Evans Community School

Connections Newsletter – January 2016

kguin — Wed, 06 Jan 2016 13:47:43 +0000

Read the January 2016 issue of Connections, a newsletter about people, activities and services at Evans High School • A Community School. In this issue, learn about: UCF Takeover Week Evans student Kiesha Meus New team members Patricia Fleurant and Erika Moore Mollie Ray Fall Festival Counseling Services And more!

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Evans Hosts Annual Holiday Food Drop

kguin — Mon, 21 Dec 2015 15:38:06 +0000

More than 100 students from Evans High School • A Community School volunteered to help with the annual Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida holiday food drop Dec. 19. “The food drop program, in its sixth year of operation, was started to ensure Orange County students have food during the holiday break,” reported Caitlin Dineen for the Orlando Sentinel. Learn more about this year’s food drop in Dineen’s article, Second Harvest Food Bank Feeds Hundreds with Event. For photos from the event by Dineen, including the one below, click on “PHOTO GALLERY” in the upper right of her photo in the Orlando Sentinel article (link above).

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Orlando Sentinel Reports on Wellness Program in Pine Hills

kguin — Fri, 18 Dec 2015 14:16:07 +0000

Orlando Sentinel reporter Naseem Miller reported on the Pine Hills Wellness Program in a Dec. 17, 2015, article, Wellness Program in Pine Hills Aims to Improve Access to Care. The Pine Hills Wellness Program, a program of Children’s Home Society of Florida, has coaches who reach out to Pine Hills community members to connect them with health care services. The program partners with organizations throughout the community, including Evans Wellness Cottage. Read the full story at the top link above, which also includes a video about Evans Wellness Cottage.

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UCF, Evans High School Team UP to Show the Way to College

kguin — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 15:44:25 +0000

⇐Watch a video about UCF Takeover Week by Orange County Public Schools Earning a higher education can transform lives. It can lead to a career designing cool video games, engineering innovative prosthetics for children, healing illnesses, performing on stage in front of thousands, launching a business or perhaps even curing cancer.Getting high school students to dream is not the problem. Getting them excited and ready to start their careers in college is, and that’s why UCF and Evans High School ● A Community School are teaming up at UCF Takeover Week Oct. 12-16. UCF students, faculty, administrators and volunteers will spend time at Evans this week helping students envision college as part of their future and then showing them the tools and roadmaps to get there. Organizers are also delivering another message: College can be fun. Knightro, UCF’s mascot, the UCF cheerleaders and the band will all perform at Evans as a way to showcase the fun side of college life. More than 30 student organizations will talk to students about the kinds of clubs and activities they can pursue from dance to engineering. Evans students also will get an opportunity to listen to UCF admissions and financial aid officers talk about getting ready for college, successfully navigating the admissions process, and payment options. “This is about connecting with students and families in our community and making sure they know that higher education can very much be part of their future,” said Michael Frumkin, dean of the UCF College of Health and Public Affairs. The college played a major role in organizing the event along with UCF’s Student Development and Enrollment Services division. “We want all students to know we are here for them and to help them best prepare for a successful journey to college.” Last year, 15 UCF students were volunteer mentors to ninth-graders at Evans, offering the teens support and guidance for success in life. UCF Takeover Week is another way to introduce more UCF students to Evans. Organizers hope the event will also inspire them and others in the community to become mentors and to continue delivering the message that college is accessible. And because getting to college isn’t just up to students, UCF is also hosting a parent-information session at Evans from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 15. During the session parents can watch several panel presentations about the admissions process, paying for college, and the benefits of alternative pathways to college, such as ROTC and DirectConnect to UCF. Students and parents also will get the opportunity to see some of the innovative things students at UCF are doing, including designing computer games, engineering devices that help the disabled, and much more. Monday 11-12:30 p.m.: Kickoff with performances by Knightro, UCF cheerleaders and dance team 2:30-4:45 p.m.: Cultural fair featuring 12 UCF clubs including Black Student Union, Colombian Student Association and Giving Back Evans Alumni. Tuesday 11-12:30 p.m.: Outreach and mentoring of students 2:30-4:45 p.m.: Nine different sessions on everything from undergraduate admissions to academic resources at UCF Thursday 11-12:30 p.m.: Greek organizations 5-7 p.m.: Parent information session Friday 11-12:30 p.m.: Student leadership opportunities at UCF and performance by UCF Band. (Photo by Abi Bell)

