IDEA PERFORMING ARTS Field Trip Nov 10

On Thursday November 10, 2011 students in the EducationWorks after-school program participated in a multi-fauceted field trip at IDEA Performing Arts Center in Camden.

Taken from the IDEA Arts website:

"The Institute for the Development of Education in the Arts (IDEA) was founded in 1996 to serve as a healing presence in the lives of the City’s adolescents, 46 percent of whom live in poverty.  IDEA is a creative learning organization that exists to create better futures for youth in Camden and throughout Southern New Jersey, by tapping into their creative spirit in order to inspire and give power to their dreams and aspirations through arts education."


Students were able to participate in an engaging theatre/improv workshop with Mr. Donovan, as well as a writing workshop with "Black Ice" a well known spoken word poet.


A little about Black Ice:


Before poetry was big business there was Lamar Manson, known throughout the spoken word community as Black Ice. Black Ice is a prolific artist, whose stage performances bridge the gap between hip-hop and poetry. Circa 1993, Black Ice's spellbinding presence, combined with writing that speaks to the common man, helped to bring poetry out of the coffee houses and into the mainstream, simultaneously creating a career as a dynamic performer whose talents proliferate television, radio and theater. Because of his intense love for children and youth, his message can also be heard in classrooms and lecture halls across the country. Black Ice, has lent his genius to the Live 8 concert in Philadelphia, and has made feature TV appearances on BET (Live 8 Concert Special, Rap City the Basement and 106th & Park) and NBC (Showtime at the Apollo), in addition to starring in six consecutive seasons of HBOs Def Poetry Jam. He was cast as a lead member in Def Poetry on Broadway, which went on to win the 2003 Tony Award for Best Special Theatrical Event. The works that most closely define Black Ices personal vision are those where he uses his craft to uplift the masses. Black Ice has performed to audiences as diverse as those at the Hip-Hop Summit, the Congressional Black Caucus, the Source Youth Foundation and ShiNE, and performed for such notables as the Reverend Jesse Jackson,Muhammad Ali and Minister Louis Farrakhan, as well as performing a poem on rapper Fabolous' third album Real Talk. He has released an album called The Death of Willie Lynch in September 2006. His poem "Truth Is" was featured in Pete Rock's 2004 album Soul Survivor 2. 

Alyesha "Ms Wise" Wise performs + conducts a Poetry Workshop @ WWHS!!!

On Monday November 7, 2011 Educationworks at WWHS were honored to have Alyesha Wise in attendance to perform a few of her spoken word pieces as well as do a poetry workshop with the  afterschool program poetry students. 


A little about Ms. Wise:


"Currently the 5th ranked female poet in the world, Alyesha "MS. WISE" Wise is a Spoken Word Artist, Community & Youth Activist from the City of Camden, New Jersey. Born, Alyesha Wise, this 2008 & 2009 Philadelphia Slam Champion has been gracing stages from Boston to Detroit, and beyond in hopes of impacting the world through the Power of Words. In addition, she has opened for artists such as Universal Recording Artists, The Flobots to Hip Hop Legend, Wise Intelligent."

Newark AMERICORPS Launch

As a new comer to the Americorps family, I look forward to the Americorps launches because of the insight I can gain from the various organizations in attendance. This year at the Newark Americorps Launch Friday October 28, 2011 myself along with two other EducationWorks representatives, took part in a workshop that focused on setting the stage and making adjustments for a quality program. My knowledge about how to better our after school program has increased and I look forward to seeing things implemented to further increase our student attendance and to improve the quality of our programs.

WWHS @ East Camden Middle School's Family Night

WWHS EducationWorks students and staff participated in the Family Night that was held at East Camden Middle School October 27th, 2011 in collaboration with EducationWorks, Hispanic Family Center, Food Bank of South Jersey and various other community organizations. Corrine's catered food and provided dinner for everyone in attendance.


There were over 200 ppl in attendance at this event!! This included students, parents, teachers, and visitors!


Wilson EducationWorks students and staff facilitated the Face Painting Station, the Pumpkin Painting Station, and the Caramel Apple station. LiveCrew was also representing for Wilson EducationWorks at Family Night by doing a hip hop dance performance. 


This was truly an evening to remember!!

Lights on Afterschool...Potluck!!!!

EducationWorks at WWHS participated in the national initiative Lights on Afterschool to bring awareness to the school, community, teachers, and parents about the importance of afterschool programs.

