What’s “Your Big Idea” about the First Amendment? One high-schooler will win a $2,000 scholarship by sharing their ideas about free speech in an Instagram video.
The SC Bar Young Lawyers Division (YLD) is sponsoring its third annual “Your Big Idea” Scholarship Competition this spring. To enter, students must complete an application and answer one of five prompts about the First Amendment in an Instagram video. The submission deadline has been extended to April 13, 2018 at 5 p.m.
“This is a great opportunity to encourage students to use technology to think critically about their role in society and their rights,” said Julie Moore, YLD iCivics Committee Chair.
The contest is open to all 11th and 12th grade public, private and homeschool students in South Carolina. Students must also plan to enroll in a post-secondary institution for the 2018-2019 or 2019-2020 school year.
This year, teachers who want to give their students a head start on the competition can request a lawyer to visit their classrooms to give a lesson. Additionally, the iCivics Committee has prepared digital resources about free speech for students and teachers who want to get involved.
The City of North Charleston’s Cultural Arts Department is pleased to offer a highly interactive Children’s Theatre performance at the North Charleston Performing Arts Center from 10:00-11:00am on Thursday, April 12, 2018. Savannah based theatre group The Story Ship will present The Great Pirate Race, a math-based “game show.” The program is best suited for grades pre-K to 6. Schools, daycares, community groups, families, and individuals are welcome to attend. Tickets are $2 per child with accompanying adults admitted at no charge. Parking is free.
The Great Pirate Race, a math-based “game show” hosted by a live pirate, the audience is split into two teams to race against each other to get the treasure. The game show offers audience members more than 60 opportunities to participate. A board game is projected onto a large screen. Team members complete onstage challenges that include solving math problems, puzzles, assisting with magic tricks, and group comedy challenges. Audiences will take to the high seas in this interactive STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics) education show.
The Story Ship formed in 1999 to bring their unique combination of interactive animation, music, storytelling, theatre, comedy, and magic to children of all ages. Based in Savannah, Georgia, they have performed in theatres, schools, libraries, resorts, afterschool programs, and festivals throughout the country, and reach thousands of children and adults each year. Founder Sean Driscoll has been a professional performer since age 15. He has been selected as an artist in residence for programs throughout Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. Information about all of Story Ship’s interactive shows, including production videos, photos, study guides, and more is available online at
The North Charleston Performing Arts Center is located at 5001 Coliseum Drive, North Charleston, SC 29418. Groups of 10 or more are asked to reserve space in advance. Seats fill up quickly, so reserve early by calling the City of North Charleston Cultural Arts Department office at 843.740.5854. For reservation forms, directions, or information on additional programs and events, visit the Arts & Culture section of the city’s website, www.northcharleston.org.
First Choice by Select Health of South Carolina is offering two scholarships to qualified applicants who are furthering their education or pursuing a second career in 2018. The 8th annual First Choice member scholarship program is open to all First Choice members. Applications are due by March 5, 2018. Select Health offers the First Choice Medicaid health plan to South Carolina residents and is part of the AmeriHealth Caritas Family of Companies.
The First Choice member scholarship program began in 2010 when Select Health pledged $200,000 over 10 years through its Caring10 initiative. Applications and complete information about this scholarship program are available at www.selecthealthofsc.com/community/member-scholarship.aspx.
“Helping just one person pursue a college education can uplift an entire family, or even a community,” said Rebecca Engelman, market president at Select Health. “We’re always excited to receive scholarship applications because there are so many First Choice members excelling in school and doing wonderful things in life.”
Eleven individual recipients have benefited from this scholarship, including several repeat winners. Four winners have hailed from Columbia, with one each from Boiling Springs, Gaffney, Kingstree, Simpsonville, Summerville, Sumter and Timmonsville. Winning applicants have attended schools including Charleston Southern University, Claflin University, Clemson University, Coastal Carolina University, Emmanuel College, Francis Marion University, Limestone College, the University of South Carolina, the University of South Carolina-Aiken and Winthrop University.
In addition to this collegiate scholarship program, First Choice by Select Health also supports education through its summer internship program for qualifying college students as well as its new General Education Development (GED) and Reading Assistance programs for First Choice plan members.
Renée Watson, author of Piecing Me Together, and Ekua Holmes, illustrator of Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets, are the winners of the 2018 Coretta Scott King Book Awards honoring African American authors and illustrators of outstanding books for children and young adults. David Barclay Moore, author of The Stars Beneath Our Feet, and Charly Palmer, illustrator of Mama Africa! How Miriam Makeba Spread Hope with Her Song, are the winners of the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent. The awards were announced at the American Library Association (ALA) Midwinter Meeting & Exhibits, held Feb. 9-13, 2018, in Denver, Colorado, and presented in New Orleans at the ALA Annual Conference & Exhibition in June.
