If students choose to attend college, there are literally hundreds of programs available to help them pay for and succeed in the secondary education program of their choice. One such opportunity available locally to students attending Valencia College is the Bridges to Success (BTS) program, which offers a wide range of support services to minority and socio-economically disadvantaged students who need assistance getting through college.

Students accepted to the BTS program are offered a two year scholarship to Valencia College and presented with numerous leadership and teambuilding opportunities. One such opportunity is joining the Men of Success Acquiring Ideal Character (MOSAIC) and Leading and Taking In New Achievements (LATINA) arms of the BTS program. Among other activities, students are given the chance to become a mentor for younger Orange County Public School students who need some assistance themselves at Cheney Elementary, Timber Lakes Elementary or Legacy Middle School.

“Each of the students in either the MOSAIC or LATINA program are assigned a mentor themselves, which is a faculty person or staff person at Valencia,” says Donna Rivera-Kalala, academic advisor to the Bridges to Success Department at Valencia College. “Those students then are given the opportunity to ask questions and learn from staff here while going out to the community, giving back and mentoring students of their own in one of the three partner schools.”

The Valencia students typically spend time assisting the elementary and middle school students improve their FCAT readiness, reading, mathematics and general productivity in the classroom. Students being mentored in the school range from ESE/ESOL students to at-risk youth and everything in between. “Who they’re helping really depends on the school’s particular needs at that time,” says Rivera-Kalala. “Typically they’re paired with students who are learning at different levels than some of their peers.”

The results have been very positive to date. “Legacy Middle’s Assistant Principal, Monica Johnson, says that there have been significant gains, which she attributes directly to our involvement at the school with students,” says Rivera-Kalala. “Most every student has progressed academically and we’re very proud of that.”

BTS students spend several hours per week at the school they’re assigned to. Although they’re given the option to change schools at the end of a semester, most tend to stay at the school they were originally assigned.

Rivera-Kalala thinks the program is so successful for Valencia students because the sheer exposure they are given throughout the local community. “It’s not just volunteering at the schools, but it’s a wide-array of activities and leadership opportunities they are presented with,” she says. “They get to go out and meet other students and gain exposure to various aspects of the community, whether that’s visiting the Ronald McDonald house or taking part of a breast cancer walk.”

Students accepted to the BTS scholarship program are “middle of the road” students, according to Rivera-Kalala. They aren’t 4.0 GPA stars, nor below average students struggling to get by. “We take average students who want to succeed and give themselves a boost,” she says. “There’s a significant difference in their demeanor when they graduate with their two year degree after being in the program; and I think that has to do largely with the experience and leadership development offered in our program.”

The fact that they donate time to help local public school children in need makes the success of the Valencia students that much sweeter for Rivera-Kalala. “I think the most inspiring thing about the program is the progression that students make,” she says. “When it’s all said and done, I can really see the students are headed down a great path for future success.”

Article by Corey Gehrold

Making the transition into middle school can be a tough time in a child’s life. He or she is not a kid anymore, yet not quite a teenager, either. Fears of getting lost and bullied by the eighth-graders are just some of the worries plaguing your child, and as a parent, it may be difficult to know just how to ease those worries.

Jody Bernier, the sixth-grade guidance counselor at Avalon Middle School, contends that there are many things parents can do to help their kids make a comfortable transition. “Parents can help establish routines that will help build good habits,” says Bernier. “They can help them be organized.”

Bernier says that organization is needed, now that the student has multiple classes and teachers to deal with. She suggests maintaining a planner and homework folder and setting up a specific time and location in the house to do homework.

Bernier also suggests going through a checklist the night before school to make sure that all homework has been done and all tests have been studied for. Staying involved with Progress Book, an online log of students’ grades, is also important. “Parents need to stay actively involved because they can monitor their child’s grades,” she says.

She also suggests that parents get involved with their child’s school, whether it’s through an organization like the PTA or by attending events where they can meet the school staff.

Monica Hite, the lead middle school counselor for Orange County Public Schools, also thinks that getting involved is beneficial to both the parent and the in-coming student.

“Parents can help by staying informed and participating in orientation so they will have as much information to help their fifth-grader as possible,” says Hite.

Orientation is just one of the many resources OCPS uses to help students make a smooth transition. Hite says that transition activities start in the spring and include showing fifth-graders a video titled “6,7,8, That’s Great” and having guidance counselors and administration from the middle schools talk to fifth-graders about what they can expect. Fifth-graders can also go to their designated middle school to see what it’s really all about.

“The middle schools invite fifth-graders over to their campus and they can meet key personnel, take a tour of the building and meet other students,” says Hite.

While in-coming sixth-graders are learning about what to expect from middle school, Hite notes it’s just as important for parents to learn about what to expect from their middle-schooler. “Knowing what to expect fundamentally from that age group [is important],” says Hite. “Kids that age usually want more independence and peers’ opinions start to mean more.”

