While math, reading, and writing have an important place, Carver summer enrichment opportunities are full of science experiments, gardening, and time to socialize. There are many team-building activities that engage students and give them a chance to collaborate and see the strength and fun in working with others. Here are a few more images of our students at the Carver Community Center this summer.
Rising 6th graders attending our summer transition programs at Ponus Ridge and West Rocks Middle Schools went to Bowlmor this afternoon to enjoy a fun time together.
Bowling provides many benefits for youth including educational, social, psychological, and health benefits. Bowling is an equal opportunity lifetime sport!
Over 200 colleges offer collegiate bowling, with many of these schools providing scholarship opportunities. The bowling industry generates over $6 million in scholarships each year. Bowling meets the five standards for physical education set by SHAPE America. Bowling promotes learning math skills by calculating scores, figuring averages, and learning mathematical systems to adjust to lane conditions and spare shooting. Advanced bowling incorporates physics and science including understanding friction, ball motion, and biomechanics to name a few.
But ask any of our students and they’ll likely report that they simply had a lot of fun today — which is the secret component of all of Carver’s after-school and summer programming!
Maritime Aquarium, Ice Skating, New Pond Farm, Yoga, STEM projects, Ballet, Cooking, and so much more!
We are deeply grateful to the New Canaan Community Foundation (NCCF) for renewing its generous support of our after-school programs for the upcoming school year.
Since 1977, NCCF has invested in high-impact local organizations such as Carver and in doing so has helped donors achieve their philanthropic goals. NCCF brings the people of New Canaan together to address both individual and local challenges, enriching the lives of all community members.
NCCF achieves its mission by partnering with community members. NCCF helps each individual, family, or organization achieve its philanthropic goals. The Foundation educates and supports volunteer leaders of all ages to guide and maximize the impact of NCCF in the community. The Foundation mobilizes thoughtful grant investments and other resources to respond to local needs. The Foundation convenes community leaders, experts, and residents to address community-wide issues that affect New Canaan.
NCCF engages many volunteers who help to deepen the Foundation’s engagement with over 100 local organizations.
Thank you, New Canaan Community Foundation!
Carver’s 9th Grade Summer Transition Program at Brien McMahon High School (BMHS) will have an art exhibition at the Norwalk Art Space on Friday, August 6th at 1:30 PM.
Thanks to the extraordinary generosity of a new corporate collaborative organized by Fairfield County’s Community Foundation, Carver was awarded a $50,000 grant for our summer transition program for rising 9th graders at Norwalk’s two high schools.
Thanks to the Fairfield County Corporate Collaborative for Education Equity, Carver’s rising 9th graders at Brien McMahon and Norwalk High Schools have been taking classes this summer in English, Social Studies, Math, Science, Visual & Performing Arts, and "High School 101" along with various enrichment activities over the course of 5 weeks.
Enrichments include free rowing classes provided by the Norwalk River Rowing Association, art classes by the Norwalk Art Space, cooking classes, physical education, peer mentorships, college tours, and BMHS Career Pathways 4-day Bootcamp.
Resident artists and fellows in the newly renovated building now housing The Norwalk Art Space, located just around the corner from the Carver Community Center.
This art exhibition is the culminating experience for the students modeled after an IB Exhibition where artifacts and ideas from the program are shared with school staff, families, and community members in a public setting.
One of the goals of our summer transition program for rising 9th graders is to expose them to the IB Learner Profile. The core curriculum and exhibition are based on the BMHS school-wide rubrics modeled on the IB Learner Profile.
The International Baccalaureate® (IB) Profile describes a broad range of human capacities and responsibilities that go beyond academic success. The profile aims to develop learners who are: Inquirers; Knowledgeable; Thinkers; Communicators; Principled'; Open-minded; Caring; Risk-takers; Balanced; and Reflective.
The RISE Network (a Dalio Education program) is providing our 9th Grade Summer Transition Program at BMHS with two counselors who offer many supports, including social/emotional and academic support.
For more information about the art exhibition, please contact Alexander Meli, 9th Grade Summer Transition Program Coordinator, Brien McMahon High School, (203) 666-2059.
See the article in The Hour here.
Here is another article in The Patch about our renovation plans for the community center.
NORWALK — The State Bond Commission has approved a $1.2 million grant to renovate the George Washington Carver Community Center on Academy Street.
The grant, which goes toward urban development projects, was funded by the Office of Policy and Management and approved by the Bond Commission Friday morning.
The Carver Center renovation required $2,121,767, and $860,000 was provided by private contributions, according to Bond Commission documents. The commission approved funding for the remaining $1,261,767.
“This changes everything,” Carver Center Executive Director Novelette Peterkin said. “The Carver Community is deeply grateful for the trust and generosity of the Norwalk delegation. Norwalk’s young people will benefit from this gift for generations.”
The funds will be used to complete interior and exterior renovations, according to state documents.
“The Carver Center is a vital resource for so many in our community,” Norwalk Mayor Harry Rilling said. “I am thrilled that they are receiving this state grant to complete state-of-the-art improvements at the facility. Thank you to Reps. (Stephanie) Thomas and (Lucy) Dathan for helping secure these funds for the Carver Center — it is going to make a difference for so many in Norwalk.”