The Coretta Scott King Book Awards are presented annually by the Coretta Scott King Book Awards Committee of the ALAs Ethnic and Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table (EMIERT) to encourage the artistic expression of the African American experience via literature and the graphic arts; to promote an understanding and appreciation of the Black culture and experience, and to commemorate the life and legacy of Mrs. Coretta Scott King for her courage and determination in supporting the work of her husband, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., for peace and world brotherhood.
In Piecing Me Together, published by Bloomsbury,Jade is a likable protagonist who is easy to root for. There are many stories that shape who we are as peopleand Jade helps others express their feelings and thoughts about the world around them. Watson provides a multi-layered, yet necessary look at Black womanhood.
Renée Watson is an author, educator, and activist from Portland, Oregon, who now lives in New York City. Watson has taught creative writing and theater in public schools and community centers throughout the U.S. for over twenty years. She often focuses on the lived experiences of Black girls and women.
Watson brings us a coming-of-age tale that eloquently explores the many facets of Jade, a brilliant and creative teen on the brink of young adulthood, said Coretta Scott King Book Awards Jury Chair Sam Bloom.
In Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets, written by Kwame Alexander with Chris Colderley and Marjory Wentworth and published by Candlewick Press, Ekua Holmess mixed-media collage images balance the tone and tenor of the new poems created by the authors, while paying homage to each of the featured poets in the subtle details extracted from various aspects.
“Holmes expertly infuses the multilayered poetry with the richness of the Black art aesthetic in her original, evocative, vibrantly colored compositions,” said Coretta Scott King Book Awards Jury Chair Sam Bloom.
Ekua Holmes is a native and current resident of Boston, Massachusetts, who has worked as an artist, curator, and active member of Bostons art community. She was influenced by the need to fill the void of what she perceived as an absence of positive Black images in her childhood neighborhoods.
The Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent affirms new talent and offers visibility for excellence in writing and/or illustration at the beginning of a career as a published African American creator of childrens books. This years winners are author David Barclay Moore for The Stars Beneath Our Feet, published by Alfred A. Knopf, and illustrator Charly Palmer for Mama Africa! How Miriam Makeba Spread Hope with Her Song, published by Farrar Straus Giroux.
The Stars Beneath Our Feet provides a realistic lens on the Black American experience and infuses it with heart, soul, and imagination. Moore plays with language, culture, stereotypes, and reality to create an engaging book that will resonate with youth in urban communities everywhere searching for positive survival techniques.
Mama Africa! How Miriam Makeba Spread Hope with Her Song visually tells the story of the singers career through the use of vibrant, colorful illustrations that juxtapose her rise in fame in comparison to the South African peoples civil rights struggle with apartheid. Palmers bold illustrations expertly complement the text in a riveting duet.
Three King Author Honor Books were selected:
Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut by Derrick Barnes, illustrated by Gordon C. James, and published by Bolden, an Agate Imprint, a Denene Millner Book.
Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds, published by Atheneum, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Childrens Publishing Division, a Caitlyn Dlouhy Book.
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, published by Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
Two King Illustrator Honor Books were selected:
Crown: an Ode to the Fresh Cut, illustrated by Gordon C. James, written by Derrick Barnes,and published by Bolden, an Agate Imprint, a Denene Millner Book.
Before She Was Harriet:The Story of Harriet Tubman, illustrated by James E. Ransome, written by Lesa Cline-Ransome, and published by Holiday House.
For information on the Coretta Scott King Book Awards and other ALA Youth Media Awards, please visit www.ala.org/yma.
Coastal Carolina University will host the 39th annual Dr. Subhash C. Saxena High School Math Contest on Friday, March 2, from 9:45 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in the James J. Johnson Auditorium of the E. Craig Wall Sr. College of Business Administration. The purpose of this event is to stimulate and promote interest in mathematics among high school students. Eighteen South Carolina high schools will compete for awards, prizes and scholarships in two levels of competition.
The following high schools will participate: A.C. Flora, Columbia; Academic Magnet, North Charleston; Aynor; Ben Lippen, Columbia; Bishop England, Charleston; Carver’s Bay; Georgetown; Early College, Conway; Georgetown; Green Sea Floyds; Hammond School, Columbia; Lake View; Mullins; Scholars Academy, Conway; South Florence; Spring Valley; West Florence; and Williston-Elko.
