integrated into the center. That’s important. That’s one thing that he has changed –the nature of the center.”
Gerald said that offering these resources to undergraduates is important for the future of the university.
“I feel all the resources should be available to all the people that are here,” Gerald said. “Undergraduates should be encouraged to use them. It was important to my own sense of mission, as a teacher, to make sure that undergraduates felt connected with the center.”
This encouragement is particularly important for minority undergraduate students, he said. Very few minorities go onto become college professors because most enter into professional school, such as law or medicine, he said.
“You want to diversify the whole field of knowledge-making, which is really what scholarship is – you are making knowledge,” Gerald said. “You want to diversify that field with as many different kinds of people and with as many different perspectives.”
In addition to leading the center, Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton said Gerald has also been a national leader in fostering understanding about the history of race in important areas, such as jazz, boxing and baseball.
“Sometimes race figures prominently among those issues that divide us,” Wrighton said. “But Gerald is a person who brings people together and inspires everyone. And he has been a tremendous
Gerald and Ida on their wedding day
contributor to Washington University’s efforts to build a more diverse, more inclusive community.”
When James V. Wertsch, associate vice chancellor for international affairs at Wash. U., arrived at the university in 1995, he was well aware of Gerald’s reputation. Gerald had just received the 1994 National Book Critics Circle Award for criticism. Gerald is also a fellow of
the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and Wertsch is the Marshall S. Snow Professor in Arts & Sciences at the university.
Despite Gerald’s many awards, Wertsch said what impresses him most is the way Gerald affects an audience when he speaks.
“I have a lot of brilliant colleagues at Washington University, who are some of the best people in their fields,” he said. “But not all of us can present to a big public audience the way that Gerald can.”
This is one of the reasons that Gerald is considered to be a wise faculty member, who many turn to for advice about various decisions concerning the university, Wertsch said.
“Gerald has a reputation as the guy you want to take ‘the big ask’to the dean or the chancellor,” King said. “He gets things done, and as a result he is able to get bigger things done. And to do this you have to make ‘the big ask,’whether of the chancellor or the major national funding centers for humanities.”
By Rebecca S.Rivas Of The St.Louis American
One night, Columbia Elementary teacher Susan Fisher-Weaver drove a student home after a school event to prepare for the state exams. As she turned onto the girl’s block, Fisher-Weaver tensed up and her eyes widened, she said. They were driving right through crowds of gang members.
“She is just calm, and I’m like ‘Wow, that’s a rough block,’” she said. “It never dawns on you when you receive children what kinds of homes they are coming from. It was a learning experience for me.”
In 2009, Columbia, in the city’s JeffVanderlou neighborhood, was one of the St. Louis Public School District’s lowest performing schools.
“They give you good lunches.They give you good teachers and good learning techniques, good classes.”
– Fourth grader Avion Robins
But in 2010, the school became part of a multimillion-dollar federal program to turn around low-performing schools within three years.
Under then Principal Crystal Ford-Gale’s leadership, more than 80 percent of the classroom teachers were replaced. Carrie Collins, now the school’s principal, was one of the new teachers hired that year.
By the end of the school year, Columbia became a top-performing school. Students made annual yearly progress, and they increased proficiency in advanced scores to double digits.
“It was a huge jump, and it was done with more than 80 percent new staff,” Collins said.
Columbia Elementary, located at 3120 Saint Louis Ave., is the St. Louis American Foundation’s 2012 Monsanto School of Excellence.
Fourth grader Avion Robins said he is proud his school has made gains.
“This school is great,” Robins said.
“They give you good lunches. They give you good teachers and good learning techniques, good classes. You can have fun while learning.”
When Collins heard that Robins liked the lunches, she told him, “It’s going to get better.”
This year, the cafeteria will be making food from scratch. The initiative ties well into the school’s approach of being like a family. Former principal Ford-Gale introduced the concept of a family school in 2010, and Collins said that’s a big part of the school’s success.
“We consider ourselves a family,” Collins said. “We consider the students our children. The focus is on the whole child. We understand that the best way to help children succeed is to serve not only them but their entire families.”
Before the school’s transformation, parents were pulling their children out of the school frequently. Now, many parents use the school as a hub, she said, where
they participate in the school throughout the day. Collins’students and their families are “resilient,” she said.
