More Photos from our Student Awards Day

Here are a few more photos from our Awards Day event. We see Lance Williams, our new GED graduate and Sr. Lory; Jennie and Eliria; Edward with Sr. Lory; and Perry with Sr. Lory.

Congratulations to all of our students, teachers, and staff for making this a great year in education!

--Adrian

Photos From our Spring/Summer Student Awards Ceremony

Here are a few photos from our Spring/Summer Student Awards Ceremony we held a few weeks ago. (Currently, our school is on break; but we will be back in early July.) In the photos we see our volunteer teacher, Mrs. Marlene Wilson, getting an award from Sr. Kathleen. We see me giving awards for academic improvement to Perry and to Linda. (Linda was also recognized for her excellent work with the International Women's Day presentation at SVDP-ALC. Perry was recognized for writing an article for Read Beans and Writes magazine.) Then we see photos of Sr. Lory and Sr. Kathleen. We hold our awards ceremony twice per year. Students are recognized for improvements in academics and also for participating in special programs -- such as student writing.

--Adrian

The SVDP-ALC Award Goes to... John Miller

Soon I will be posting the photos from the Spring 2009 SVDP-ALC student awards ceremony which occurred a couple of weeks ago at our school. Twice per year we have an awards day to recognize student academic accomplishments.

But today I am posting avery special award which was given out at the student ceremony, but which does not go to a student. It goes to our "long-distance" volunteer teacher John Miller who is in Antarctica. (See the scan of his certificate which I will mail to his home in the USA shortly.)

For more than a year now John Miller, USAP, has been an outstanding teacher, writer, photographer, pen pal, and friend to our school, our students, teachers, and staff. He has consistently gone above and beyond the call of duty and has been an inspiration to us all.

We all at our school look forward to each and every email from John from Antarctica. He always has something interesting, informative, and enlightening to say. We have all learned so much from him.

Once again, we thank you, John, for all you have done for our St. Vincent de Paul-ALC school, for Literacy AmeriCorps, and for adult literacy education in New Orleans.

Note: In the photos above we see a scene from last year when John was in the Amundsen-Scott tent at South Pole Station. Also we see where he is now at McMurdo Station on the Ross Ice Shelf . The certificate of appreciation has our school name on it and is signed by the director of our school, Sr. Kathleen Bahlinger, Congregation of St. Joseph nuns, and signed by me as the program director for our Antarctica-New Orleans Pen Pal Program. The certificate will be safely waiting at John's home address in the USA after I mail it soon.

-- Adrian

Blue Berry Baby -- Gibson Helps at AmeriCorps Unity Event

In the continuing adventures of our littlest volunteer, Gibson Fischer, this time we find Gibson in rural Mississippi helping our Literacy AmeriCorps group at a Unity Event. We went to Mississippi, near Poplarville, to pick blueberries. (Unity events help our Corps to work as a team.) Later we visited with Rachel Nicolosi (Gibson's Fabulous Aunt Rachel) of the Literacy Alliance GNO and her husband Jim for lunch and a discussion with Abram Himelstein of the Neighborhood Story Project -- http://www.neighborhoodstoryproject.org/ . Abram explained how he began the project after his experience in AmeriCorps. Today the NSP is very popular and produces a series of books by and about people in New Orleans including "Coming Out the Door for the 9th Ward" which was used with One Book One New Orleans in 2007-08. Abram also discussed how we could use our AmeriCorps experiences to create similar programs ourselves or on topics that interest us.

But the highlight of the day was, as ever, the assistance rendered to us by Gibson as he encouraged us to pick blueberries, and he even picked a few himself (see the photos). Gibson wore a sun hat, and his mom Sarah put lots of sunscreen on him. So, he had a good time.

In the top photo we see Gibson being held by our AmeriCorps member Molly; his mom and dad are in the background. Next, we see him being held by Sarah with Gibson's Fabulous Aunt Rachel in the background picking blueberries. (She's an expert at this, by the way.) Then, we see Gibson picking berries; and then Sarah with Gibson. Next, we see Gibson putting picked berries into the bucket where we saved the berries. (We also ate them as we went along.) Then, we see Gibson standing up. Finally, we see Gibson relaxing with his mom and dad after a very productive morning.

Another fine job, Gibson!

We had quite a large crew today: Molly, Miraim, Kereem, Sarah, Owyn, Gibson, Abram, Jim, and Rachel and myself.

By the way, I took these photos with my new camera. I hope this new camera will be an improvement.

-- Adrian

D-Day: June 6, 1944 -- SVDP Remembers WW2

In our continual study of World War ll at SVDP-ALC, we recognize the importance of the day in history. Today is the 65th anniversary of D-Day, the Invasion of Normandy. On this day in 1944 Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower led all the Allied forces in Europe in one of the most daring undertakings in human history. Starting on the eve of D-Day, June 5, US and British paratroopers landed in France as a prelude to the full-scale amphibious invasion on June 6.

Opposing Eisenhower (and his subordinates, Omar Bradley and Bernard Montgomery) were the German gemerals von Rundstedt and Erwin Rommel. Adolf Hitler himself even entered directly into the chain of command during this battle.

The Allies attacked at five beaches -- Gold, Juno, and Sword for the British and Canadians; and Utah and Omaha for the Americans. Although all of the beaches saw terrible fighting, the worst beach for the Allies was clearly Omaha which was right in the middle of the invasion site and was heavily defended by the Germans.

After many losses, the American forces moved inland, uniting the five Allied beaches and creating a foothold in Europe. The Nazi "Atlantic Wall" had been breached. From this point on the war would continue for many months in Europe, but Hitler's days were now numbered.

In the photos above we see Gen Eisenhower (IKE) speaking with members of the 101st Airborne Division in England on June 5, 1944 just minutes before they would go into combat -- parachuting behind enemy lines. In the other photo we see a LCVP (Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel), better known as a Higgins Boat, conducted by the US Coast Guard as it lands men from the US Army's 1st Division on Ohama Beach on D-Day. Omaha was the deadliest of all the landing beaches, and it is almost certain that many of the men seen in this photograph did not survive the day -- a day which the German general Erwin Rommel called "The Longest Day." Rommel, a brilliant military tactician, knew that he had to stop the Allies on the beaches or lose the battle, and even the war. He tried, but failed to do so. He was outmaneuvered by Gen. Eisenhower and overwhelmed by Allied air and naval superiority. But in reality what won the battle for the Allies was the bravery and determination of the ordinary footsoldier, the infantryman. Despite a multitude of dangers -- rough seas, cannon fire, land mines, machine gun fire, and German military skill and discipline -- the Allies -- and especially the Americans at Omaha-- did the impossible.

Winthin a year Adolf Hitler would be dead and the war, in Europe at least, would be over.

(Note: The two photos are from wikipedia commons and in public domain.)

--Adrian

Sr. Kathleen's Garden Keeps Growing

Sr. Kathleen's flower garden is really starting to grow.

See all the green plants now.

Soon we will see flowers!

Green is Groovy !!