By
victor on March 14th, 2012
Congratulations and “Good Luck” to our new student, Joseph Wong, who has been selected to represent his school, Hyattsville Middle School, and present his STEM Project at the 64th Annual Prince George’s County STEM Fair this Saturday, March 17th. It’s a 3-day event and Saturday is the primary day for Judging.
We are very proud of you, Joseph!!
***UPDATE***
It was a long weekend but well worth it. The STEM fair was very competitive, the projects quite unimaginable for 12 – 15 year olds. There were participants from three counties, Prince George’s, Calvert and St. Mary’s.
Joseph did well in his category Engineering: Materials and Bio-engineering. His project was titled “The Power of Poop”. He tested different bio-masses to see which will produce the greatest amount of bio-gas (methane) at the fastest rate. He placed third in his category and got two special awards: the Robert L. Wistort “Best Presentation” award, given to the student who makes the best oral presentation of his/her project/exhibit, and the Izaak Walton League of America award for promoting clean and renewable energy technology.
He’s already looking forward to next year!
Filed under: Arts Education, STEM, Service Learning
By
victor on March 5th, 2012
CAFE’s Positive Vibrations Youth Steel Orchestra will provide FREE concerts and workshops throughout the summer at various Prince George’s County Public Library Branches.
Saturday, June 23, at 3:00 pm – Oxon Hill Branch
Wednesday, June 27, at 1:00 pm – Spauldings (Teen Program)
Monday, July 2, at 7:00 pm – Beltsville Branch
Wednesday, July 25, at 2:00 pm – Surratts-Clinton Branch
Tuesday, July 31, at 10:00 am – Bladensburg Branch
Tuesday, July 31, at 7:00 pm – Greenbelt Branch (Teen Program)
Wednesday, August 8, at 7:00 pm – Laurel Branch.
Filed under: Arts Education, Concert, Service Learning, positive vibrations
By
victor on December 27th, 2011
On December 10th, CAFE produced its 15th annual Holiday Concert. The crowd, which included community members, family, friends, and dignitaries, was enamored all evening as each of CAFE’s performing ensembles took to the stage. The first half of the concert featured not only the award-winning Positive Vibrations Youth Steel Orchestra, but also the venerable Georgetown Choral, and four-time Grammy winning tenor, John Aler! PVYSO started the show with Musical Director Adam Grisé’s great arrangement of the Led Zeplin classic, Fool in the Rain. After breathtaking renditions of Horkstow Grange, by Percy Grainger and Salvation Is Created, by Pavel Chesnokov, the group was joined by the Georgetown Choral and John Aler for rousing numbers from Handel’s Messiah and powerful version of Vivaldi’s Gloria, before closing the first half with a heart-felt “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”!
The second half of the concert was introduced by Honorable Congresswoman Donna F. Edwards before moving directly into PVYSO’s tribute to the U.S. Armed Forces. Throughout the remainder of the concert, all of CAFE’s wonderful ensembles enjoyed their time in the spotlight. The Rhythm Starters (also known as the world’s shortest steel band) received a standing ovation after their performance of the traditional carol “Good King Winceslas” and the Rhythm Runners got the moving with an upbeat treatment of “Amazing Grace” and a funky arrangement of Luther Vandross’ “Never Too Much”. CAFE’s adult steel band, the PanTones, surprised the audience (and probably themselves) with excellent performances of Calypso Rose’s “Fire in Me Wire” and Paul Simon’s “Late in the Evening” before making way for PVYSO to once again take the stage. After the Christmas “Soul” standard, Donny Hathaway’s “This Christmas”, PVYSO was joined on stage by the PanTones for a jamming closer in Scrunter’s “Madame Jeffery”, a parang classic. If you missed this concert, you definitely won’t want to miss CAFE’s joint benefit concert with the Georgetown Chorale on Sunday April 29th.
To see the rest of the pictures visit the gallery!
Filed under: Arts Education, Concert, Fundraising, positive vibrations
By
victor on March 3rd, 2011
This article was recently posted at Education Week, an online news site that covers the field of education thoroughly.
By Erik Robelen on February 28, 2011 4:33 PM
Fewer American children are getting access to arts education, whether
at school or elsewhere, according to a new analysis of federal data
issued by the National Endowment for the Arts. What’s especially
alarming is that the overall decline is only part of the story: The
drop is apparently most severe for African-Americans and Hispanics.
The research, part of a broader look at arts participation by U.S.
adults, finds that fewer 18-year-olds surveyed in 2008 reported
receiving any arts education in childhood than did those surveyed in
1982, dropping from about 65 percent to 50 percent. The report also
includes survey data in 1992 and 2002, and each successive time the
overall figure was lower.
The analysis includes a slightly broader pool of adults surveyed in
breaking down the results by race and ethnicity, including those ages
18 to 24. Here, the data are most stark. Just 26 percent of African-
Americans surveyed in 2008 reported receiving any arts education in
childhood, a huge drop from the 51 percent who reported as much in
1982.
“We’ve moved from a half to a quarter of all African-Americans,” Sunil
Iyengar, the director of research and analysis at the endowment, told
me. “It’s now 26 percent. … You’re talking about staggering rates of
decline for African-Americans and for Hispanics, too.”
For Hispanics ages 18 to 24, the figure for getting any arts education
plummeted to 28 percent in 2008, down from 47 percent in 1982. For
whites, meanwhile, the figure was down just slightly. I won’t round
these figures, but it dropped from 59.2 percent to 57.9 percent.
For the rest of this article go to Education Week at
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2011/02/new_study_suggests_arts_ed_for.htm
Filed under: Arts Education
Tags: arts funding, Blogging, CAFE Students, Youth Programming