“They survive and prosper and do well with circumstances which most people wouldn’t be able to uphold under,” Collins said. “What the formal setting of school does is it refines and expands that resiliency to excel in college and career opportunities.”
After serving as a teacher for a year at Columbia, the district moved Collins to an assistant principal position at another school.
“What happens when a school gets a lot of recognition for making gains, they see how they can spread that somewhere else,” Collins said.
Collins said she was sad to go, but now she is glad that she gained the experience as assistant principal to prepare her for her new position.
In February 2012, top officials from the U.S. Department of Education came to visit Columbia and observe how the school was able to improve so rapidly. St. Louis Public Schools has 11 schools
receiving school improvement grant funding. Schools in Hazelwood, Ferguson-Florissant, Jennings, Normandy and Riverview Gardens districts also are recipients of the funds.
More than anything, the school is a “one-stop” for many families, said Fisher-Weaver. “You can get everything you need here,” she said.
Fisher-Weaver started teaching at Columbia in 1982, and in 2000 she became the district’s communications arts supervisor. In 2011, she requested to return to Columbia as a special-education teacher.
Avion told both Fisher-Weaver and Collins that he plans on making all A’s this year.
“They set a bar for themselves because they know they can do it,” Fisher-Weaver said. “Principal Collins said we want this to be a private school setting at a public school price. I think all of our children deserve that What better place to give it than right here?”
2012 Mizzou Suggs Scholar: Kevin Redmond
So far my college experience has started off very well. Classes have not been overwhelming at all, and I find myself staying on top of things. In my first month of being a college student, I have joined the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), and also have accepted to do some volunteer work in the next couple of weeks. With that being said, I feel that my transition into the college life has been pretty smooth, however, it is a little different being away from home. At this particular moment I am enrolled in courses that will eventually earn me a degree in Mechanical Engineering, and I am also continuing into my sixth year of German with the hopes of receiving a minor. I look forward to finding out about more opportunities such as internships that will open up more doors for success.
Maxine du Maine
Maxine Joie du Maine is currently attending Webster University and double majoring in film production and art. She is balancing a full schedule of classes with her love of involvement within the Webster campus community. Maxine contributes to her campus radio station, the Galaxy radio, her on campus TVstation, GTV, her advanced percussion ensemble, has joined the Webster Arts Coalition, and is a frequent at Webster’s Multicultural Center & International Student Affairs. She has also found a church and joined Campus Crusades for Christ, an on-campus Christian organization. Thus far, Maxine has already made lifelong connections and looks forward to being a standout in the predominantly Caucasian male field. Maxine looks forward to becoming the best filmmaker and artist she can be with the help of the St. Louis American Foundation scholarship and would like to thank everyone that made this scholarship, and her entire college career, possible.
Bryanna Hill
My name is Bryanna X. Hill, I am 17 years old and over this Past Summer I worked as an Intern for the Laclede Gas Company and at the Missouri History Museum. I am currently attending Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, ALto study Computer Science to hopefully one day work for the CIA. The classes I am taking for this semester are Early History, Orientation, English, Introduction to Computer Science Lecture/Lab, Calculus 2 and Badminton. On campus I am currently involved in the Student Government Association Events Committee, and I am going to audition for the Dance Club, UnExposed.
Donald M.Suggs with the finalists for the Mizzou Donald M.Suggs Scholarship and several St.Louis American Foundation Scholars.Back row left to right:Matthew Wright,Cade Netscher,2012 Suggs Scholar Kevin Redmond.Front row left to right:Amani Borders,Lauren Reeves,Taylor Sizemore,Maxine du Maine.
My college experience has been amazing so far, I love the school’s family environment and the school spirit. I expect these next four years to be an incredible experience.
Lauren Reeves
I am currently attending the University of Missouri in Columbia as a business major. I’m really enjoying my college experience so far because I’m free to make my own decisions as an adult. I am also finding out who I am as a person and realizing how important it is to make good friend choices. I’m becoming a lot more open and getting better at meeting people. I am in the hopes of joining the Black Business Student Association, because it is a great
opportunity to join other black students in getting internships and working throughout the business field. I also want to join an intermural basketball team to meet new people and play the sport I love. I haven’t gotten involved in anything yet, but I definitely plan on it in the near future. I anticipate an amazing first semester here at Mizzou, because it’s starting out great.
