Corporate Sponsor

2009-10 Board Level Sustainers










 


 

• • Area School Counselors Learn About Health Careers
• • Destination Graduation Topic for First Coordinator Meeting
• • Brookwood Middle and Mercedes-Benz Collaborate on New Greenhouse
• • "Granny Gail" and "Tom Turkay" celebrate Perfect Attendance at Huntington Place Elementary
• • Huntington Place Elementary 5k - A Huge Success!
• • Adopt-A-School Partners Help Out in Times of Need
• • Northport Elementary Adopt-A-School Character Award Winners
• • Central Primary Students Enjoy Partnership Activities
• • Paper, Gift Cards and Support for Vance Elementary Teachers
• • YMCA Partners with Tuscaloosa City Schools to Provide Swim Lessons
• • Dr. Joyce Levey Named Alabama's 2010 Superintendent of the Year
• • PLEASE REMEMBER...

“This was one of the BEST presentations that I have ever seen.  They were all fantastic.  The information was very timely and meaningful.”  “This was time well spent! Thanks for making it possible.”  “Thank you for taking time to inform us about the various career opportunities at DCH.”  These are just a few of the comments we received from local school counselors following a recent tour and forum organized and sponsored by the Adopt-A-School Program.  

The Chamber, through the Adopt-A-School Program, recognizes the importance of keeping local school counselors informed and armed with the information necessary to educate our future work force and to guide the students as they develop the skills needed to succeed as member of an ever-growing and ever-changing workforce.  School counselors play an important role in directing our students as they choose courses and training to prepare for their future.  The advice and guidance the counselors offer on a daily basis shapes the future workforce of Tuscaloosa

The goal of the Fall Counselor Tours is to continue to create awareness of training needs and availability of jobs in the Tuscaloosa area. The program was first launched to help school counselors learn more about manufacturing companies in Tuscaloosa and their needs for future employees. After two years visiting local manufacturing industries and then the automobile manufacturing industry, the focus of the 2009 meeting was careers in the health care industry. 

On November 10^th, elementary, middle and high school counselors from both the Tuscaloosa City and Tuscaloosa County School Systems met to learn more about the career opportunities available in the health care industry.  Hosted by DCH Health System and held at DCH, the forum included information about the DCH employment process and information about health care careers in general.  Information about scholarships, job requirements, high school course selection, career certification, and volunteer opportunities were included in the presentations. 

Ms Kay Troxler, VP for Human Resources at DCH welcomed the group and gave a quick overview of opportunities available for area students.  Bernie Grappe and Pam Kirkley outlined volunteer and explorer opportunities available for middle and high school students.  Sherri Faulkner, Amy Bowden, Brooke Moore and Ken Lawson, all recruiters for the DCH Health System, spoke to the counselors about specific career opportunities and career paths.  They included information about resumes and the interview process.  After the health career presentations, Carla Harris, Junior Achievement Program manager for Tuscaloosa county and Angie Morrison, counselor from Northington Elementary School shared information about Junior Achievement programs and particularly about JA in a Day opportunities. 

Through the Adopt-A-School Program we are proud to sponsor this opportunity to expose area counselors to our local businesses and to afford them the occasion to interact with business leaders.  We plan to continue to grow this program and organize opportunities for our school counselors.  For more information about how your business can participate in future tours and forums, contact Loo Whitfield at The Chamber 391-0563 or loo@tuscaloosachamber.com

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“Destination Graduation” was the topic for the first Adopt-A-School Coordinator Meeting for the 2009-2010 school year.  Again this year, the coordinator meetings have been developed to meet the needs of the coordinators and to provide information and new ideas for partnership activities.  Each of the 2009-2010 coordinator meetings will focus on a different topic

On November 17^th business and school coordinators met at JamisonMoneyFarmer, PC to learn what is being done in our area to encourage and increase high school graduation rates.  Dr. Zachary Barnes, Director of Graduation Success and Dropout Prevention for the Tuscaloosa City School System shared with the group detailed information about the problems caused by students dropping out of high school at both the national and local level.   Specifically, Dr. Barnes shared with the group risk factors for high school dropouts, highlighted new programs currently in effect to help students at risk for dropping out, information about transitional school years and programs designed to intervene and help all students graduate from high school.  As noted in his presentation, the risk factors often occur before the high school years and the problem affects the entire community.   After his presentation, the coordinators met in small groups to brainstorm partnership ideas and activities to help ensure that every student is destined for graduation. 

