Archive for News:
2009 Annual Report
The 2009 Annual Report is available as a pdf download here. View all the Annual Reports here. Enjoy.
News: Amani Floyd Wins Award
Nice article about Class of 2008 participant Amani Floyd. Excerpt:
OXFORD, Miss. – Students at Jackson’s Bailey Magnet School saw their state exam scores in American history increase by more than 10 percent this year, with 95 percent of those students passing the state exam.
This achievement at the inner-city high school of some 350 students marks the highest percentage of students passing this test in four years, thanks in part to their teacher, Amani Floyd, a student in the Mississippi Teacher Corps program at the University of Mississippi.
“To be honest, this is not unexpected,” said Ben Guest, program coordinator for MTC, a two-year alternate route teacher certification program that recruits college graduates and places them as teachers in the state’s most poverty-stricken areas while they complete a master’s degree in education.
The 30 students selected annually to participate in the program are well-organized, intelligent and hardworking individuals, Guest said.
“We feel if they possess these three core qualities, then we can train them to be successful teachers,” he said. “I was happy to receive the news about Amani, but I wasn’t surprised. She’s extremely dedicated.”
News: Teacher Shortage
Four minute radio feature on the teacher shortage, with a mention of the Mississippi Teacher Corps.
News: “We’re on the map now.”
Great MPB story on second-year Austin Walker and his Latin I students. Audio here. Transcript below:
In Mr. Walker’s class at Simmons High School they are in search of nouns, adjectives, subject and verbs… the skeleton frame of all language.
“Somebody raise your hand and tell me, what do we start off with? Horace?” “We look for the verb first”
Austin Walker is a second year teacher in Hollandale where advantages are scarce. Ninety percent, for example, of the 200 Simmons students qualify for the school’s free lunch program. But here in Mr. Walker’s class they not only know the meaning of the word excel, they can trace it to it’s Latin origin and pronounce it. Because here in the heart of the Mississippi Delta, nine high school students are hard at work studying Latin.
“One of the reasons I wanted to present the Latin class was because I knew that there were students of exceptional ability everywhere. Most of all in the Mississippi delta. Who through a dearth of opportunities hadn’t been able to prove that they had the talent. And that’s what this class was about. Giving them a playing field to demonstrate that they were equal to if not better than everyone else in the nation.”
That’s not just tough talk from a proud and biased teacher. He and the class have the proof to back it up.
“There were 28 schools in Mississippi took this national Latin exam all together and when you rank the schools by total number of national awards, total awards by students who took the test, Simmons High School comes in first in the state. In terms of award rate.”
First in the state for public schools, and in Hollandale, where the median income for a family is twenty five thousand dollars, and there are no private schools to send their children to even if they could afford one, Walker’s Latin class finished higher than the private schools as well.
“I mean they did it. They blew everybody else out of the water.”
Sixteen year old Bianca Johnson is one of the Latin students.
“I didn’t know so many of us would do as well as we did, coming from a small place like we did. Everyone was like, where’s Hollandale? So, hey, we’re on the map now. Look what we did.”
Sixty six percent of Walker’s class took home awards in the state Latin testing, including 17-year-old Ulysses Aldridge..
“A lot of people think it’s a dead language, that there’s no reason for it. When in actually, most of our language actually comes from Latin, so it would be kind of good to look into it, especially if you’re going into the medical field, most of the words they still use come straight from the Latin.”
And to prove that the state tests were no fluke, there was one more test to prove just how well Walker’s delta kids had learned their Latin.
“Then we took the national Latin exam that’s taken by 160-thousand students throughout the world. And there are four levels of awards, a first place gold medal, a second place silver, third and fourth. And we had one first place, one second place, three thirds, and one fourth.”
The first place gold medal, meaning he finished in the top ten percent of the nation, went to 16-year-old Xavier Clay, a young man not known for showing emotions.
“It was the first time anybody saw me smile about anything. I couldn’t really tell my mom. She passed when I was nine. But I told my dad about it. He was proud of me. He’s proud of just about anything I do.”
The pride has extended to the state capitol where Mississippi legislators honored the Simmons High School latin scholars.
And the recognition may not be over yet. Walker has been trying to get the ear of a famous person who is well known for applauding the hard work of good students who triumph over adversity. And it doesn’t hurt that she’s from Mississippi.
“I’ve sent a lot of emails to Oprah, but she hasn’t said anything yet. These are kids that deserve to be flown to Chicago and put on her show. They’ve done something that is unparalleled, as far as I’m concerned. And they need to be recognized for it.”
And if you think it’s a long shot to get an invitation from Oprah, Walker says just remember the kids at Simmons high are no strangers to beating the odds. For MPB News, I’m Ron Brown
News: Incoming First-Year
MPB story on incoming first-year Golda Sharpe. Audio here. Story reprinted below:
New Graduates Face Tough Market
Published by Cari Gervin 13 May 2009 8:00a
It’s the middle of May, and that means thousands of new college graduates are facing one tough question: “Do you have a job lined up?”
“It’s in the works. I’m waiting for responses from several jobs right now.”
“I’m off to law school.”
“I currently work at Star Package liquor store here in Oxford. But I haven’t lined up another one, outside of that.”
That was Arlin Pearson, Dominique Mayfield, and Matt Rutherford, just minutes after receiving their diplomas from the University of Mississippi last Saturday. With unemployment continuing to rise, trying to find that first job in the real world is harder than ever. MPB’S Cari Gervin has a look at what one recent graduate is experiencing.
It’s two weeks before graduation, and Golda Sharpe has no idea what she’s doing with her life.
