Guerilla Educators

Michael Simmons; Valedictorian of the Barack Obama Green Charter High School

Michael Simmons is the Valedictorian of First Graduating Class at Barack Obama Green Charter High School. Here are excerpts from his inspiring speech to his fellow graduates.

Mr. Steven King; CEO, Barack Obama Green Charter High School

Steve King, Founder and incoming CEO of the Barack Obama Green Charter High School gave a powerful address to the first graduating class at Obama Green, below...

Educon 2.2 Student Voices

Much has already been deservedly written about the amazing, brilliant, innovative, education-based conference, Educon 2.2, at the Science Leadership Academy in the School District of Philadelphia that took place on January 29, 30, and 31, 2010. IMHO, Educon truly could not have had the degree of success it did without authentic, hands on SLA student involvement in virtually every aspect of the program. This video is a compilation of some of those student voices and their take on why Educon is important to them, their school, and to the world of education. They are truly a tribute to the tremendous work of Mr. Chris Lehman, Principal at SLA.  Take a look...

Good article in today's Philadelphia Inquirer about Educon, here.

Precious Metals

 

Gold broke the magical $1,000 barrier and has established a firm foundation at that plateau.  Still a good time to hedge some funds to precious metals as a bulwark against stock volatility.  Five years ago, gold traded at around $400.  This morning it stood above $1,050.  This is a nice perk to have advanced 2 1/2 times over in that time period, but the real reason to diversify some resources into precious metals is as a bulwark against the value of the dollar and market fluctuations.  Silver has done even better, outperforming gold over 5 years by advancing about 2 3/4 times its value in that time.  Remember, these personal opinions and $4.08 will get you a nice cup of coffee.

Canadian Idol's Farley Flex at Scott Collegiate

Canadian Idol's Farley Flex was at Scott Collegiate High School in Regina, Saskatchewan recently to assist Scott Principal Mr. Rod Allen, students, teachers, and Community Partners in the kick-off of a hands-on, project based educational initiative beginning in the '08-'09 school year called "Project Hip Hop".  Read all about it in the Regina Leader Post.

Click to see an original student hip hip song, "So Far So Good", created by students at Scott Collegiate 

Nobel Peace Prize Recipent, Wangari Maathai, Visits with Philadelphia Students.

On Monday, October 16, 2006, students from Blankenburg Elementary School were invited to a private reception with Ms Wangari Maathai , the 2004 Recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.  Ms Maathai is best known for spearheading the planting of millions of trees through the GREENBELT MOVEMENT in her native Kenya.  The students were chosen because of the important Service Learning projects they had conducted in the creation of the "Green Cities" tile mosaic at Blankenburg, for the planting of trees around the perimeter of their school, and for a High Performance, Green architecture project.  The Community Partner for the Green Cities mosaic was NetworkArts.  This 30 foot long, student created work of art is a curriculum guide to sustainability.  The tree planting initiative was conducted with the critical Community Partnership support of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and has improved the neighborhood aesthetics around the school.  It has also made the community a healthier place to live and work and has provided the students with the opportunity to learn about native species and what it means to be good citizens.
At the reception, the students had a once in a lifetime opportunity to engage Ms Maathai in conversation about being good stewards of the Earth and about Ms. Maathai's experiences growing up in Africa.  Wangari signed copies of her book, "UNBOWED".