The agenda for the first meeting of the state Bond Commission was a preview of what could be “a pretty robust” year for state borrowing, Gov. Ned Lamont said.
The governor said it’s “a unique time” to be making these investments given historically low-interest rates that allow the state to borrow more at a lower cost to taxpayers, an improved bond rating, and a large number of residents still unemployed.
“This is a time to get people back to work, get people back to work with good-paying jobs, a lot of them good paying construction jobs,” the governor said.
The commission approved nearly $1.1 billion in state borrowing, including $300 million for school construction projects and more than $500 million in transportation projects, including finishing upgrades to the Merritt Parkway.
abigail.brone@hearstmediact.com; Includes reporting by Julia Bergman
See hundreds of images here in our Facebook album!
Our summer learning programming is more important than ever this year. Our nine summer programs are adapting and innovating to ensure children and their families can access quality summer learning opportunities and critical supports.
These are images from our summer campers right now enjoying our Summer Enrichment Camps at the Carver Community Center, Columbus Magnet School, and Kendall Elementary School (for our After the Bell students), and the new Summer Learning Program at Side By Side Charter School.
We also have summer transition programs for rising 6th graders at Norwalk’s four middle schools, and summer transition programs for rising 9th graders at Norwalk and Brien McMahon High Schools.
Tish Gibbs (Elizabeth Villa “Tish” Gibbs) has died at age 85. We will miss her greatly. Tish’s friendship, advice, guidance, and advocacy will continue to have an impact on the Carver community for many years to come.
Carver knows Tish mostly as Executive Director of N/NSCP, a Sister City partnership between the people of Nagarote, Nicaragua, and Norwalk.
But that role and her many others through the years are not why we loved Tish so very much. Instead of counting career achievements here, though they are many, we simply want to thank her for teaching us, for loving us, for connecting us to her wonderful world, and for being in our lives.
We made our connection to NicPhoto because of Tish. From 2011 to 2015, Carver high school students partnered with NicaPhoto (not an N/NSCP program) to learn alongside their peers in Sonrisa de Dios (Smile of God), one of the poorest barrios in Nagarote, Nicaragua. The students shared photography, poetry, and stories via Skype and other digital means. A coffee table book based on this cultural exchange was published in 2014. Our students traveled to Nicaragua to help the students there establish this organic garden by which the young people learn about growing their own food, organic gardening, and healthy eating. Ronnie Ellen Maher, Founder and Executive Director of NicaPhoto, first visited Nagarote in 2005 as an N/NSCP volunteer.
Through her storied political and charity work and her myriad other interests, Tish will be remembered by Carver as a sparkling and burning light who illumined, inspired, and guided us to lead lives as joy-filled and giving as hers. Her infectious ebullience, curiosity, enthusiasm, and love nourished and guided us all. She showed us what we could be and how we could give of ourselves evermore.
What did Tish teach us? That it's all achingly beautiful; to be of service and generous; to relax, and to remember to have fun and adventures.
Over the past two weeks, campers at the Carver Community Center have ventured outside of Norwalk to explore Silverman’s Farm in Easton and New Pond Farm in West Redding.
Campers between the ages of 5 and 9 visited Silverman’s Farm last week to pick blueberries - the perfect snack for a warm, summer afternoon. Children in the 5-6 year old group were delighted to feed the farm’s barnyard friends, which included fallow deer, goats, and sheep.
At New Pond Farm, campers in the 7-9 year old group learned about a variety of farm animals and aquatic creatures by engaging in fun, hands-on activities. The campers found themselves wading in streams, eagerly searching for tadpoles, frogs, and crayfish. Touring the farm, they got a closer look at a dairy cow and calf, pigs, sheep, and chickens, learning about the distinct roles the animals play on a farm.
Both campers and counselors alike enjoyed these enriching experiences offered by Silverman’s Farm and New Pond Farm. Thank you to our wonderful hosts!
Many thanks to Kelly Dominick for the photos!
Thank you to Mike Lasky for the photos!
This week, Carver summer campers attending the Carver Community Center and Columbus Magnet School summer enrichment programs are visiting The Maritime Aquarium.
The aquarium features harbor seals, river otters, sharks, jellyfish, loggerhead turtles, and hundreds of other animals living in re-creations of their natural Long Island Sound habitats. Three touch tanks feature stingrays, nurse sharks, crabs, sea stars, moon jellies and other coastal creatures.
In addition to its exhibits, The Maritime Aquarium offers educational programs to Carver kids in our after-school programs throughout the school year and year-round cruises on its 64-foot research vessel R/V Spirit of the Sound.
The Maritime Aquarium inspires people of all ages to appreciate and protect the Long Island Sound ecosystem and the global environment through living exhibits, marine science, and environmental education.
The "Maritime Center" opened July 16, 1988. The name was changed to the "Maritime Aquarium" in July 1996 to emphasize the live animals featured there.
Carver’s CEO, Novelette Peterkin, is a member of The Maritime Aquarium’s Board of Directors.
The image to the left is of the new exhibit. at The Maritime Aquarium.