The topic for the December 8^th Coordinator meeting is “My Job is So Cool”.   The meeting, will be held at Comfort Inn on Doris Pate Drive is scheduled from 3:30-5:30p.m.  The Junior Achievement Job Shadow program as well as, current partnership job shadow and career exploration programs will be explained and attendees will receive information about developing or improving job shadow and career information programs for students.  This program will benefit all partnerships who have a job shadow program or would like ideas for developing and incorporating job shadowing and career explorations with their partnerships!

Coordinators are encouraged to attend any or all of the scheduled coordinator meetings.  In February, the coordinator meeting will focus on Literacy Activities.  The last meeting is scheduled in March and the meeting will focus on ideas for the newly developed “Partnership Appreciation Week”.  The dates, times and places for the remaining meetings are:
     Tues., December 8, 2009:  3:30-5:30PM - "My Job is So Cool" – Comfort Inn
     Thurs., February 11, 2010:  3:30-5:30PM – “Literacy Activities" - TBD

    Tues., March 9, 2010: 3:30-5:00PM - "Partnership Appreciation Week" - TBD

Look for registration forms via email and contact the Adopt-A-School for additional information.  Contact Carolyn, 391-0556 Carolyn@tuscaloosachamber.com or Loo, 391-0563

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With eager anticipation, Brookwood Middle School students, faculty, and administrators ask the question, “When will the greenhouse be ready?”  Things are moving along, maybe not at the pace BMS would like, but you cannot control Mother Nature.  The unusually wet fall weather put a damper on the final push in completing the greenhouse.  According to Mr. Tripp Marshall, Assistant Principal, things should be dry enough and the winds calm enough to proceed with the last phase of the greenhouse soon. 

Thanks to the hard work and assistance from Mr. Joel Horton of Mercedes-Benz U.S. International and several other volunteers from BMS and the community, the greenhouse has proceeded from a plan to an actual structure that will soon provide great benefit to the students and the community.  However, the final thrust the project needed came from the work of Ms. Jane Newman, Coordinator of Science in Action at the University of Alabama.  Ms. Newman was instrumental in BMS receiving a “Learn and Serve” sub-grant to work with students in creating an authentic, service-based project in the content areas of science and technology as part of the national Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Initiative.  Specifically, a project has been planned to beautify the Brookwood Parkway by planting crepe myrtles cultivated in the greenhouse. 

Through the greenhouse service project, Brookwood Middle School students will learn important subject matter, meet a need of the community, solve a problem and develop skills necessary to compete in a global economy. 

Pictured:  Adopt-a-School Committee members, Subrina Champion, Janet Ruger, Dr. Judi Wheeler, and Mr. Tripp Marshall tour the greenhouse and discuss the final steps necessary to complete the project. 

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Pritchett-Moore provides a monthly Attendance Fairy who celebrates "Perfect Attendance" for students who meet the following criteria each month:  at school every day (no absences); at school all day (no check ins or check outs); arrive at school on time (no tardies).

Granny Gail (Gail Butler, Sales Manager), and Tom TurKay (Kay Day, Relocation Director) of Prudential Pritchett-Moore proudly presented certificates to all Huntington Place Elementary students who met the Perfect Attendance criteria for the month of October.  Pritchett-Moore is proud to be an Adopt-A-School sponsor and celebrate students each month who achieve perfect attendance.

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Shelton State Community College and TTL, Inc., Adopt-A-School Partners for Hillcrest Middle School have made this otherwise-difficult school year MUCH BRIGHTER!  TTL made teachers’ wishes come true when they delivered classroom supplies to teachers in September.  Classroom supply money was one of the items cut from the school budget, so receiving materials such as copy paper and printer ink was especially exciting.  In addition to this, TTL also made special wishes come true such as providing Scholastic magazines for an English teacher and sponsoring part of a HMS Choir student’s travel expenses to Washington, D.C. TTL also continues to host Honor Roll Parties for students with A or A-B averages and students who have brought up a six weeks average at least 10 points.   

Shelton State also brightened the halls of Hillcrest Middle by sending their Bach to Rock choral group to perform for choir and band students one morning in October.  Shelton State’s choral group is top-notch, and the students LOVED it!  Shelton State’s men’s and women’s basketball teams as well as their cheerleaders also had a shoot off at HMS which had EVERYONE cheering in the gymnasium.  Even in the wake of financially-difficult times for both adopters and their partner, GREAT things are happening at Hillcrest Middle thanks to help from our Shelton State and TTL!

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The partnership between Bailey's TaeKwonDo in Northport and Northport Elementary strives to establish and reward great character in all students.  Every week Mrs. Lucy Sellers, principal of Northport Elementary, gives the students a new "character word" to learn and practice during the week.  Students are rewarded during the week by their teachers for using that "character word". 