Coastal Carolina University offers a Coastal Scholars Award to the highest scoring Horry County senior on the Level II test. The Level II test is an assessment of junior and senior students who have taken algebra I and II and geometry.
In addition to the competitions, Coastal Carolina University professor Daniel Abel, Ph.D., will give a presentation titled “Math for a Sustainable Future: Econumeracy and Shark Conservation.” Abel, a professor of marine science, earned a master’s degree from the College of Charleston and a doctorate degree from the University of California – San Diego Scripps Institute of Oceanography.
Tara Craig will be presenting the “Afternoon Brainteaser” activity. Craig, an assistant professor of mathematics at CCU, earned her master’s and doctorate degrees from the University of Texas.
Saxena, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, endowed the fund for the annual math contest. He taught mathematics at CCU from 1973 until his retirement in 2001, serving as department chair from 1987-1993.
The first High School Math Contest was held in 1979 and had more than 100 student participants. Over the past few years, the contest has attracted more than 500 students from Horry, Georgetown, Williamsburg, Charleston, Richland, Florence, Berkeley, Dorchester, Marion, Sumter, Barnwell and Clarendon counties.
For more information, contact Coastal Carolina University’s Department of Mathematics and Statistics at 843-349-4074 or visit coastal.edu/math.
CHARLESTON CHRONICLE — Nickelodeon is celebrating Black History Month with a brand-new series of PSAs set in Charleston, South Carolina, that explore themes of education, culture and cuisine as they relate to African Americans. Each PSA is narrated by kids and use Charleston’s storied past and rich culture as both a focal point and a backdrop, given how a sited more than 50% of African Americans are able to trace their ancestry to the port of Charleston, which served as a slave-trading center more than a century ago.
In the first spot currently airing across Nickelodeon’s linear platforms—Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., Nicktoons and TeenNick– the subject is the Avery Institute, built in 1865 and one of the first schools to educate African-American students, following a time when they were legally not allowed to attend school. The second PSA, explores elements of African culture that have been passed down through generations and the importance of keeping traditions alive. The third vignette in the series focuses on the African roots of soul food.
On Monday, January 15, 2018, the holiday marking the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the NAACP and the Africa-America Institute announced a groundbreaking partnership during the 49th NAACP Image Awards.
[/media-credit] NAACP President Derrick Johnson. The NAACP and the Africa-America Institute announced a partnership to develop and distribute a curriculum designed to highlight the accomplishments, achievements and history of Africa and its Diaspora. (NAACP)
The NAACP will work with the AAI on the development and distribution of a curriculum designed to highlight the accomplishments, achievements and history of Africa and its Diaspora.
“It’s appropriate that on a day that we honor Dr. King as well as promote positive images of people of color, we announce to the world a partnership that includes a curriculum, learning exchange and a network for advocacy and activism on behalf of those of African descent in the United States and abroad, “said Derrick Johnson, President and CEO of the NAACP.
“AAI has a long history of academic exchange and educational meetings between Africa and America. Now is an extraordinary time and opportunity to partner with the NAACP and together connect the more than 42 million Afro-descendants with the brilliance of the African history and its contribution to modern civilization,” added Kofi Appenteng, President of the Africa-America Institute.
The curriculum from the NAACP/AAI Alliance will include content such as Africa’s Great Civilizations, the critically acclaimed series by Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Partners and NAACP chapters will benefit from organized screenings and lessons with an early education focus on positive identity formation and a more advanced curriculum that includes studies in social sciences.
A campaign kick-off will take place in February of 2018 as a part of Black History Month.
THE CHARLESTON CHRONICLE — The report on racial disparities in Charleston County compiled by The Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture at the College of Charleston offers more than statistical data about racism that has existed for generations. It also offers solutions.
The report titled “The State of Racial Disparities in Charleston County, South Carolina 2000-2015”, outlines data compiled in several categories that include Income and Poverty Levels, Gentrification and Barriers to Affordable Housing, Educational Attainment and Crime and Policing. Author Dr. Stacey Patton included recommendations for addressing the disparities found.
The report confirms what African Americans have felt and experienced, said Patton, yet the situation remains unchanged. To address them we don’t have to reinvent the wheel, but we must be explicit in our commitment to addressing those disparities. There are people in place and the information is available. So there’s no excuse, she said.
