On the morning of Monday, Jan. 20, students and staff sat down to a breakfast discussion of the film “Waiting for Superman” before having the afternoon to participate in community service projects on and off-campus.
This annual day of service and community involvement is Lawrence’s way of celebrating the nationwide Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK Jr.) Day of Service and is organized by the Volunteer and Community Service Center (VCSC).
The 2010 documentary “Waiting for Superman” was chosen for this year’s guided discussion hosted by the VCSC. The film critically looks at American public education and its struggles while it follows several children trying to be accepted to charter schools.
The morning started with a speech by special guest Brenda Warren, the School Board President of the Green Bay Area Public School District.
Warren shared her knowledge of current education issues in Wisconsin and re-emphasized the purpose of this discussion about education.
“I’d like to encourage us today to look at education from a more positive perspective. I would also encourage us to not denigrate teachers today,”
Warren said. “Our teachers in Green Bay and your teachers in Appleton work extremely hard every day to teach their students and that’s where their heart is, that’s their mission.”
Before the conversatioat tables began, junior Megan Occhino also posed a key question to launch discussion: how do schools, government and society influence a person’s access to education?
“Our goals of today’s discussion is to talk about our understanding of the film and our understanding of education” Occhino stated, “and we will hopefully leave here today with a better understanding and appreciation of public education.”
Later that afternoon, students also participated in a variety of short volunteer opportunities on-campus and off-campus at volunteer sites.
On-campus opportunities were mostly run by student organizations and ranged from making bracelets for elderly residents at Brewster Village with the Glamour Gals club, to writing thank you letters to individuals who have donated to St. Joseph’s Food Pantry with Rotaract Club. Those who wanted to get off campus for the day took free transportation to one of eight sites from Bethesda Thrift Store to sort donations and tag apparel, to the Boys & Girls Club of the Fox Valley to interact with kids in art, music or sports activities.
“The Volunteer Center’s goal is to really make sure we’re maximizing opportunities, we really want everybody to get involved,” explained junior Abby LaBrant.
At the off-campus activities, LaBrant said that “not only do students volunteer, but they really get a chance to learn about organization’s mission.”
The MLK Jr. Day of service is a nation-wide initiative to participate in volunteer events and projects in his honor.
The Corporation for National & Community Service and The King Center work to promote this special day each year. President Obama even released a statement on January 18, saying that today Americans will participate in service nationwide, “picking up the baton handed to us by past generations and carrying forward their efforts. As one people, we will show when ordinary citizens come together to participate in the democracy we love, justice will not be denied.”
The staff of the VCSC chose “Waiting for Superman” after researching many different books and movies related to education.
They also spoke to Warren and education faculty at Lawrence to gain insight on the topic. “Education is so important to everybody’s lives,” said LaBrant, “and I really enjoyed the discussion.
There’s just not that many opportunities to get this big of a group of people together who are all here for the same exact thing and to talk about the same issues.”
LaBrant did explain that the VCSC in no way condoned or endorsed anything that was said in the movie, but that “it was honestly about bringing up an issue that is very important to talk about.”
LaBrant said that in her opinion, “We need make more of an effort to bring in that controversy, bring up issues and make sure we’re teaching our students to be very open-minded and look at things from many different angles.”On the morning of Monday, Jan. 20, students and staff sat down to a breakfast discussion of the film “Waiting for Superman” before having the afternoon to participate in community service projects on and off-campus.
This annual day of service and community involvement is Lawrence’s way of celebrating the nationwide Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK Jr.) Day of Service and is organized by the Volunteer and Community Service Center (VCSC).
The 2010 documentary “Waiting for Superman” was chosen for this year’s guided discussion hosted by the VCSC. The film critically looks at American public education and its struggles while it follows several children trying to be accepted to charter schools.
The morning started with a speech by special guest Brenda Warren, the School Board President of the Green Bay Area Public School District.
Warren shared her knowledge of current education issues in Wisconsin and re-emphasized the purpose of this discussion about education.
“I’d like to encourage us today to look at education from a more positive perspective. I would also encourage us to not denigrate teachers today,”
Warren said. “Our teachers in Green Bay and your teachers in Appleton work extremely hard every day to teach their students and that’s where their heart is, that’s their mission.”
Before the conversatioat tables began, junior Megan Occhino also posed a key question to launch discussion: how do schools, government and society influence a person’s access to education?
“Our goals of today’s discussion is to talk about our understanding of the film and our understanding of education” Occhino stated, “and we will hopefully leave here today with a better understanding and appreciation of public education.”
Later that afternoon, students also participated in a variety of short volunteer opportunities on-campus and off-campus at volunteer sites.