Amani Borders
I’m Amani Borders, freshman at the University of Missouri - Kansas City (UMKC). Since move-in on August 16, I’ve attended “Welcome Week” gettogethers thrown by student groups and fraternities, including a convocation ceremony for freshmen and transfer students
and athlete orientation, which allowed me to get acquainted with my major— accounting, my school—Bloch School of Management, the campus, and other accounting students. As a member of the track team, I reside in a predominantly freshmen student athlete dorm, which makes it easier to make new friends. My roommate has been my teammate since freshman year in high school (U City State Champs!), so getting along with her is not difficult. My coach ensures that the entire team does what is necessary for success in our college experience. Therefore, since the beginning of practice on August 23, college has been an excruciatingly painful yet exciting time in my life. Go Roos!
2011
Joyce M. Roberts (Lifetime Achiever)
Anthony ‘Tony’Thompson (Stellar Performer)
2010
Dr. Zelema Harris (Lifetime Achiever)
Dr. Stanton Lawrence (Stellar Performer)
2009
Eugene B. Redmond (Lifetime Achiever)
Diane Miller (Stellar Performer)
2008
James E. McLeod, Ph.D. (Lifetime Achiever)
Donna Patton (Stellar Performer)
2007
Dr. Henry Shannon (Lifetime Achiever)
Don Danforth III (Stellar Performe
2006
Dr. John Wright (Lifetime Achiever)
Dr. Cheryle Dyle-Palmer (Stellar Performer)
2005
Dr. Queen Fowler (Lifetime Achiever)
Darlynn Bosley (Stellar Performer)
2004
Dr. Henry Givens (Lifetime Achiever)
Joyce Roberts (Stellar Performer)
2003
Martin Mathews (Lifetime Achiever)
Audrey Ferguson (Stellar Performer)
2002
Dr. George H. Hyram (Lifetime Achiever)
Vickie & Howard Denson (Stellar Performers)
2001
John E. Jacob (Lifetime Achiever)
Victoria Nelson (Stellar Performer)
2000
Rev. William G. Gillespie (Lifetime Achiever)
Carolyn D. Seward (Stellar Performer)
1999
Dr. James M. Whittico (Lifetime Achiever)
Gloria L. Taylor (Stellar Performer)
1998
Gloria Waters -White (Lifetime Achiever)
Steven N. Cousins (Stellar Performer)
1997
Judge Theodore McMillan (Lifetime Achiever)
Gwendolyn Packnett (Stellar Performer)
1996
Dr. Helen Nash (Lifetime Achiever)
Fr. Maurice Nutt (Stellar Performer)
1995
Kathryn E. Nelson (Lifetime Achiever)
Khatib Waheed (Stellar Performer)
James E.McLeod,Ph.D. (2008 Lifetime Achiever)
Dr.Henry Givens Jr. (2004 Lifetime Achiever)
Judge Theodore McMillan (1997 Lifetime Achiever)
1994
Bob Shannon (Lifetime Achiever)
Dr. Doris Wilson (Stellar Performer)
1993
Al Johnson (Lifetime Achiever)
Carol E. Jackson (Stellar Performer)
1992
Frankie M. Freeman (Lifetime Achiever) Drs. Victor & Vincent Rodgers (Stellar Performers)
Gloria Waters-White (1998 Lifetime Achiever)
Kathryn E.Nelson (1995 Lifetime Achiever)
1991
Jesse Hill (Lifetime Achiever)
Dr. John H. Gladney (Stellar Performer)
1990
Fred H. Black (Gold Medallion Awardee)
1989
Bertha Gilkey (Gold Medallion Awardee)
1988
Vincent E. Reed (Gold Medallion Awardee)
If it wasn’t for the Suggs Scholarship, I wouldn’t be where I am today.The Suggs study abroad component of the scholarship allowed me to go abroad for the first time, and I haven’t stopped traveling since.Since I visited London in 2009, I have visited 12 other countries, with plans to visit a few more in the next few months.I now have friends from every continent but Antartica! I have also been living in Korea for 19 months teaching English to K-8 students and recently switched to being an Adjunct Professor at Sangji University in Wonju, South Korea.I recently returned home for a few days with a Korean friend to show her my world.We aren’t so different after all! Global citizenship is the way to be!
