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.

Families: Register online for Parent University and check out Summer Stuff

Registration for the May 1 session of the popular Parent University is now open. Parent University is a learning experience specifically designed to help Boston Public Schools parents increase their understanding of how children learn and develop; what their children should be learning; how to help their children get what they need to succeed; and how to bring other parents together to work for school improvement. Most importantly Parent University provides opportunities for parents to build their own skills and enjoy learning new things. Learn more and register online at www.bostonpublicschools.org/parentuniversity.


Additionally, BPS this week released the 2010 edition of Summer Stuff and Summer Stuff, Jr., listing hundreds of summer camps, classes, activities, internships and job opportunities for the coming summer. Summer Stuff 2010 for Grades 6 – 12 and Summer Stuff Jr. 2010 for Kindergarten – Grade 5 will be available in all Boston Public Schools and Family Resource Centers, as well as City Hall, public libraries, YMCA branches, ABCD Head Start Programs, and Boston Centers for Youth and Families (BCYF) community centers starting the week of March 29 – April 1. Additional free copies will be available at the BPS central office, 26 Court Street, Boston. Both editions can also be found online at www.bostonpublicschools.org/summer.

Murphy students travel to "Destination ImagiNation"

The Murphy K-8 School sent three teams to the Destination ImagiNation (DI) competition in Beverly, MA last weekend, and one of the teams -- "Do or DI Improv" -- won first place in its elementary category and will advance to the state championships in Worcester on April 3. Destination ImagiNation is an exhilarating after-school activity in which students work in teams to solve mind-bending Challenges and present their solutions at Tournaments. Teams are tested to think on their feet, work together, and devise original solutions that satisfy the requirements of the Challenges. Students at the Murphy participate in DI through the school's "Prime Time Afterschool Program."

Photo: Miren Parkinson and Max Snyder display their team's banner. Fifty teams from 12 communities participated in last weekend's tournament.