Mesa students are once again invited to participate in the MLK Celebration Parade on Monday, January 21, 2008. Staging is on Macdonald between 1st Ave and 2nd Ave, and the parade ends at the Mesa Amphitheatre. Groups must check in between 9:30 and 10:30 a.m. and the parade starts at 11 a.m.
Parade chairwomen are Andrea Murphy at 472-4642 and Everette Woods at 354-0418. Sign up by Thursday, January 3rd. There is no entry fee.

Sousa and Poston
on Channel 14!

On Sunday, November 4th, students, teachers, and parents from Sousa Elementary and Poston Junior were filmed at the Channel 3/14 studio describing their service learning activities for Project Parenting. The episodes on “Students Volunteering in the Community” will air December 22nd and January 12th at 4:00 pm and 4:30 pm. Check them out!

Thanks to a State Farm Good Neighbors Grant of $10,000, there are 33 MPS teachers now developing and implementing service learning projects with their students. The teachers received training, a small stipend, professional development hours, and $100 toward their projects. Training was conducted in November by Debbi Bertolet, and mentoring is ongoing by Tony Bisanz, Linda Heller, Susan Samuel, and Ladd Stewart. The teachers are:

- Carson – Jennifer Cruise, Janet Parker, Ruth Schmidt
- Fremont – Andrea Rodgers
- Hendrix – Kelly Johnson
- Keller – Elisa Garcia
- Lindbergh – Lori Dobbin, Maria Foglia, Annie Hitesman, Judith Wilcoxson
- Mountain View – Kerri Thorp
- Red Mountain – Catherine Bianchi
- Riverview – Rick Caron
- Roosevelt – Barbara Lindstrom
- Skyline – Peter Caruso
- Smith – Cindy Carter, Jamie Dendiu, Roxanne Karges, Pauline Nicols, Alicia Wach
- Stevenson – Brian Hay, Jennifer Leonardi, Holly Platt, Linda Price, Marilyn Uhl
- TAPP – Maria McGettigan
- Taylor – Mary Christen, Lila Hayter, Dorothy Nelson, Cynthia Picard, Lisa Thomas
- Zaharis – Sharon Scott

Mesa students of all ages and abilities colored and decorated 2,000 holiday cards for the “Be a Santa to a Senior” program for homebound senior citizens. The cards will be attached to gifts being delivered to seniors by the Home Instead Senior Care.

The 18 schools and the lead teachers who spread this cheer were:

- Crismon – Flora Cullison
- Dobson – Hope Finzer
- EVA – Jan Laufer
- Field – Merrilee Kupfer
- Fremont – Andrea Rodgers
- Hendrix – Cheryl Smereker
- Kino – Erin Reed
- Lindbergh – Annie Hitesman
- Mesa Junior – Debra Gross
- Mountain View – Kerri Thorp
- Poston – Joan Bird and Tony Bisanz
- Red Mountain Ranch – Joel Saxon and Jeanne Colasanti
- Rhodes – Kaylene Butler
- Smith – Linda Heller
- Sousa – Susan Samuel
- Stapley – Pamela Sarbo
- Stevenson – Jessica Nehrmeyer
- Whitman – Linda Laufer

Minigrants for service learning projects have been awarded to five Mesa school groups. Funds are available to all MPS teachers and students for materials, supplies, equipment or transportation needed by going online to www.mesaservicelearning.org, or requesting an application at 480-472-5985.

Service learning projects that have received funding this year are:

- Irving Elementary Young Learner Kindergarteners make quarterly visits to the Greenfield Retirement Home where the children and elders do activities together. Teacher Lorie Stewart prepares her 25 four and five year olds for the interactions, and Service Learning provides the bus trips.

- Red Mountain High teacher Robert Macias organized 50 students who participated in the Juvenile Diabetes Walk in Phoenix. All they needed was a bus.

- Sirrine first graders, under the leadership of Kay Langstaff, delivered hundreds of boxes of cereal to United Methodist Outreach Ministries (UMOM) in Phoenix – in a Service Learning-sponsored bus! This is an annual project that provides enough cereal for the agency for the entire year.

- Crismon received $100 in supplies and $300 in transportation for projects including letter writing and art with a retirement community, an Empty Bowls event to benefit Waste Not, Inc, and fundraising for Heifer International. Flora Cullison spearheads the activities.

- Fremont science educator Scott Duemler received $300 for the “Improvement of Natural Area for Science Education.” Students will improve a fenced off area of campus to approximate a natural desert community. This will beautify the campus and provide a lab for other science students.