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Bridge Builders Academy Brings UCF Expertise to Evans

kguin — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 17:27:48 +0000

A new literacy program developed in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Central Florida is employing evidence-based practices to boost the literacy skills of young high school students. Doctoral program Director and Professor Barbara Ehren designed the language-focused literacy program, named “Bridge Builders Academy,” for a cohort of rising freshmen at Evans High School, located in the Pine Hills area of Orlando. The group consists of 40 students with a demonstrated need for increased reading proficiency. Ehren launched the program in June with a six-week summer session for the cohort at Evans High. The session included collaborative and individual classroom exercises led by two of the high school’s teachers, Ivette Torres and Paulette Stadelman. Ten UCF master’s degree students in communication sciences and disorders also participated in the session by leading small-group exercises. Clinical Educator Tom Ehren and doctoral student Kimmerly Harrell supervised their efforts. “This gave our graduate students experience planning and implementing language intervention for adolescents,” Ehren said. “The Evans students said working with our students was their favorite part of the program.” Bridge Builders Academy continues this fall with the cohort taking intensive language classes offered by teachers at Evans under the guidance of Ehren and her team. In addition, Ehren and Harrell are exploring opportunities for empirical research studies. “Our partnership with Evans is an excellent example of direct service to the community coupled with opportunities to prepare graduate students for their profession as well as to conduct research,” Ehren said. “It is also replicable in other communities with a high percentage of K-12 students who struggle with literacy.” View more photos by Abi Bell

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Central Florida Future Reports on UCF–Evans Partnership

kguin — Fri, 18 Sep 2015 20:54:07 +0000

The Central Florida Future reports on the University of Central Florida’s partnership with Evans High School in a Sept. 10 article by Nada Hassanein. Among partnership’s latest activities is a new mentorship program that brings together UCF students with Evans students, according to Jarvis Wheeler, director of Evans High School. Read the article at UCF Helps Evans High School Students, Community.

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WUCF News: ‘Community School’ Concept Takes Root in Florida

kguin — Mon, 10 Aug 2015 21:02:23 +0000

WUSF News reported today on Evans High School • A Community School in Orlando and developing community schools in Florida in a broadcast, ‘Community School’ Concept Takes Root in Florida, by Margie Menzel. Listen to the complete broadcast and/or read the transcript 8/11/15 Update: The article is also available at https://health.wusf.usf.edu/post/community-school-concept-takes-root-florida 8/12/15 Update: U.S. Secretary of Education Arnie Duncan shared the following tweet about the article: https://twitter.com/arneduncan/status/631545482464985093

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UCF Earns $900,000 to Help K-12 Students Succeed in School

kguin — Thu, 02 Jul 2015 18:52:07 +0000

UCF has earned $900,000 in state funding to continue its efforts to help children in distressed communities succeed in school and attain a higher education. The Center for Community Schools and Child Welfare Innovation, based at the College of Health and Public Affairs, will receive the funding in the new fiscal year to continue its work with Evans Community School in Orlando and expand the community-school model to other schools in Florida. “We’ll receive enough funding to award planning and first-year operational grants to schools interested in developing community schools,” said Dave Bundy, director at the center. “We know it is extremely successful in terms of student performance and it is a cost-efficient model.” The partners who helped created Evans Community School in 2012 – Children’s Home Society of Florida, Orange County Public Schools, Central Florida Family Health Center (now True Health) and UCF – launched the Center for Community Schools and Child Welfare in 2014 thanks in part to the success at Evans. Community schools aim to tear down the barriers that can interfere with a child’s educational success from poverty to a lack of health care. At Evans, for example, students and parents have access to primary health care, dental care, mental health care, free meals, food pantry, snack closet, job-assistantance programs, tutoring, mentoring and additional help. Community partners provide all these services at discounted rates on site year-round. Bundy said that since Evans started the model, graduation rates have risen from 60 to 80 percent. “The idea is to remove barriers and let children focus on learning,” Bundy said. Last year the UCF center provided grants to public schools in Brevard, Pasco and Escambia counties. The new funding will allow for more schools to come online. The new funding will also allow the center to help with first-year operational costs of the program at each school selected. Endeavour Elementary School in Cocoa and C.A. Weiss Elementary School in Pensacola are working with the center to develop their plans to follow the community model. They could be eligible for first-year operational costs, thanks to the new funding. “It’s a good model for schools that struggle in terms of student performance and that are in distressed neighborhoods,” Bundy said. “We are happy to be able to partner with community organizations to help students succeed. Helping students attain a good education is a wise investment in our children and our future as a community.”

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Health News Florida Reports on Evans Wellness Cottage

kguin — Thu, 04 Jun 2015 17:31:08 +0000

Health News Florida reports on Evans Wellness Cottage in an article published today titled “Campus Health Care Keeps Kids in School.” Author Abe Aboraya quotes several officials in the article, as well as Evans’ student Theresa Civil, pictured below. “It’s hard to focus on getting my work done and continuing coming to school when I’m physically and emotionally not stable,” said Civil. “So with the doctor here, not that far from your school, they’re taking a weight off your shoulder.” Read or listen to Aboraya’s full report at https://health.wusf.usf.edu/post/campus-health-care-keeps-kids-school.

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Local TV Covers Student Efforts on Trojan Service Day

kguin — Fri, 15 May 2015 12:10:51 +0000

Hundreds of Evans High School students volunteered their time on Saturday, May 9, to help clean up the Evans’ campus and other local school grounds during Trojan Service Day. Evans Community School members helped coordinate the event, which was covered by three local television stations. WKMG Channel 6 produced a “Making a Difference” segment about the event named Service Day Improves High School Campus. News 13 reported on the event in a segment named Cleaning up the Community. WESH 2 News produced a segment about the event named Clean Sweep.

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