Carver in the News: Bankwell renews its generous support!

Carver Director of Philanthropy Nikki Lafaye with Bankwell SVP and Director of Business Development Rob Mallozzi

See the article here at NewCannanite.com.

As part of its commitment to provide value to the community, Bankwell donated $5,000 to the Carver Foundation of Norwalk. The mission of the Carver Foundation is to help children and youth reach their greatest potential by providing educational, social and recreational programs in a positive, safe and fun environment. Carver is Norwalk’s largest provider of after school programs for middle and high school students, and the largest provider of summer programs serving K through 9th grade students.

Infographic: National Assessment of After School Program Benefits

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy remembered and honored

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s death 50 years ago left a nation grieving. His profound impact on civil and human rights will forever be remembered and honored. A champion of justice and equality, Dr. King’s brief life and steadfast activism are lessons in courageous leadership & compassionate service.

It's National Poetry Month. Listen to this NPR interview with Tracy Smith, the US Poet Laureate

NPR's Michel Martin begins its series for Poetry Month with Poet Laureate of the United States Tracy K. Smith. Listen to the interview here. 

Born on April 16, 1972, Tracy K. Smith was born in Falmouth, Massachusetts, and raised in Fairfield, California. She is the youngest of five children. She studied at Harvard, where she joined the Dark Room Collective, a reading series for writers of color. She went on to receive her MFA from Columbia University.

Smith’s first collection, The Body’s Question (Graywolf Press, 2003), won the Cave Canem Poetry Prize in 2002. Her second book, Duende (Graywolf Press, 2007), won the 2006 James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets. Her most recent collection, Life on Mars (Graywolf Press, 2011), won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. In April 2018, Graywolf Press will publish her book Wade in the Water.

A starred review of Smith’s work in Publisher’s Weekly noted her “lyric brilliance and political impulses.” A review of Duende in The New York Times Book Review stated, “The most persuasively haunted poems here are those where [Smith] casts herself not simply as a dutiful curator of personal history but a canny medium of fellow feeling and the stirrings of the collective unconscious...it’s this charged air of rapt apprehension that gives her spare, fluid lines their coolly incantatory tenor.”

Smith is the recipient of the 2014 Academy of American Poets Fellowship. About Tracy K. Smith, Academy of American Poets Chancellor Toi Derricotte said: “The surfaces of a Tracy K. Smith poem are beautiful and serene, but underneath, there is always a sense of an unknown vastness. Her poems take the risk of inviting us to imagine, as the poet does, what it is to travel in another person’s shoes. The Academy is fortunate to be able to confer this fitting recognition on one of the most important poets of our time.”

In 2017, Smith was appointed Poet Laureate of the United States. Her other awards and honors include a Wallace Stegner Fellowship at Stanford University, a 2004 Rona Jaffe Writers Award, a 2008 Essence Literary Award, a grant from the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation, a fellowship from the Breadloaf Writers’ Conference, and a 2005 Whiting Award. She is the director of Princeton University’s creative writing program and lives in New Jersey.

As a member of TEAM Summer, Carver summer programming featured in The Hour

The Carver Foundation of Norwalk, a member of Norwalk ACTS TEAM Summer, is the largest provider of after-school and summer programs in Norwalk.

By Stephanie Kim

NORWALK — For the past two years, a group of summer learning providers and community members have been meeting every month to discuss ways the city can collectively tackle summer learning loss — or avoid the “summer slide.”

This group came together through the city’s coalition of civic leaders, educators and organizations known as Norwalk ACTS. Named TEAM Summer, the group has the mission of not just closing the learning gap but also lessening the opportunity gap among socioeconomically disadvantaged children in the summertime.

Read the rest of the article in The Hour here. 

http://www.norwalkacts.org/teamsummer/2018-portal/

At the Hour: skim@hearstmediact.com; 203-842-2568; @stephaniehnkim

New Canaan High School students join Carver kids in fun and learning

See a past article here that appeared in the New Canaan High School Courant.

See a past Carver blog post here about the NCHS students visiting with Carver kids.

Here are some photos of the NCHS students during their visit today.

Carver's Annual College Boot Camp 3/23 to 3/25!

