This Thursday go on a virtual trip to the International Space Station!
After school programs and youth across the country are invited to go on a virtual trip to the International Space Station to see and hear Expedition 64 astronauts Kate Rubins and Shannon Walker answer questions from youth.
There are two opportunities to participate.
Between 12:20 and 12:40 p.m. ET on Jan 7, the astronauts will answer prerecorded questions from aboard the International Space Station. At a special after school-hours event, NASA will host a Watch Party at 5 p.m. ET to view the astronaut Q&A from earlier in the day and have scientists and engineers on hand to answer questions from students live!
Norwalk High School Virtual Honors Wind Symphony!
Norwalk Public Schools are open!
Click here for the status of each Norwalk public school as we return after the holiday break.
Also, free meals for all children are available for pick up at locations around the city as indicated below through the remainder of the 2020-21 school year. Each child may take a maximum of one breakfast and one lunch for each school day and weekend day. Duplicate meals cannot be received by visiting multiple sites. Meals can be accessed in either the cafeteria or the remote learning pickup site, but not both locations on the same day. Children may receive a maximum of 7 breakfasts and 7 lunches per week.
The string students of Brookside and Tracey present a virtual Holiday String Celebration!
2021: We are ready!
Here is the Carver community at its very best!
Each year, Carver’s Teen Center Manager, Tremain Gilmore, organizes a massive gift-giving event at the Carver Community Center. Helping Tremain were close friends such as Ayasha Cantey, Julia Moore, Carver’s Jackie Roberson, and Jacob Tomlin.
Dozens of people and local businesses and organizations donate countless gifts that are added to however many gifts are left over from Carver’s gift-giving day to local children.
This year, GE Capital and some of their employees made an especially significant contribution to this initiative.
When a Norwalk Police Officer delivered a van full of toys, we made the obvious comment that Tremain is a wonderful person. He quickly replied that, “Tremain passed ‘wonderful’ a long time ago.”
Calvary Baptist Church, led by Rev. Dr. Jeffrey A. Ingraham, honored Tremain last year for his exemplary service to the community. Tremain is many things to the Norwalk community. He is known for his leadership and countless (and quiet) contributions far and wide. A Carver staffer for more than 16 years, Tremain organizes many Carver and (like this event) Carver-supported community events throughout the year. Tremain embodies the heart and soul of the Carver mission as much as anyone ever did in the 83-year history of Carver’s presence in the Norwalk community.
This giving of the “Blessings Bags” is a most fitting way for the Carver community to close out the tumultuous year of 2020. Whatever has happened, whatever is going to happen in the world, in this living moment of gift-giving contains the sum of the excitement and healing that is the Carver community.
As much as Carver measures and values its programmatic outcomes, we hold that presence is far more intricate and rewarding an outcome than productivity alone. Carver embraces a culture that measures our worth not only by our efficiency and our ability to perform this or that, but more importantly how we spend our days and therefore how we spend our lives.
Novelette Peterkin joins the Maritime Aquarium Board of Directors
Read the article here; and here in The Hour.
The Maritime Aquarium recently elected Novelette to the Board of Directors.
The other new members are Diane Schlinkert, an active civic leader in Darien who serves on the boards of At Home in Darien and the town’s Garden Club; Norm Bloom of Copps Island Oysters in Norwalk; and the Rev. Dr. Lindsay E. Curtis of Grace Baptist Church in Norwalk.
Norwalk developer and Carver friend, Clay Fowler, founding partner, chair and CEO of Spinnaker Real Estate Partners, was elected to be the Aquarium’s next chair of the Board of Trustees.
Since joining the not-for-profit Carver Foundation in 2004, Novelette Peterkin has led the transformation of Carver’s reach and impact – from a vibrant community center to a citywide network of before- and after-school and summer programs delivering equitable and holistic support to more than 2,300 students. Carver staff works closely with school and community leaders to foster environments that support students in almost all K-12 Norwalk Public Schools, Side by Side Charter School, and the Classical Studies Magnet Academy (in Bridgeport). She began her professional career as a private wealth manager in New York, and also has served as assistant director of residential services for the Andrus Children’s Center in New York.
Jason Patlis, president and CEO of The Maritime Aquarium, celebrated the opportunities and insights that the new trustees bring to the organization, and recognized the vital importance of strong leadership by Fowler and outgoing chair Audrey Weil.
“This has been among the most challenging years in the history of The Maritime Aquarium, and it is by virtue of the close partnership with Audrey Weil that we have navigated the pandemic and the Walk Bridge impacts, and it is with the steady leadership of Clay Fowler that we will emerge from these challenges stronger than ever before,” Patlis said. “Looking ahead to this new era, we welcome the new class of trustees who represent the rich diversity of Norwalk itself.
“With Novelette, we hope to strengthen Aquarium programs that elevate underserved and lower-income students, and, with Rev. Curtis’ help, we can link the goals of stewardship that unite both the religious community and the conservation community, and that look to inspire and empower families,” Patlis said.
Thank you for being there for the Carver community!
Our Holiday Gift event is TODAY, Monday, Dec 21st, 10AM to 6PM!
Parents and guardians, due to the expected inclement weather last week, the Carver Holiday Gift event scheduled for Friday, December 18th, was moved to today, Monday, December 21st at the Carver Community Center from 10:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.
Parents should report to the community center entrance/door at the back end of the parking lot near the picnic area.
Gift bags are already organized for each family based on the number of children registered for the event.
Masks and identification are required when picking up gifts. In keeping with social distancing and CDC guidelines just the adult that signed up for the event should come to pick up the gifts.
Happy Holidays and Stay Safe!