Because of that concern over peers’ opinions, Bernier says saving face becomes a priority for middle-schoolers.

“Parents need to establish and practice ways to help their children get out of difficult situations, while allowing them to still ’save face,’” says Bernier.  “Children can text their parent a short, secret code, that will let them know they’re in a tough situation. Work together to find something that your child is comfortable with, as that is what they tend to remember.”

She goes on to say the most beneficial tool parents can use to help their children, is communication.  Instead of asking the routine “How was your day?” question, ask something that requires more than the typical response of, “Fine” or “Ok.”  Ask for more specifics that require them to engage in a conversation.  For example, “I know you had a Math test today, how did it go?  Tell me what you are doing in _________ class?”

Asking questions like:  “What was the best part of your day?” or “What was the high point or/low point of your day?” Bernier says, “These will help generate some great conversation; and also give parents some insight about their child’s day.”

“You just need to keep communication going early,” she says. “If you do that, you’ll have it for the rest of your life.”

Article by Marisa Ramiccio

Orange County students, teachers and parents can rest assured that the quality education they came to know this past school year will again be provided, even with the large cuts in federal funding for the school system. Orlando-area schools will not see a change in the budget for this year, while neighboring districts will be harboring steep cuts.

The budget remaining flat is thanks to the county voters who approved a millage increase of one-mil to prevent the cuts this past November. Millage is a rate of taxation expressed in mills - short for millions - per dollar.

According to Richard Collins, the chief financial officer for Orange County Public Schools (OCPS), this particular millage should generate around $83 million to go toward public education. The revenue will replace the Federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) state-fiscal-stabilization dollars that the district lost as of June 30, and will also replace the 0.25 critical-needs millage that expired the same day. According to reports by the Orlando Sentinel, “Other major factors in holding the budget in the same spot are $44 million in newly mandated retirement contributions and $37 million that was saved by federal funding of education jobs last year.”

Collins says, “We will continue to provide a high-quality instructional program even with the reduced state funding and increased competition for scarce resources.”

The budget is designed to provide resources for the instruction of students. “The focus is always on our strategic plan, with the vision of being the top producer of successful students in the nation,” says Collins. The General Fund is where OCPS pays for district operations, such as instruction, transportation, school administration and more. Collins says the General Fund budget should be close to $1.5 billion, including all carry-over amounts, and is based on tax revenues of just more than $1.2 billion.

According to the school funding advocacy website, www.FundEducationNow.org, the Orange County budget remaining the same is much-needed for the state of Florida due to Florida’s legislature cutting the K -12 education budget by more than $1.3 billion since 2007, with Orange County losing $105.4 million of that amount. Fund Education Now is a grassroots, non-partisan group created by three Orange County Public School mothers who hope to empower residents to vote on behalf of Florida’s children and their education both now and in the future. Interestingly, the site also states that 10 years ago the state of Florida funded 61 percent of education costs but now only funds 51 percent.

Last year the budget broke down as follows: 75 percent of the Orange County education budget went toward Instruction and Instructional Support, 10 percent to Plant Operation and Maintenance, 7 percent to School Administration, 4 percent to Transportation, 3 percent to General Support and 1 percent to General Administration and School Board. Collins says this year’s distribution of funds will be comparable to last year’s with only minor adjustments as new ways to improve the system and spending are developed. “But there won’t be any significant redistribution,” he says.

Changes that Orange County schools will see include some restructuring of jobs approved by the superintendent and an increase in the number of teachers district-wide due to increased enrollment.

While the rest of the state worries about the money their schools deserve, Orange County can sleep easy, though, knowing its students’ educations won’t waver due to reduced funding for at least another year.

Collins says, “The exact total budget numbers will change between now and the time of the public hearing as we continue to close out our fiscal year that ended June 30.” Budget hearings are scheduled for August 2 and September 13. To learn more, visit www.OCPS.net.

Article by Nikki Stephens

It’s not a surprise to say the economy is still not doing great. It’s not a surprise to say that even though we’re making strides, there are still holes that need patching. But it may be a surprise to say that for our local schools, there are people in the community who are doing everything they can to alleviate some of the school’s (and its staff’s) financial shortcomings. One such organization is Fuel My School, and for them failure is not an option.

It all started with football helmets. Lisa Hilgenfeldt, co-founder of Fuel My School, is a mother of four, all of which attend Orange County Public Schools. In other words, she has spent her fair share of time working within the schools and trying to make a difference.

“About three years ago I had heard a story about a handful of freshmen that were being cut from a football team at one of the public schools,” says Hilgenfeldt. “It ended up being because they were seven or eight helmets short. And it hit me that seven or eight football helmets is all that’s needed for these kids that want to in this program to get in and to keep them engaged.”