Students at WWHS worked together with their parents and friends to bring in food for the potluck. Students also worked on a video documentary about how different individuals in the community and school felt about afterschool programs. The video will be posted soon!!

Some pictures from the event.......

WWHS @ the Breast Cancer Walk Sunday October 23

EW No Bully Campaign

Lights On Afterschool

Lights On Afterschool!!!

Chat & Chew with EducationWorks.

Thursday October 20, 2011

3-6pm

EducationWorks invites ALL parents, teachers, and students to come see what we are doing afterschool. There will be open WEPA workshop (Latin dance), open media workshop, and open Zumba/ Modern Dance workshop.

Programs for EW's 'The Movement' 2011-2012 School Year

This year at EW we have the following programs.

Hip-Hop:
 Students learn choreography and perform for their student body and other businesses or organizations.

WEPA:
Students learn various forms of latin dance, including salsa, merengue, and bachata. Students also perform for their student body and other businesses or organizations.

Zumba and Health & Fitness:
Students learn healthy ways to eat and be active. Zumba provides exercise through dance.

The Tube:
Our media program which encompasses video production, music production, and soon photo manipulation.

Project Open Mic:
Students learn to express themselves and feelings through creative writing.

Real Deal/ Sophisticated Ladies:
Male & female students are separated into their respective gender groups to talk about their everyday changing lives.

Homework Help:
Students get time to complete homework and get some help.

The New EducationWorks Staff @ WWHS

Chaliyah Valentine

I was born and raised in Camden. I attended Molina Elementary School, Pyne Point Middle School, and Creative Arts High School. I attended Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ as a sociology major and graduated in December 2010.

Physical fitness has always been a hobby growing up. I use to take part in Tae-bo, via VHS. LOL.I am currently working on my group fitness instructor certification so that I can extend my love for fitness to others. Today, I can say that I want to pursue a career in physical fitness/ nutrition and helping to create obesity prevention programs.

Hi everyone, my name is Chante Hines. I'm a program assistant for EducationWorks program at Woodrow Wilson. I love kids and hope that I can affect a great number of young adults this year. I was born and raised in Camden, NJ. I graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School so it is a great pleasure to return and help others achieve their goals, and see them onto the next level. I look forward to meeting everyone and hope all have a good year!

Mayor's Fire Victim Relief Event

Mayor Dana Redd and Channel 6 Action News were at the Children's Garden on Thursday, Sept 22,2011 to witness our wonderful students from Woodrow Wilson performing for the homeowners who lost their properties from the fires in Camden earlier this year.

Students Ahniyah Upshaw and Daisey Smith performed poetry, while students Rosheen Stephans, Kenny King, and Melissa DeJesus did an exciting hip hop dance number. 

EducationWorks at WWHS rocks!!

Last Week of Programming for the School Year :(

So we've come to that time--it's our last week of programming for the 2010-2011 school year!

...But wait, it's not all sad. We still 1) Have summer programs beginning in July, AND (how could we forget) 2) have our students are performing this Friday at the Hispanic Family Center's Community Health Fair ! The event itself is between 12:00 pm and 5:00 pm, but our students will be performing at 3:30 pm!

The groups that are performing are Los Rumberos Afro-Caribbean Drummers, ¡Wepa! Salsa Dancers, and EducationWorks' world famous Hip Hop Dance Crew.

So come join us if you can--we will be on 28th Street between Federal and Carman!

Financial Literacy Workshop TODAY

We're having the great folks from Susquehanna Bank come by for a financial literacy workshop today, 6/7/11. Some of the topics that will be covered are establishing and improving credit, setting up and maintaining bank accounts, debt, and much more!

Scenes from ¡Wepa! Por La Noche

Blog Interview - Jamir Jordan

The following is an interview with Jamir Jordan, one of our student leaders proposing his very own student-led program--enjoy!

• What is your program? My program is called Student Multicultural Council.

• Tell us how what you think about Education Works so far? I feel as though EW is a home away from a home for me. When I first came to Wilson and didn't know a single person. EW opened their doors to me, making me feel welcome. If you are ever in need of something, they will try to make a way to see your need met. To me, we are like a huge family that always have one another back. They stick with you through thick and thin. I know that if I need them they are aways there for me. I know at the end of day they truly care for me. 

• What about EducationWorks made you want to propose your own program? After being in this program for 5 months, I felt as though this would be the perfect environment to try and work on multicultural barriers that are present at Woodrow Wilson, and because of the wide range of races in EW. I feel as though so many people don't interact with different races because of this preset notion that they must stay with their own. After observing the interactions between EW, I though this would be the best help as well as way to work on this pressing issue.