Salute Class of 2011
Carolyn Blair
Nikki Doughty
Latasha M. McClelland
Michelle L. McClure
Art J. McCoy, II
Marsha Yvonne Merry
Natissia Small
Darnell P. Young
Salute Class of 2010
Dr. Celeste A. Adams
Michael Blackshear
Sheandra P. Brown
Florida M. Cowley
Bruce Green
Carole Johnson
Matthew McCallum
Sybil Selfe
Salute Class of 2009
Kelly Ballard
H. Eric Clark
Niyi Coker, Jr.
Natasha Mosley
Rona Roginson-Hill
Michelle A. Pendleton
Dr. Alice F. Roach
Margaret Williams
Salute Class of 2008
Julia Robinson Burke
Mama Lisa Gage
Terry J. Houston, Sr.
Eric D. Johnson, Sr.
RaShawn Johnson
Marilyn Mims
Darlene Morgan
Simone Williams
Salute Class of 2007
Luella Atkins
Haliday Douglas
Sonja P. Little
Romona Miller
Tyrone Jeffrey
Darlene Norfleet
Victor Poindexter
Brian Rogers
Salute Class of 2006
Jowanda Bozeman
Dr. Harvey Fields, Jr.
Kathryn Garrett
Clarice Hall
Crystal Herron
Howard Rambsy
Kathy Walker Steele
Zella Williams
Salute Class of 2005
Charles Ransom
Betty Robinson
Gwendolyn Shannon
Makeda Reid-Vales
Shirley Washington-Cobb
Chelsea Watson
Brian Weaver
Dr. Brenda Youngblood
Salute Class of 2004
Travis Brown, Sr.
Patrick Jackson
Pat Johnson
Vernon Mitchell
Terri Moore
Joan Barnes-Parham
Monette Gooch-Smith
Dr. Ann Chism-Williams
Salute Class of 2003
Vera Atkinson
Dr. Stephanie Carter
Rose Coleman
Dr. Vern Moore
Juanester Russell
Frank Smith
Dr. Linda Lou Smith
Dr. Gwen Turner
Salute Class of 2002
Cynthia Boone
Thomas Edwards
Terrance Freeman
Flossie Henderson
Billie Mayo
Edna Pipes
Salute Class of 2001
Dr. Edwin F. Bailey, Jr.
Terrence Curry
Juliette Hite
Dr. Larona Morris
Annie House Russell
Hattie K. Weaver
Salute Class of 2000
Prof. Bennie A. Adams
Ian P. Buchanan
Mabel Thomas Edmonds
Michael T. Railey, M.D.
Linda Riekes
Cynthia J. Sutton
Salute Class of 1999
Michael R. DeBaun, M.D.
Roland Nichols
Eugene B. Redmond
Althea Taylor
Kerry M. Woodberry, M.D.
Salute Class of 1998
Alexander Harris, O.D.
Louis M. Marion
Dr. Patricia Nichols
Dr. Savannah Miller-Young
Louis Zitzmann
Salute Class of 1997
Alice M. Aldridge
Marion Bosley-Evans
Cynthia L. Cosby
Ivory Johnson
Andrea Walker
Salute Class of 1996
Carol Barnes
Nino Fennoy
Dr. Charlene Jones
Bettye Reed
Chanuncey Trawick
Salute Class of 1995
Victoria Cothran
Dr. Charles Harris
Dr. Ernest Jones
Michelle Lowery
Viola Murphy
Salute Class of 1994
Dean James McCleod
Dr. Arvarh Stickland
Rudolph Wilson
Barbara Woods
Dr. Edith Mae Young.
Note: The specific category of “Excellence in Education” Awards commenced in 1994.
Past Merit Awardees:
Salute Class of 1993
Dr. Edna Allen
Dr. Frances J. Gooden
Elizabeth Hutcherson
Addie Bryan Jackson
Fontroy Todd
Salute Class of 1992
Dr. Harvest Collier
Dr. Lincoln I. Diuguid
Alicia Ivory-House
Sandra Murdock
Dr. Wilfred Sorrell
Salute Class of 1991
Dr. Nettie S. Armmer
Leon Burke, Jr.
Dr. Queen Fowler
Yvonne Howze
Louise Mitchell
Bessie L. Reid
Beatrice Strong
Betty Porter Walls
Louise T. Wilkerson
Salute Class of 1990
Lt. Col. Leroy Adkins
Stephen Banks
Marguerite Ross-Barnett
Lynn Beckwith, Jr.
