Sunday, February 22, 2009

Happy Mardi Gras!











We have a lot of excellent academic activities planned at SVDP-ALC for the near future, but this weekend it is Carnival time in Old New Orleans. Here are a few photos I took at the start of the Endymion parade in Mid City. Only in New Orleans, folks...
HAPPY MARDI GRAS!!!
Adrian

Thursday, February 19, 2009

IWD Preparations Continue

We are now just two weeks away from our big event at SVPD-ALC, our first ever observation of International Women's Day (IWD).

We have selected our six student speakers who are presently active researching and writing their topics...and preparing the speeches.

The six (plus their topics) are as follows: L-R Standing, Dwana (Women's Suffrage), Jennie (Sacagawea), Eliria (Women's Education in Afghanistan); L-R Seated, Ruby (Sojourner Truth), Sr. Silvia (Mother Teresa), Linda (Joan of Arc).

Billy Edwards, a volunteer at SVDP-ALC, will also come and speak; and we may have a guest speaker too. If you can't come, don't worry, you can read all about it right here on our blog. There will be full coverage! IWD at SVDP-ALC will be Thursday, March 5th.
--Adrian

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Awards for the John Miller Writing Contest

















John Miller, USAP sent us these wonderful large and mounted photos as awards for our first-ever writing contest here at St. Vincent de Paul-ALC. Several students wrote about life in a tent in Antarctica; this was based on John Miller's real life adventure of re-enacting life in a tent (over one night) in the exact replica of the Amundsen-Scott tent. The second place award went to Aaron Hawthorne; he received a photo of the replica tent. Aaron is a former member of Louisiana Green Corps which is a part of AmeriCorps. Jennie Gorden won the first place prize which is a photo of the large telescope at South Pole Station and the Aurora Australis (Southern Lights). It was presented to her by Sr. Kathleen.
Congratulations to all and thanks again to John Miller.
-- Adrian

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Back to Antarctica: Pen Pal at McMurdo Soon






























(John Miller, our USAP Antarctic pen pal and great friend of St. Vincent de Paul's, has sent us some wonderful photos as he prepares to return soon to "the Ice." He is going back to Antarctica, this time to McMurdo Station. As soon as he makes contact with us again, we will let you know right here on this blog. So stay tuned. In the meantime, see the great photos. One is of John's brief visit to Afghanistan, before Antarctica. He will discuss this later on with our school. Another photo is of John and his family --Joshua, Johnathon, Rachelle, and Denise, his wife. Another is of his two dogs Teddy, a chow, and Chloe. The dogs did not go to Antarctica, by the way. I was told that sled dogs are no longer used much on "the Ice." The other two photos are of South Pole, including the now famous "Amundsen-Scott tent" photo.
In his last letter John spoke of the certificate of appreciation and thank you letters we sent him from our students and teachers from our school thanking him for his correspondence. Sarah Fischer, the program co-ordinator of Literacy*AmeriCorps also sent John a letter of appreciation from AmeriCorps for all his work. John responded via email, and here below is some of what he had to say.
-- Adrian)


Hello Adrian and students! I can't tell you what an honor it was to receive your letter and certificate of appreciation. I am sincerely humbled by your recognition and will proudly display both letter and certificate in my office at home, as a center piece for my college diploma, and others, that I have received over the years. As hard as I worked to get my Bachelors degree from the University, Reno, Nevada, I must say your recognition means oh so much more to me.
So many people have asked me why I would go to the Pole? I always knew God had a reason. Just to be a small part of your education and, by example, encouraging you to learn, was the best reason of all. Each of you has the potential for greatness that knows no bounds. I believe, as with our newly elected President, that one day, one, or more of you, will achieve success beyond your wildest dreams. And whether here, or in the next life, I will smile and say "I knew it!".
...please extend my thanks to Mrs. Sarah Fischer for her recent letter...

John

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Ireland: Geography Study at SVDP-ALC

At SVDP-ALC we have had a map reading/geography class for many months now, and it has been very educational and fun for the students. It has led to our unique pen pal program with the US Antarctic Program and our study of Antarctica. We have learned much about life at the two US bases there at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station and at McMurdo Station. While almost all of our USAP pen pals have left "the Ice," we are still in contact with our great friend of St. Vincent de Paul's at the USAP, John Miller. John will soon return to Antarctica and correspond with us from McMurdo. Much more news on this about John is coming soon!


We intend to continue our year of study in geography with a study of two more places outside of the USA, besides Antarctica. The first will be Ireland and then later this year, hopefully, South Africa. We will attempt to establish a pen pal program with adult learners in Ireland; but whether this works out or not, we will still have an indepth study of the geography, history, and culture of Ireland (and later South Africa). This learning process will enable students to study about other countries on their own as well later. We will be doing research from books, the internet, and possibly have guest writers for our blog on Irish topics, and have guest speakers to our school.
So stay tuned for this exciting educational adventure. We hope to begin our study in earnest by March 17th. (Note: The photo is of a map of Ireland by National Geographic used at our school.)
--Adrian

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Preparing for International Women's Day (IWD)