WEPA! Por La Noche Event

WEPA!--Scenes from Class

Video by Justin Feliciano

Student Multicultural Council - First Meeting!

Today marked the first meeting of the Student Mulitcultural Council, a group of students commissioned to work together in planning Woodrow Wilson's Multicultural Week's events. The following students, acting as multicultural representatives, have joined the Council:

Tiara Miller
Andrea Bullock
Kenny King
Marimar Nunez
Maria Torres
Ahniyah Upshaw
Natalie Marcellus
Natori Johnson

The Council have submitted great ideas, and we hope that come may, the school's Multiculutral Week will be a tremendous success!

The Village Trimester 2 Programs

Know Your Role: Encompassing a wide variety of topics such as conflict resolution, etiquette, and even goal setting, Know Your Role affords the student an informal but educational opportunity to explore their own personal development among their peers. Activities such as role playing, event planning, rap sessions, and college trips are some of the ways this end is achieved.

Academic Remediation: Projected start date: March 1st. Students have yet another chance to finish up homework or work on projects during EducationWorks’ program time after school. All remediation instructors are to be WWHS faculty.

Hip Hop Dance: Students come together to discover the more educational aspects of this part of our cultural heritage. Through the instruction of choreography and exploration of different styles of Hip Hop dance, students are instructed on the important historical nuances of this 21st century artistic expression—and they do plenty of dancing too!

Making the Band: Diddy did it, now we’re doing it too! EducationWorks will be reaching out to the music community of WWHS to create a vocal band. Students will learn musical collaboration, performance, and perfecting the subtle details of diverse musical styles through their participation in “The Band”.

Wepa! Programa de Bachata y Merengue: Students learn the intricate technical, emotional, cultural, and historic details surrounding these intricate dances through choreography and technique workshops. (Instruction primarily Spanish with some English to include non-Spanish speakers)

Project Open Mic: A program designed to reach out to the artist/talent community of WWHS and aide in developing their open mic style crafts into a culminating performance (an open mic). Such artists as rappers, poets, singers, etc. will come together in a workshop-style lessons to achieve this aim.

Movie Night: A nice treat on a Friday afternoon, Movie Night is an alternate option for students to relax and enjoy a fun, but culturally and educationally relevant film. Short discussion on the theme of the movie may proceed, and students are asked to identify certain topics within the film.

Triangles: Triangles incorporates all genders, orientations, races and creeds into the creation of a short documentary on the exploration of the LGBTQ identities. Students come together to discuss self descriptions, supportive allies, equality and awareness.

Cypher Elite: A program targeting all aspiring rappers and emcees. It is designed to teach and foster songwriting structures, free-styling techniques, and stage performance along with providing an intro to music production.

Fashion Club: A student-led, EducationWorks-facilitated program, Fierce! gives several talented students the opportunity to lead their own program revolving around their favorite topic: fashion! These student leaders will teach other students how to sew their own clothing, assemble an outfit, as well as plan and participate in their very own fashion show.

"One Mic, One Night" A Success!

Thank you to all the students, faculty, and parents that made this night such a success!

Student Performers Included: Durand Coles, Keith Bennett, Sasha Carrero, Tiara Roberson, Daisey Smith, Jamir Jordan, Tiara Miller, Jasmine Carter, Andrea Bullock, Ahniyah Upshaw, Eric Green, Scarle Bello, and Carletta Cutts

Special Guest Performers: Craig Bazan and Sandra Turner Barnes

Emcee for the Evening: Former Def Jam Poet "Black Ice"

"I Am" Intro Video for One Mic, One Night event on 1/28

This will be the intro video for our upcoming "One Mic, One Night" performing arts showcase on January 28th, from 7 - 9pm at the IDEA Arts Theatre in the Susquehanna Bank Center. Our kids have been hard at work preparing for their performances--we're excited to show off what they've come up with!

New Staff at EW's The Village at WWHS

We're proud to welcome new program assistant Justin Feliciano to the staff of The Village! Justin is a native of North Camden, a self-described sports fanatic, and a great addition to the EducationWorks family in East Camden!

Krump Skit - Sneak Peak!

Our Hip Hop dance students performing a rough rehearsal of their "Krump Skit" that will be a part of their faculty performance on February 10th--enjoy!