The report includes recommendations specific to Charleston County and utilizes ‘toolboxes’ created by various resources to address racial disparities and structural racism as a public priority. Developing a framework that requires racial equity, inclusion and integration plans along with evaluating policies and programs which perpetuate racial and economic disparities is a place to start, the report suggests.
Addressing chronic poverty is part of the process. A minimum wage of $15 per hour leads the recommendations. Eliminating barriers to work by providing reliable transportation systems throughpublic transportation and parking vouchers combined with conjunctive high quality affordable childcare andre-entry employment programs for those returning from incarceration enhances employability opportunities – in short, dismantle systemic barriers to hiring qualified Black candidates.
The report recommends immediate efforts to preserve existing subsidized and affordable housing and expeditiously expanding the supply. Preventing involuntary displacement of residents from neighborhoods undergoing redevelopment and gentrification is paramount as well.
As youth are our future, the report suggests investing in summer employment and extended-day learning programs. Also it suggests expanding full-day high quality pre-school programs. Students involved in juvenile justice programs should get quality instruction also, the report suggests.
Charleston County only needs the will to implement. The report, like others before it, tells us where to start, Patton said.
The Chronicle — (Charleston, SC) Representative-Elect Marvin Pendarvis (D-North Charleston) has pre-filed multiple bills aimed at promoting educational opportunity for South Carolinians.
Pendarvis pre-filed H. 4439, the “South Carolina Promise Scholarship Act,” which would establish a scholarship program for South Carolina students seeking an associate’s degree, certificate, or diploma from state postsecondary institutions. This bill would cover the cost of tuition and mandatory fees, less all other financial aid, and establish a mentorship program for Promise Scholars. Pendarvis’s House bill mirrors legislation filed in the state senate earlier this year.
H. 4449, the “Rural Schools Act,” would establish safeguards against closing rural schools in the Charleston County School District. The legislation requires the school district to show that such a school closing would be in the best interests of students and require public hearings to gather input from the affected community.
Similarly, H. 4510 would reform the Summerville School Board, providing for members to be elected from single-member districts. This would ensure that rural communities are represented in decisions that affect their local schools.
Pendarvis signed on as a co-sponsor to two additional bills. Partnering with Rep. Wendell Gilliard (D-Charleston) on H. 4388, the “Advanced Manufacturing Instruction Act of 2018,” this legislation would provide students with elective courses in advanced manufacturing. STEM education in public schools is an integral way for students to gain skills necessary in the modern workforce.
Working with Rep. John King (D-Rock Hill), H. 4390 calls for additional federal funding for public education in South Carolina.
“I grew up in the Charleston Farms neighborhood, graduated from Garrett High School, and went on to the University of South Carolina. As a product of South Carolina’s public schools, I know the importance of a quality education,” Pendarvis said.
“All students deserve quality education. All students deserve the opportunity to gain the skills needed to compete in the 21st century economy,” Pendarvis continued. “I’m sponsoring these bills so that South Carolinians – regardless of their ZIP code or economic background – have a fair shot at success.”
Senate education committee Democrats used the confirmation hearing of two top U.S. Department of Education nominees to make their case against the Trump administration’s favorite K-12 policy: School choice.
Both contenders have long records in pushing for charters, vouchers, tax-credit scholarships, and other types of school choice programs. Mick Zais, who has been tapped for deputy secretary of education, the No. 2 post at the agency, helped create a tax-credit scholarship for students in special education when he was the state chief in South Carolina.
And Jim Blew, who has been tapped as assistant secretary for planning, evaluation, and policy analysis, spent nearly a decade as the Walton Family Foundation’s director of K-12 reform, advising the foundation on how to broaden schooling options for low-income communities.
Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the panel, kicked off the hearing by saying that she finds it “troubling” that Zais shares Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’ views on “privatization.” And she told Blew that his “record of promoting school vouchers gives me pause that you will not stand up for students and public schools.”
Senator after senator on the Democratic side of the dais echoed those concerns.
Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., for instance, asked Zais if he was aware that the research on the efficacy of school choice is “abysmal.” Zais said, in his experience, broadening educational options improves student outcomes. But he agreed with Franken that the evidence for that is “anecdotal…”
The SC Bar Young Lawyers Division (YLD) is sponsoring its third annual “Your Big Idea” Scholarship Competition this spring. To enter, students must complete an application and answer one of five prompts about the First Amendment in an Instagram video. The submission deadline has been extended to April 13, 2018 at 5 p.m.
By Barney Blakeney
Senate education committee Democrats used the confirmation hearing of two top U.S. Department of Education nominees to make their case against the Trump administration’s favorite K-12 policy: School choice.