Perspectives News November 2010

Perspectives Charter Schools College for Certain

Perspectives Charter Schools E-newsletter

November 11, 2010

Dear Perspectives Friends and Supporters,

As you may know, the Chicago Public School's annual "Principal for a Day" program brings business and community leaders and concerned citizens from all walks of life into the schools to learn more about their programs, and to help develop and strengthen school-community partnerships for the benefit of students.

This year's Principal for a Day was Thursday, October 21, and at Perspectives we were delighted to host more than a dozen guest principals.

Perspectives/IIT Math & Science Academy (MSA) welcomed Principals for a Day R. Russell Betts, Ph.D., Dean of the College of Science and Letters at the Illinois Institute of Technology, Joey Feinstein, Founder and Executive Director of Climate Cycle, a non-profit organization that helped obtain and install solar panels at MSA, and Roxanne Ward, member of the Board of Directors, Chicago Board of Education.
Perspectives High School of Technology hosted Robb Christenson, Account Executive for Education with CDW corporation, and J. Terrence Patterson, Interim Executive Officer, Office of New Schools, Chicago Public Schools.
Perspectives Leadership Academy had guests Doriane C. Miller, MD, Director of the Center for Community Health and Vitality at the University of Chicago Medical Center, Natalie Watson, Research Project Professional at the University of Chicago's Lindau Laboratory, and Tony Robinson, Partner, State and Local Tax Services with Ernst & Young LLP.
Perspectives Middle Academy guest principals included Perspectives friends and supporters Julie C. Adams, Lonnie Stonitsch, and Susan Rooney.
Perspectives Rodney D. Joslin Campus hosted guest principals David Napalo, Senior Vice President at Wells Fargo, and Nancy Napalo.

I want to thank each of our guests for their time, interest, and support, and I applaud their willingness to become personally involved. Principals for a Day, our hats our off to you!

Sincerely,

Rhonda Hopps, CFA

Chief Executive Officer

Groupon Fund Raising Promotion for Athletic Uniforms Meets Its Goal!

You may recall that last month, Groupon, the online service for special offers and deals-of-the-day, sponsored an online funding promotion to benefit Perspectives Charter Schools. Visitors to the site and email subscribers were given the opportunity to make a contribution that would help outfit Perspectives' student athletes.

Thank you to all our friends and supporters who participated in the Groupon promotion! Thanks to you, Perspectives raised $3,300 - 100 percent of our goal! - to help buy new uniforms for its cheerleading squad and boys and girls basket ball teams. Whether you were able to donate $10 or $100, or if you simply helped spread the word by forwarding our emails and facebook updates, we thank you. Everyone's efforts led to a successful campaign that we hope to replicate in the spring.

A Disciplined Life© Beyond the Classroom

October marked the first A Disciplined Life© Summit for 2010-11 at Perspectives. The Summit is a week-long series of student presentations that takes place once every quarter. In order to prepare for Summit Week, each student selects one of the 26 A Disciplined Life© principles, and spends purposeful time during the preceding eight weeks considering what it means to them as individuals, as students, as members of their families, and as residents of their communities. Summit presentations are opportunities for students to share the results of what they've learned, discovered, and grappled with about the principle they selected.

For example, a student who chose the principle "Love Who You Are" created a PowerPoint for her presentation and said, "Loving who you are takes a lot of time - it takes a lifetime. But I have learned to say positive things to myself when others try to put me down. And I teach this to the younger children who live in my apartment building."

"It is very exciting to reach the point where we're beginning to measure the impact of social emotional learning," says Perspectives co-founder Diana Shulla-Cose. "A Disciplined Life© promotes social emotional learning, and helps foster the self-awareness and skills one needs to make responsible decisions, establish positive relationships, and handle challenging situations effectively. That's what we're talking about when we say 'Educated for College . . . Prepared for Life.'"

Meet the Staff: Perspectives Profiles

Each month, we profile a few of the many dedicated people who make Perspectives a truly outstanding organization, and this month we're pleased to introduce you to Courtney Hayes and Wes Bradley.

Courtney Hayes After spending a number of years in corporate finance and accounting, Perspectives Controller Courtney Hayes decided it was time to make a change. She saw an ad for a business manager with a small school district, and the idea of a switch from the business world to education administration piqued her curiosity. "I thought it might be a way to use my skills and experience in a way that does something of value, and contributes something to the greater good," she says. That was five years ago. She got that job, then moved to a similar position with larger school district, and finally in July 2010, came to Perspectives. "I'm not a teacher," Courtney says, "so I can't make a difference for kids that way, but maybe with my background I can help to improve the financial management, or find ways to increase efficiency so that resources go where they're needed most - to the students."

Wes Bradley, recently promoted to Assistant Principal at Perspectives Leadership Academy, is happy to be exactly where he is. Wes started his education career as a high school English teacher in the Bronx, and when asked which came first - his decision to move to Chicago, or his decision to apply for the position of Instructional Leader at Perspectives - he says, "It was actually a little of both. I was impressed by Perspectives' holistic view of education. To me, the emphasis on academics coupled with the emphasis on character development leads not just to success in life, but success and happiness in life."

Perspectives Goes Green(er)!

As part of its commitment to energy and resource conservation, Perspectives is now recycling paper and plastic items at each of its campuses! And thanks to a new partnership with Community Recycling Corp, delivery of the recycling bins and regular pick-up of recyclables is provided completely free of charge.

Being a network of schools, our biggest waste product is paper in all its many forms, and the benefits of paper recycling paper are impressive. According ResourcefulSchools.org, making one ton of recycled paper uses 64 percent less energy, 50 percent less water, produces 74 percent less air pollution, and creates five times more jobs than making one ton of paper products made from virgin wood pulp. Green is good!

Golden Apple Scholarship Opportunity for Juniors and Seniors

Golden Apple selects as many as 100 high school and college students each year from public and non-public schools and universities throughout Illinois to be Golden Apple Scholars. Any high school student who is interested in a teaching career is eligible to be nominated beginning in May of their junior year and continuing through November of their senior year.

All Golden Apple Scholars receive tuition assistance of $2,500 per year for freshmen and sophomore years, and $5,000 per year for junior and senior years of college.

Additional information is available at www.goldenapple.org

For questions, contact, Barbara Karpouzian (773) 553-5660 or bakarpouzian@cps.k12.il.us.

Save Ultra Foods Receipts to Raise Money for Safe Passage

Peace Alliance Students

Ultra Foods has joined with Perspectives to help support the Safe Passage program. Just save the receipts for everything you purchase from Ultra between September 1 and December 31, 2010 and hand deliver them to a school office or mail them to Glennese Ray at Perspectives Charter Schools, 3663 S Wabash Ave, 3^rd Fl Chicago IL 60653 and Ultra will donate 5 percent of the total purchases to Safe Passage. For more information or to get involved, contact Glennese Ray.