On-campus opportunities were mostly run by student organizations and ranged from making bracelets for elderly residents at Brewster Village with the Glamour Gals club, to writing thank you letters to individuals who have donated to St. Joseph’s Food Pantry with Rotaract Club. Those who wanted to get off campus for the day took free transportation to one of eight sites from Bethesda Thrift Store to sort donations and tag apparel, to the Boys & Girls Club of the Fox Valley to interact with kids in art, music or sports activities.
“The Volunteer Center’s goal is to really make sure we’re maximizing opportunities, we really want everybody to get involved,” explained junior Abby LaBrant.
At the off-campus activities, LaBrant said that “not only do students volunteer, but they really get a chance to learn about organization’s mission.”
The MLK Jr. Day of service is a nation-wide initiative to participate in volunteer events and projects in his honor.
The Corporation for National & Community Service and The King Center work to promote this special day each year. President Obama even released a statement on January 18, saying that today Americans will participate in service nationwide, “picking up the baton handed to us by past generations and carrying forward their efforts. As one people, we will show when ordinary citizens come together to participate in the democracy we love, justice will not be denied.”
The staff of the VCSC chose “Waiting for Superman” after researching many different books and movies related to education.
They also spoke to Warren and education faculty at Lawrence to gain insight on the topic. “Education is so important to everybody’s lives,” said LaBrant, “and I really enjoyed the discussion.
There’s just not that many opportunities to get this big of a group of people together who are all here for the same exact thing and to talk about the same issues.”
LaBrant did explain that the VCSC in no way condoned or endorsed anything that was said in the movie, but that “it was honestly about bringing up an issue that is very important to talk about.”
LaBrant said that in her opinion, “We need make more of an effort to bring in that controversy, bring up issues and make sure we’re teaching our students to be very open-minded and look at things from many different angles.”
On the morning of Monday, Jan. 20, students and staff sat down to a breakfast discussion of the film “Waiting for Superman” before having the afternoon to participate in community service projects on and off-campus.
This annual day of service and community involvement is Lawrence’s way of celebrating the nationwide Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK Jr.) Day of Service and is organized by the Volunteer and Community Service Center (VCSC).
The 2010 documentary “Waiting for Superman” was chosen for this year’s guided discussion hosted by the VCSC. The film critically looks at American public education and its struggles while it follows several children trying to be accepted to charter schools.
The morning started with a speech by special guest Brenda Warren, the School Board President of the Green Bay Area Public School District.
Warren shared her knowledge of current education issues in Wisconsin and re-emphasized the purpose of this discussion about education.
“I’d like to encourage us today to look at education from a more positive perspective. I would also encourage us to not denigrate teachers today,”
Warren said. “Our teachers in Green Bay and your teachers in Appleton work extremely hard every day to teach their students and that’s where their heart is, that’s their mission.”
Before the conversatioat tables began, junior Megan Occhino also posed a key question to launch discussion: how do schools, government and society influence a person’s access to education?
“Our goals of today’s discussion is to talk about our understanding of the film and our understanding of education” Occhino stated, “and we will hopefully leave here today with a better understanding and appreciation of public education.”
Later that afternoon, students also participated in a variety of short volunteer opportunities on-campus and off-campus at volunteer sites.
On-campus opportunities were mostly run by student organizations and ranged from making bracelets for elderly residents at Brewster Village with the Glamour Gals club, to writing thank you letters to individuals who have donated to St. Joseph’s Food Pantry with Rotaract Club. Those who wanted to get off campus for the day took free transportation to one of eight sites from Bethesda Thrift Store to sort donations and tag apparel, to the Boys & Girls Club of the Fox Valley to interact with kids in art, music or sports activities.
“The Volunteer Center’s goal is to really make sure we’re maximizing opportunities, we really want everybody to get involved,” explained junior Abby LaBrant.
At the off-campus activities, LaBrant said that “not only do students volunteer, but they really get a chance to learn about organization’s mission.”
The MLK Jr. Day of service is a nation-wide initiative to participate in volunteer events and projects in his honor.
The Corporation for National & Community Service and The King Center work to promote this special day each year. President Obama even released a statement on January 18, saying that today Americans will participate in service nationwide, “picking up the baton handed to us by past generations and carrying forward their efforts. As one people, we will show when ordinary citizens come together to participate in the democracy we love, justice will not be denied.”
The staff of the VCSC chose “Waiting for Superman” after researching many different books and movies related to education.
They also spoke to Warren and education faculty at Lawrence to gain insight on the topic. “Education is so important to everybody’s lives,” said LaBrant, “and I really enjoyed the discussion.
There’s just not that many opportunities to get this big of a group of people together who are all here for the same exact thing and to talk about the same issues.”
LaBrant did explain that the VCSC in no way condoned or endorsed anything that was said in the movie, but that “it was honestly about bringing up an issue that is very important to talk about.”
LaBrant said that in her opinion, “We need make more of an effort to bring in that controversy, bring up issues and make sure we’re teaching our students to be very open-minded and look at things from many different angles.”