She realized the community wasn’t aware of this issue, or similar obstacles just like it. She thought if she could just get the word out about what schools needed certain things, the community may be willing to help. Thus, the creation of Fuel My School, a website to generate funds and resources and pump them back into local schools.

Along with the company’s co-founder, her sister, they approached the Partners in Education Program in Orange County Public Schools with the idea. The group gladly embraced it. Next, they built the website, began to manage wishes from schools and then expanded to create additional programs that help fund the schools. Since the group’s inception, more than 200 school wishes have been granted through the website.

Hilgenfeldt says things as grand as picnic tables and as small as basketballs or socks or shoes have been donated to schools. In April, the school board unanimously approved an agreement with the organization to become the “Online one-stop-shop for school needs and fundraising” in Orange County. “That was a great day,” she says. “Because it was basically letting the community know that Fuel My School is the future of how we are going to make a difference.”

Today there are more than 200 Orange County schools registered with Fuel My School. “Every school in Orange County current has a micro-site on Fuel My School and today any parent or community member can look on Fuel My School and find their school and begin supporting it.”

The community has given rave feedback to Hilgenfeldt, recognizing that Fuel My School takes an innovative approach to fundraising. “Once they understand who we are, what we are, what it means, and how easy it is to support the schools that they love, I personally have not encountered one person that typically says anything short of ‘It just makes sense,’” she says.

In addition to praise from the community, Hilgenfeldt has received many letters of gratitude from the schools themselves Fuel My School has helped. “Personally I believe everyone should entitled to that intrinsic feeling that says ‘Oh my god, I’ve done something great,’” she says.

Fuel My School has the potential to help schools nation wide, but for now Central Florida will be the main beneficiary as the program continues to grow and offer more schools the chance to have their wishes granted.

To learn more or find out how you can help, visit www.FuelMySchool.com.

Article by Katelyn Dobkin

The title of “superhero” isn’t limited to comic book characters anymore. One fifth grade class at Sunrise Elementary School redefines the meaning by helping to save the world through recycling.

Tricia LaChance’s fifth grade class was a national finalist in this year’s Siemens “We can Change the World” Elementary School Challenge in the grades three to five category. Her students researched what type of trash was thrown away at their school and which of those types could be recycled. They educated parents, students and teachers on the issue through posters, videos, PowerPoint presentations and even helped answer any questions people had on the topic. Through their research they found their school threw away more Styrofoam lunchroom trays than any other type of trash. Students then found a way to recycle 44,820 trays from their school alone in a single year.

LaChance, who has been teaching for 14 years, 11 of which at Sunrise Elementary, says her students got involved with the project during a class discussion on environmental issues. “They discovered that even at the young age of 10 and 11 they can make a difference,” she says. “They felt empowered that they had made a difference in their world.”

The trays are taken to Blue Earth Solutions, a company that is involved in developing and implementing ways of recycling polystyrene foam and expanded polystyrene, where they are turned into pellets. The pellets are then sold and made into many different products. Some of the items manufactured from recycled Styrofoam include rulers, video cassette shells, toys, sun visors, building insulation, flower pots, egg cartons, push pins, landscape supplies and desktop accessories. Sarah Sosa is a student in LaChance’s class who was involved in the challenge. She says, “Now I look at things like Styrofoam and know it can be recycled. I never knew. I’m recycling more and being less careless.”

The students began contacting and giving presentations to other schools in the surrounding area to join the recycling project. In fact, they were able to get two full truckloads of trays to Blue Earth Solutions when East Lake Elementary, Castle Creek Elementary and Camelot joined in the recycling.

An estimated 100,000 trays were kept out of the landfill thanks to the research and hard work of LaChance’s class, the self-proclaimed Earth Defenders.

Because of the impact of their environmental project, the students won a free trip to SeaWorld sponsored by Keep Orlando Beautiful and SeaWorld. In addition to being a national finalist in the Siemens Change the World Challenge, the class also received an Honorable Mention Green in Action award from Green Education Foundation.

LaChance says it is important for children in this generation to learn the importance of recycling because it saves money, reduces air and water pollution, helps preserve wildlife, protects non-renewable resources and reduces the amount of trash in landfill sites. Lauren Stecker, another fifth-grade student in LaChance’s class, says, “This project has changed my point of view [on recycling] because before I didn’t know that landfills were such a big issue. Now I know that Styrofoam can be recycled and used for bigger and better things.”

Sunrise Elementary is involved in many other environmentally conscious activities as well. Every year the fifth-grade classes sponsor an Earth Day event to teach younger students about conservation and environmental issues through games, activities and presentations. Sunrise also helps the planet with two organic vegetable gardens, a Florida Native garden and a butterfly garden. In addition to Styrofoam, the school even recycles ink cartridges, cardboard, paper and many other items and is currently in an effort to go 100 percent paperless to cut back on trash in their students’ homes as well.

Article by Nikki Stephens