Evail Boyd
Jerry L. Bryant
Lois Harris
Edward Hightower
Kermit Hill
Floyd Irons
Rev. Dr. Buck Jones
Jerome B. Jones
Betty Jean Kerr
Shirley LeFlore
Kathryn Nelson
Hershel J. Walker
Rochelle Walker
Wilma Wells
Edna J. Whitfield
Gaye S. Wilson
Dorrie K. Wise
Salute Class of 1989
Sarah Short-Austin
Ron Carter
Rose Davis
Mathew Foggy
Rev. C. Garnett Henning, Sr.
Hulas King
Andre Jackson
Oval Miller
Eugene Redmond
Ollie Steward
Eric Vickers
Salute Class of 1988
George Elliott
Jonathan Ford
Dr. George Hyram
Carolyn Kingcade
Richard Martin
Judge Theodore McMillan
Jamie Rivers
Irene F. Schell
Norman Seay
Willie Mae Ford-Smith
H. Phillip Venable, M.D.
Dannette Connor-Ward
Bill Wilkerson
School of Excellence Award Recipients:
ï 2011 Bermuda Elementary
ï 2010 Patrick Henry
Elementary
ï 2009 Lexington Elementary
ï 2008 Froebel Elementary
ï 2007 Herzog Elementary
ï 2006Bel-Ridge
Elementary
ï 2005 Peabody Elementary
ï 2004 Pierre Laclede
Elementary
ï 2003Barbara C. Jordan
Elementary
The Missouri Lottery’s core mission is to generate funds to provide educational opportunities for Missouri students, support Missouri businesses and entertain millions.
As a sponsor of this very special 25th anniversary Salute to Excellence in Education Scholarship & Awards Gala, the Missouri Lottery is awarding new, state-of-the-art laptop computers to each of this year’s scholarship recipients.
allocated. The proceeds represent about 4 percent of the total funding for Missouri’s public elementary, secondary and higher education systems.
The Missouri Lottery is awarding new, state-ofthe-art laptop computers to each of this year’s scholarship recipients.
When the Lottery began in 1986, proceeds from ticket sales went to the Missouri State General Revenue Fund. In August 1992, voters passed Amendment 11 earmarking Lottery proceeds to solely benefit public education. Each year, the Missouri Legislature determines how these proceeds will be
Lottery funds help support a variety of programs including the A+ Scholarship Program, Virtual Schools, Special Education Excess Costs, construction of college and university buildings, library acquisitions and educational scholarships. These programs and others that receive Lottery money provide the resources that help Missouri students fulfill their individual dreams — dreams that define Missouri’s future and ultimately benefit all of Missouri residents. To date, the Missouri Lottery has contributed more than 4 billion dollars to public education.
The St. Louis American, Saint Louis Public Schools, the Normandy School District and the Saint Louis Science Center, along with corporate partners, have collaborated to create a unique classroom tool that was recently launched.
The initial pilot project is directly targeted to the Saint Louis Public Schools and Normandy School districts. This Newspaper In Education program will continue in the newspaper and online at stlamerican.com every week for the entire 2012-2013 academic school year, at no charge to participating classrooms.
Minority students who use a newspaper at least once a week score 29 percent higher on standardized tests than minority students who don’t use a newspaper, according to the NNA.
According to the National Newspaper Association (NNA), students with some Newspaper In Education (NIE) program in their classrooms score on average 10 percent higher on standardized tests than students who do not use an NIE program.
When it comes to minority students, that number soars. Minority students who use a newspaper at least once a week score 29 percent higher on standardized tests than minority students who don’t use a newspaper, according to the NNA.
Partnering with St. Louis-based organizations, includingAmeren Missouri, Centene, Emerson, Monsanto, Regional Business Council and World Wide Technology, The American is printing and delivering newspapers free of charge to more than 200 classrooms and 5,000 students in the Normandy School District and Saint Louis Public School District during this initial launch.
Every week during the school year, there will be a full page in the Main
News portion of the American, cated to the paper’s NIE program. The full color page will be targeted to students in 3 and 5 all the content will meet Missouri Learning Standards and Common Core States Standards. The program is focused on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education and literacy. Each week has a unique theme (for example, “solar”), and has fun learning activities
as a science experiment; Math Connection; a piece about AfricanAmerican inventors and inventions; and MAPCorner with sample questions on the standardized MAPtests.
