Six BPS students earn prestigious Gates Millennium Scholarships

Six Boston Public Schools students have been selected for the United Negro College Fund’s (UNCF) Gates Millennium Scholars Program (GMS), the nation’s largest minority scholarship program. The BPS students, representing four high schools, are among 1,000 students nationwide and 11 in Massachusetts who received the good-through-graduation college scholarships that can be used to pursue degrees in any undergraduate major at the college or university of the recipients’ choice.

The 2010 Boston Public Schools Gates Millennium Scholars are as follows:

· Tatiana Cortes, New Mission High School
· Jean Heyd Meneide, Brook Farm Business and Service Career Academy
· Jasmine Lee, Boston Arts Academy
· Takii Rivers, New Mission High School
· Patrick Tavares, Brighton High School
· Jasmine Williams, New Mission High School

One of the students, Tatiana Cortes, was profiled in a Boston Herald article, while WHDH-TV stopped by New Mission High School to speak with some of the winners.

Photo: Tatiana Cortes (Boston Herald)

Perkins School welcomes "men and women in uniform" for reading celebration

The Michael J. Perkins Elementary School in South Boston recently celebrated reading with a special event featuring sailors, police, EMS, firefighters, military officers and other “men and women in uniform” who visited classrooms and served as guest readers. The guests, including EMI Michael Pendergraft and SA Tracy Stephens from the USS Constitution (pictured), read books related to their professions, and at the end of the day, each child selected a book to bring home for his/her home library. The event was organized in conjunction with Reading Is Fundamental and ReadBoston.

Students travel to New Orleans over April vacation to help with Hurricane Katrina relief efforts

In collaboration with Gulf Coast Volunteers for the Long Haul, 12 students from six Boston Public Schools will travel to New Orleans over spring recess next week to help with ongoing relief efforts related to Hurricane Katrina.

The students are all mentors in the LEAH project, which provides high school students with mentoring and leadership opportunities in out-of-school-time programs.

The students, along with four staff, will stay in Algiers for the week and volunteer in the wards of New Orleans and Slidell, Louisiana. They will also visit McMain High School to dialogue with New Orleans Public Schools students, visit Dillard University, and experience the unique food, music, and culture of the city. Throughout the trip, LEAH mentors will post updates on Facebook and Twitter as “Leah Leaders” and write daily blogs at http://leahneworleans.chipin.com. They leave on Sunday, April 18 and return to Boston on Saturday, April 24. The trip is sponsored in part by Loomis, Sayles & Company, L.P.

BPS in the News

Here are some recent news stories featuring BPS students, staff and partners:

WBZ-TV went to the Tynan Elementary School today in South Boston, where Boston Police honored third grade student Richard Scott for his bravery. Last week, Richard helped a Kindergarten student whose parents were not at the bus stop to pick her up.

The City of Boston's Anti-Bullying Hotline was recently featured in an ABC News story on cyberbulling.

The Curley K-8 School and the John F. Kennedy School in Jamaica Plain were featured in the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald for helping the Department of Fish and Game release trout and salmon into Jamaica Pond.

Kindergarten students learn about careers in the aviation industry

Students from Ms. Frazier's K1 class at the Adams Elementary School in East Boston stopped by the annual Logan Airport Aviation Education Career Expo. The students got an up-close look at a gigantic FedEx plane and an opportunity to climb aboard and explore a number of aircraft. Each year more than 1,000 students from Boston and beyond attend the event to learn more about careers in the aviation and transportation industries and about the importance of science and math skills in these fields.