Carver's 48th annual College Tour will take place from April 8th to 14th

Chaperoned Carver students will soon board their chartered bus at the Carver Community Center for a life-changing, road trip over their spring school break to the schools they aspire to attend. The 48th Annual Spring College Tour will introduce middle and high school students to the rigors and joys of a college education. School administrators, admissions and financial aid officers, college students including many former Carver YDP students, and others give the tours, make presentations and interact with the visiting Carver students. Whether asking questions, touring the campuses, or sharing meals with former Carver peers now excelling at these excellent schools, the goal is to motivate each visiting Carver student to envision their futures as a successful college student. 

This year’s Spring College Tour begins on Sunday April 8th when the students depart at 1:00PM from the Carver Community Center for Philadelphia, PA, where they will spend their first evening. Monday, April 9, the students will tour Temple University in the morning and then Tour LaSalle University in the afternoon. On Tuesday, April 10, the tour continues in the morning at Villanova University in Villanova, PA, and then moves on to Cheyney University of Pennsylvania in Cheyney, PA. The students will stay in Salisbury, MD for the evening. On Wednesday, April 11, the tour moves on to the University of Maryland Eastern Shore in Princess Anne, Maryland, and then in the afternoon the students will tour Salisbury University in Salisbury, Maryland. The students will then move on to Baltimore for the evening. On Thursday, April 12, the students will tour Morgan State University and then Coppin State University in Baltimore, MD, and then move on to Silver Spring, MD where they will stay for the evening. On Friday April 13, the students will begin the day at Georgetown University in Washington, DC and then move on to Howard University. The students will stay the evening in Robbinsville, NJ.  On Saturday, April 14, the students will travel to Six Flags Great Adventure ion Jackson, NJ, and then travel back to the Carver Community Center by 5PM. 

SEE THE STUDENT REPORTS FROM THE COLLEGES LAST YEAR!

Carver Summer Employment Opportunities!

Carver will begin accepting applications for summer employment on Monday, March 19, 2018. The last day for applications will be Thursday, April 26, 2018.

HERE IS THE APPLICATION FORM.

Carver is looking for applicants for its Summer Enrichment Programs at the Carver Community Center and at Columbus Magnet School (June 25 to August 3). Positions available are for camp counselors and camp supervisors. All applications are to be submitted to the Carver Community Center (7 Academy Street, Norwalk) in person or by U.S. mail by April 26th.

These two summer camps are among the most affordable and high-quality programs available to Norwalk students ages 5 through 13 years old. The summer literacy program, facilitated by certified teachers, uses the myON and Lexia Reading Core 5 software to provide personalized learning. Certified teachers also teach math sessions. Through the years, summer camp program partners have included the Girl Scouts, the Center for Contemporary Printmaking, Norwalk Grassroots Tennis and The Norwalk Seaport Association. Field trips reinforce learning, e.g., Peabody Museum, CT Science Center, Discovery Museum, NBC Studio Tour, Stamford Nature Center, Beardsley Zoo, Bishop Orchards, New York Botanical Gardens and Maritime Aquarium.

See the last days of summer 2017 video and 1,000+ photos -- see it all here! Here are stories about summer field trips to such destinations as Sheffield Island and swimming and bowling. 

Carver scholar-athlete, Shadrac Casimir, in the news!

Schadrac Casimir is in March Madness (local) news!

Here is a little bit more about his basketball career:

• Played in 34 of 35 games on the season, starting in eight.
• Averaged 20.1 minutes per-game towards 7.0 points, 1.5 rebounds and 1.4 assists per-game.
• Finished the season ranked fourth in the MAAC with a 42.7 3-point shooting percentage.
• Led the team with a 94.1 free throw percentage, missing just three attempts on the season (48-for-51).
• Put forth 16 points on 5-of-8 shooting to go with five assists and five rebounds at Fairleigh Dickinson (Dec. 7).
• Notched his first 27-point effort of the season against Canisius (Jan .8), knocking down 7-of-9 3-point attempts in 34 minutes.
• Scored 21 points in 23 minutes at Manhattan (Jan. 17) on 7-of-9 shooting that included 3-for-3 from beyond the arc.
• Tallied his second 27-point outing of the season in 32 minutes at Marist (Feb. 17) by shooting 10-for-14 from the floor.
• Went 6-of-6 from the free throw line in addition to 6-of-10 from the floor, including 4-for-6 from 3-point range, towards 22 points against Rider (Mar. 4) in a MAAC Championship Quarterfinal Round victory.