At the end of the nine-week grading period, one student from each class is chosen by their teacher as the overall "Character Award Winner".  That student is awarded a Character Certificate and Character T-Shirt by Michael Holt, instructor and owner of Bailey's TaeKwonDo in Northport. 

These "character words" are the same traits that Mr. Holt strives to teach all of his martial arts students each day at his academy.  By striving to teach and reward those very important principles, Northport Elementary and Bailey's TaeKwonDo in Northport are striving to make a difference in the lives of the children of Tuscaloosa County!  The most recent awards were given on Friday, October 16!  Great Job Students!

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“That was sooo cool”… “Did you see me up there, I was great!” …“The funniest part was when he put the rope up on the refrigerator and then pulled it and fell down.”  These are just a few of the student comments following the presentation provided by Stillman College drama students.  On Tuesday, October 27^th the Stillman students presented an interactive presentation of “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” to the Central Primary students.  The students enjoyed the musical play and particularly enjoyed the opportunity to participate with their Adopt-A-School partners, from Stillman College.   

Pumpkin Appreciation

Central Primary art teacher, Mrs. Jackie Mason, provided decorated pumpkins for area Compass Bank offices.  The pumpkins are a token of appreciation for all that Compass Bank provides for their Adopt-A-School partner, Central Primary. The pumpkins are not your typical “jack-o-lanterns” and each depicts a unique personality and were proudly displayed at several Compass Bank locations.

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With proration and budget cuts this year, having enough funds for class instruction materials is a challenge for all teachers.  Teachers at Vance Elementary are feeling less of a strain thanks to their Adopt-A-School Partners.  Mercedes Benz U.S. International donated several hundred packs of colored copy paper to the teachers. The donation surprised the teachers and they were very appreciative of the generous donation in such difficult financial times.

Additionally, Mercedes Benz, Vulcan Materials, and Southland International Trucks have agreed to provide gift cards for Vance Elementary teachers to help with the financial strain of providing classroom materials. Each grading period each Adopter will provide $25.00 gift cards to be awarded through random drawings during faculty meetings.

Finally, Vance Elementary students are learning to “Just Say No to Drugs” with the help of Southland International Trucking, Mercedes Benz, and Vulcan Materials. During Red Ribbon Week each adopter provided funds to help support the very educational and fun week. The funds were used to purchase color change pencils, bookmarks and theme day stickers for all students to wear each day reminding them to stay drug free. Also, the students enjoyed special guests and a visit from DJ Rap and Scurvy Pirate to help celebrate and remind them to stay drug free. All three Adopters were instrumental in providing the activities for the week.

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For more than ten years the YMCA has partnered with the Tuscaloosa City Schools to provide each and every third grade student the opportunity to receive five clock hours of water safety/swimming lessons by certified lifeguards. This year, the program would not have been available to the children of Tuscaloosa had it not been for a generous gift from Nick and Terry Saban through their Nick’s Kids program to help offset the cost of transporting the children to and from the YMCA.

According to swim instructor, Louis Shedd, the focus of the program is promote water safety or to “drown proof” the students.  “Most children drown within six feet of the side of the pool, so it is important to teach the students how to be safe around the water,” stated Shedd.  On the first visit to the pool, students are given a skill test and grouped accordingly.  Those students who are already swimmers are given an opportunity to work on their skills and those students who are non-swimmers are given basic swim instruction.   The goal for the non-swimmers is to be able to swim 10-12 feet unaided.  All students are taught basic water safety skills. 

There is no price tag that can be placed on the value of a child’s life. Without this program, it is anticipated that many of the children would not receive any form of water safety instruction that incorporates real-life situations. Thanks to the help of others, the children of the Tuscaloosa City Schools will have this fun and rewarding opportunity.

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The School Superintendents of Alabama (SSA) and Classworks, an SSA Premium Business Member, recently announced the selection of Dr. Joyce Levey as the Alabama/Classworks 2010 Superintendent of the Year. Levey was selected from nine finalists throughout the state. She will be honored at the Superintendent of the Year Luncheon in January during SSA’s Legislative Conference in Montgomery. Classworks will provide Levey with a ring and travel expenses to the AASA National Conference on Education, to be held in February in Phoenix.

Nominations for the award were submitted from the nine districts of the School Superintendents of Alabama membership to a committee of educators and representatives of education.

Levey has served as Superintendent in the Tuscaloosa City School System since 2003 and is a torchbearer with regards to the inception of a Pre-K program in the City of Tuscaloosa. With the support of local government, she has initiated and implemented a successful Pre-K program within the district that enables children to begin their quest for knowledge at a much younger age.

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