Several of our SVDP-ALC students were so interested in the topic of International Women's Day (which is overseen by the United Nations) that they decided to do research on the topic of women's rights around the world and accomplishments in history by famous women. So, we are planning to observe IWD at SVDP-ALC with six student presentations and speeches on various topics, such as, the life of Joan of Arc, Mother Teresa, Sacagawea, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, the rights (or lack thereof) of women in Afghanistan and in Saudi Arabia, and the history of women's suffrage (right to vote) in America. We will cover much more on this story as we approach IWD which is March 8. At SVDP-ALC we will observe IWD on the Thursday before March 8. Our six student presenters will be Jennie, Dwana, Elyria, Ruby, Sr. Silvia, and Linda. Aaron and I will help out organizing the event. (See photos.) And there may be a guest speaker too. So, stay tuned...
-- Adrian

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

The Nuns Visit SVDP-ALC














About 20 nuns from the Presentation Sisters (PBVM, Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary) and a few Dominicans visited SVDP-ALC today and got a good look at our school. They got to see a bit about our pen pal program with Antarctica too and were quite interested in our plans to extend the pen pal program to a learning center in Ireland. (Some of the visiting nuns are actually from Ireland. Others are from distant lands including India.)
Sr. Lory also took the nuns on a tour of the school's "map room" which we use for geography classes, small group sessions, and for current events and history classes. Everyone had an enjoyable and educational time. We gave our visitors our blog address, and we hope to stay in contact. (Maybe they are reading this right now??)
-- Adrian

Black History Month Observed at SVDP-ALC







SVDP-ALC observed Black History Month this February with another excellent lecture by our own resident historian, Mr. Lawrence Keller. Mr. Keller spoke to our class last month about the Battle of the Bulge and World War 2 history, something he knows about first-hand from serving in the US Army in Europe during the war. This month he told our class about the history of the African American soldiers in US History, from the time of the American Revolutionary War with George Washington, to the Battle of New Orleans with Andrew Jackson, to the Civil War and more modern times. He also discussed the tragedy of slavery in American history and gave some insights into Louisiana history by telling the story of his own family's roots in Donaldsonville, Louisiana from last century. As usual, the students were spellbound by Mr. Keller's knowledge and passion for the subject of history. What a great learning experience it was!
-- Adrian

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Guest Writer, John Miller: An Editorial on Education and Antarctica


(If you have been following this blog, you know we have had for many months a pen pal program between our school and members of the US Antarctic Program [USAP] at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station and McMurdo Station in Antarctica. USAP members stay in Antarctica only for a limited time due to the severe conditions, and all of our pen pals have now gone home from "the Ice." However, one of them is still our pen pal, communicating with us via email from his home in the USA. He will continue to tell us about his Antarctic experiences at the South Pole and share with us his love for learning. His name is John Miller. [See his photo from last year at South Pole Station.]
John has written to our students many, many times from the South Pole. Below is an editorial he completed for AmeriWord, the newsletter for Literacy*AmeriCorps New Orleans which we are re-printing on our blog. [See the January, 2009 issue of AmeriWord at http://www.literacygno.org/literacyamericorps/lac-publications/ameriword ] We will post much more from John later at this blog, so stay tuned. John's writings are always popular with our readers. Our thanks, John, for your continued and outstanding support for our school, for education, and for the Literacy*AmeriCorps pen pal program.
The South Pole Rules !!
-- Adrian)


Still Learning: An Editorial From Antarctica to New Orleans
By John Miller, USAP


When I stepped off of the Herc [aircraft] back in November of 2007, I had every expectation of being slammed with the mind and body numbing cold that is associated with the South Pole. I was pleasantly surprised that, even at -49, and a wind chill of around -80, I was comfortably warm, but very much in awe of the fact that I was finally in Antarctica, standing on the bottom of the world. And as summer turned to winter and the long darkness set in, temperatures dropped along with the sun, but my own morale stayed high, partly in fact to the opportunity I had gained in the summer, to correspond with students from the New Orleans area through the AmeriCorps Literacy project. I know the project was designed to encourage adults to improve their literacy skills; but as the pen pal program progressed over the course of the winter, I realized just how much they were helping me get through the winter, and how I looked forward to their emails and hearing from people, like myself, who love to learn, and want to improve their lives through education.


In my own life, I didn't come to realize the importance of education until many years after high school. For me, high school consisted of doing just enough to get by, never applying myself, or realizing just how much education could prepare me for the real world. At the time, I really didn't love learning; just didn't care, and saw no reason to continue my education. Years later, after returning to school at the University of Nevada, Reno, I began to acquire a thirst for knowledge, and to see that learning doesn't, or shouldn't, stop after high school, or even college; it is a life-long endeavor that enriches and fulfills not only our lives, but also the lives of those around us. So, as I sit at my desk writing this short editorial, and looking out at the geographic South Pole marker (how many people in the world can ever say that!), I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, that education, a life time of learning, was my ticket here. That without the five years spent as an apprentice electrician, which included six hours per week of classroom instruction, and hour after hour of homework and studying; and then spending 8 years getting a Bachelors degree in Education, and at the same time being the sole support for my growing family (including my loving and understanding wife Denise, and our three children; Joshua, Rachelle, and my oldest, Jonathon, who is currently a sophomore at UNR); that this opportunity, which came to include corresponding with my new friends in New Orleans, would never have happened if not for education.

On my refrigerator back home, among the pictures, notes, and report cards, I have taped a small note written in Latin that says "Ancoro Imparo" meaning, "I AM STILL LEARNING" And I pray that I always will.


John Paul Miller
Electrical Foreman
Amundsen/Scott South Pole Station
Antarctica