NEW ULM - Three local Community Education projects and groups - a record number - have received awards from the Minnesota Community Education Association.
The Hair Raising Art Show received a state outstanding project award; Healthy Communities/Healthy Youth (HC/HY) received an outstanding organization award; and the Red Book Shelf project received a project award, honorable mention, from the Minnesota Community Education Association.
Marcia Provencher, Community Education Director from Litchfield and Region 2 MCEA Representative, presented the awards at the District 88 School Board meeting Thursday night.
Provencher observed that this is the seventh year for the local Community Ed program to be recognized, which is an "awesome" achievement.
The award winning projects and groups were presented to the board by: Connie Bleess and Sandy Adams, who spearheaded the art show; Mike Brigger who leads HC/HY; and Sheldon Rieke, program coordinator for HC/HY who leads SPOTS and helped set up Red Book Shelves. In addition, SPOTS youth performed a scene for the board.
The award-winning projects are:
Hair Raising Art Show
Two years ago, Connie Bleess and Sandy Adams, community members who took Community Education art classes from local artist Ruth Lindemann, wanted a way to give the participants in the painting and drawing classes - many of whom may never had had the opportunity - a chance to display their work. This is how the Hair Raising Art Show began.
The show is so named because it is held at Haar Friseure, the hair salon where Bleess and Adams work. The show kicks off with a wine and hors d'oeuvre party and then is open to the public for a month.
The show is a chance for people of "a multitude of ages" who "share the same interests" to not only practice their talents but to also display their work -something many of them may not have otherwise had the courage to do, said Bleess.
Some 25-30 artworks are on display once a year at the salon (the last time was March).
Healthy Communities/Healthy Youth
Healthy Communities/Healthy Youth and its Youth Council seek to "empower the potential and promise of youth," according to the organization's vision statement.
Its mission is to "encourage youth to use their voice to inspire the community through leadership, volunteering and building strong relationships."
The HC/HY Youth Council is in its 11th year. The youth meet monthly. Representatives are from New Ulm Public, New Ulm Cathedral, River Bend Area Learning Center and Minnesota Valley Lutheran high schools.
Funding sources include the United Way of Brown County, New Ulm Community Education, City of New Ulm and the HC/HY Campaign. Grants are received from 3M, New Ulm Area Foundation, WalMart, the Optimist Club, 4-H Foundation, Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council and Comcast. Donations are received from local businesses, churches and community members.
HC/HY is staffed by an executive director and a youth program coordinator and has a board of directors.
The youth sponsor and participate in prom and graduation campaigns, ropes course leadership training, youth blasts, band blasts, a youth center and the United Way Day of Caring.
Youth Council members serve on city boards and commissions, and have participated in the City Wide Retreat.
The youth participated in a youth training session on "Personality and Leadership Style" this spring by Tiger McLuen, Founder and President of Youth Leadership, St. Paul.
The SPOTS (Students Performing On Tough Situations) group sponsored by the organization is in its 10th season. The troupe has made 52 presentations to approximately 2,000 audience members, of which 95 percent were youth in grades K-8. In summer, SPOTS youth staffs the Park and Recreation Department Puppet Wagon.
Sheldon Rieke, coordinator for SPOTS, explained that SPOTS actors present scenes on issues of relevance to students of different ages. Afterwards they do "processing" - talking about the issue with students for 20-25 minutes.
Red Book Shelf
The Red Book Shelf project has been spearheaded by the HC/HY Youth Council, Early Childhood and Family Education (ECFE) and the Brown County Early Childhood Initiative.
The Youth Council of New Ulm has members from all three high schools in New Ulm participating in this service project. The Youth Council has received support for this project from the New Ulm Area Foundation.
As part of the book project, community members are invited and encouraged to donate gently used books that are lying around or stored away. These are books that a child age birth to 7 would enjoy. The books are available for children and parents to pick up, free. Red Bookcases have been placed in various locations throughout the community for collection - Cash Wise, Hy-Vee, Alliance Bank, Bank Midwest, Citizens Bank, Wells Fargo, United Prairie Bank, Southpoint and Curves.
The value of the project is validated by many studies - which show that a child who is read to, and has books in his or her home, is more likely to begin school with the skills necessary to learn to read and write.
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In other business, the school board:
Heard reports from Jefferson Principal Pam Kirsch and High School Co-principal Steve Weber on work being done in their schools in programming and staff development.
Received a written report from Activities Director Steve Worm on costs of activities.
After the meeting, technology department staff presented some features of the district's upcoming new website to the board.