“I’ve applied with Enterprise, I’ve applied for a government job, I’ve applied for a teaching position, and I’ve also applied for an associate director position out of a non-profit.”
Sharpe is about to graduate cum laude from Ole Miss with a bachelor’s degree in economics. She’s been looking for a job for three months already, with no success.
Sharpe is intelligent and articulate, confident and poised. She has a resume full of internships, extracurricular activities and part-time jobs. In short, she’s the kind of candidate you’d think prospective employers would be beating down the door for.
But not this year.
“It’s tough. It’s just tough out there.”
And as an economics major, Sharpe is in a good position to understand what’s going on.
“The economy is bad. So the job process is going to be a little bit longer. I’ve just been kind of hitting a broad range of career fields. And I’m not really focused on one specific field because the, the market is so volatile right now.”
While she’s waiting to hear back from the FBI and Enterprise, Sharpe is also weighing getting her Master’s in economics – she’s been accepted at Ole Miss – or joining the Mississippi Teacher Corps – she’s been accepted there too. Sharpe just isn’t sure what’s the best course for her to take.
“So I’m continuing my job search process down to the wire, so that I can have as many options available to me.”
Sharpe is lucky to have options – at least, that’s what Toni Avant thinks. She’s been the director of the career center at Ole Miss for close to a decade, and she says recruiting is way, way down.
“Last year, an organization may have tried to recruit five to seven to 10 students to come and work. This year, they may only be looking for one candidate.”
Even worse – not all the companies that are recruiting are hiring.
“We’ve had some students who’ve made it all the way up to the last interview, and the company has said, you know, ‘We regret to inform you that we’re not able to take your search any further because of a hiring freeze.’ And that did not happen last year.”
“It is only left then for me to say that the 2009 commencement ceremony for the College of Liberal Arts is now concluded. Thank you all for being here.”
As black mortarboards fly in the air, a sea of new graduates searches for their friends and families. There are discussions of dinner and parties and a lot of people trying to figure out where to return the gowns. For one night, anyway, it’s ok to not worry about the future and just celebrate finishing school.
Besides, most of graduates still have no idea what they’re doing. Take Natalie Marrar. Like everyone else, she’s still looking for a job.
“Something with my major, like sociology. But I doubt I’ll find anything just as soon. But I have, I guess, a certificate to teach English overseas, as a second language. So I’ll probably stick with that.”
In her shiny black patent heels, Golda Sharpe takes it all in stride, proudly waving her diploma case around. But the next day, curled up in jeans in her apartment, she seems almost melancholy.
“My feelings are really … it hasn’t hit me yet. It’s kind of, still fresh in my mind.”
Still, in the past few days, Sharpe has made up her mind. She’s taking a few weeks off – she’ll visit her family in Clarksdale, and catch up on some reading. She says she might get a dog.
Then, in June, Sharpe will start training to teach algebra at North Panola High School as part of the Mississippi Teacher Corps.
“With the economy the way it is, I figured that it’s a good time to kind of take a break and maybe try something different that I had never thought about ever doing. I never thought I wanted to be a teacher, but maybe it’s the right thing for me now.”
Sharpe hopes by the time her two-year commitment ends, the economy will be better. And maybe then, she says, she’ll start her job hunt all over again. Or maybe go back to school.
Maybe then, she says, she’ll know what she’s doing with the rest of her life. For MPB News, I’m Cari Gervin in Oxford.
News: Human Development Index
Measure of America is a fantastic set of website and publications. They have now added a terrifc feature called the “Common Good Forcaster” which allows you to compare every state, and every county within each state, by a whole host of measurements. Furthermore, you can “increase” the education level of any county or state to watch the impact. Check it out.
News: Austin Walker and Students Recognized by State Legislature
Reprinted from a 5/13/09 article in the Delta Democrat Times about Mississippi Teacher Corps Class of 2007 (MTC designates classes by year entered, not completed) participant Austin Walker. Watch a video profile of Austin here:
SHS Latin class students feted by Representatives
JACKSON – Simmons High School students and teacher Austin Walker were commended by legislators on their accomplishments at the National Junior Classical League State Convention and the National Latin Exam.
Walker teaches the first Latin program at Simmons High School and led the class to perform at a level equal to or greater than all other Latin programs in Mississippi.
Reps. Johns Hines, D-Greenville, Willie Bailey, D-Greenville, Linda Whittington, D-Schlater and Rufus Straughter, D-Belzoni, honored the students of at the State Capitol Friday.
“I have always said students from the Mississippi Delta have always shined when given the opportunity. This is an example where hard work and dedication from the students and their instructor have paid off,” said Hines. “I have always emphasized a true investment must be made in our public schools in the Mississippi Delta if we are serious about revitalizing this region.”
Students from Simmons High School included Ulysses Aldridge, Tempestt Atkins, Xavier Clay, Alexis Hicks, Bianca Johnson, Briana Mosely, Kayla Patterson, Bobby Sims and Horace Willis.
In the National Junior Classical League state convention, Alexis Hicks placed first and Xavier Clay placed third in the Latin I grammar and translation test taken by more than 60 students
In the National Latin Exam, a test administered to more than 160,000 students nationwide, six Simmons students won national awards: Xavier Clay won a gold medal and a summa cum laude certificate; Bianca Johnson won a silver medal and a maxima cum laude certificate; Ulysses Aldridge, Alexis Hicks and Horace Willis won magna cum laude certificates; and Kayla Patterson won a cum laude certificate.
Final results on the National Latin Exam placed Simmons High School in a tie with Clinton High School for the highest award rate in the state, 66.67 percent.
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