There is also a Classroom Spotlight piece every week, with a photo of a local classroom doing something fun and perhaps a little different with STEM educa-
The August 30th edition of the St.Louis American's Newspaper in Education program.Each week,the full color,full page is focused on STEM (science, technology,engineering and math) education and literacy,and is targeted to children in 3rd,4th and 5th grades.
Students are encouraged to take the newspaper home to share with their par-
“This is certainly one of the largest and most important initiatives in the 84year history of The St. Louis American,” said Kevin Jones, the American’s COO and creator of this special project.
“We’re extremely excited. It’s been in the works for a while, but we wanted to do it right, we wanted to do it big, we wanted to have the right partners and, most importantly, we want it to have a lasting impact.”
Jones credits several key partners who are assisting with this project.
“SLPS and Normandy, and the Science Center have all embraced this project,” Jones said. “There is absolutely no way we could have created this program with out their whole-hearted support.”
As part of this initiative, the American has engaged a St. Louis American NIE Advisory Board, comprised of seven educators as well as area leaders from major corporations related to STEM fields. The board is being chaired by Diane Miller, vice president, community programs and partnerships for the Saint Louis Science Center. On stlamerican.com, there is also a section titled “Teacher Resources” which has information and links on tutorials such as “Using the Newspaper to Improve Test Scores” and “MAP Moments.” Questions/comments can be directed to nie@stlamerican.com.
The St. Louis American Foundation, a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization founded in 1994, is dedicated to enabling the African-American community to increase its access to careers in Journalism, the Sciences, and the Humanities. The Foundation has defined a unique mission. This mission combines a primary interest in promoting educational opportunity with critical support for activities that move individuals towards being self-directed and assuming personal responsibility for pursuing constructive futures.
The St. Louis American Foundation supports activities in three broad areas:
Career Encouragement Internships Achievement Recognition
Education Special Initiatives
Scholarships to Under-served Students
2012 Salute to Excellence in Education Scholarships and Community Grants
2012 Salute to Excellence in Education Scholarship Grants: St. Louis American Foundation Scholarship Fund....................................... $35,000
Community Health Health Literacy & Education
The St. Louis American Foundation is pleased to have the opportunity to support individuals and organizations who share our view that education is a critical need if African Americans are to be able to help themselves and to contribute to community progress.
Do you know an outstanding educator, contributing to African-American student success who is deserving of a Salute to Excellence in Education award?
The St. Louis American Foundation is now accepting nominations from the public. The nomination can be a selfnomination or come from a third party, for the following special awards: 2013 Lifetime Achiever in Education Award, and 2013 Stellar Performer in Education Award
We’re asking for your input in identifying committed, energetic and innovative educators who truly believe that “every” child can learn and that no child should be left behind. Please tell us why should this person deserves public recognition.
Lifetime Achieverin Education
* An outstanding educator who is in an advanced stage of their career, or recently retired, who exemplifies a higher standard of excellenceof achievement in the field of education and has dedicated a substantial part of his/her life to that field.
StellarPerformerin Education
* An outstanding educator in early or mid-career. Someone who works with the parents as well as the students, and has instituted innovative teaching methods that have had tangible, positive results, while exemplifying the higher standard of excellence in education.
Please fill out this form, and attach any additional information (including resume’and a narrative description) you wish, and send it to:
St. Louis American Foundation Attn: Education Awards 4242 Lindell Blvd. St. Louis, MO 63108 (Fax: 314-533-2332)
Nominee’s Name: _____________________________ School:______________________________________
Nominated for (check one): __Lifetime Achiever__Stellar Performer
Finalists will be announced 1st quarter of 2013. Your Name:_________________________________ Your Contact Phone #_________________________ Email______________________________________
• Vincent’s Jewelers
• Bubbling Brown Sugar Productions
• Renaissance St.Louis Grand Hotel
• Personal Touches by Jeeanetta (J.Hill Jazz Cabaret Sponsor)
• American Family Insurance (Salute Alumni Hall of Fame Sponsor)
• Heartland Bank (Gala Volunteer Sponsor)
• Barnes-Jewish Hospital
• McCormack Baron Salazar
• St.Louis College of Pharmacy
• Centene
• Gateway Classic
• SSM
• TIAA-CREF
• Webster University
The St. Louis American Foundation is especially grateful to our sponsors listed above. Their generous support was indispensable in making possible the highly successful 2012 Salute to Excellence in Education Scholarship and Awards Gala and the 2012 Salute Scholarships.
