Teens earn summer jobs

Youth Development Initiatives’s LIFT Employment and Academic enrichment Program (LEAP) is putting 29 teens to work this summer.

Teens in the program, ages 14-17, are placed in several businesses throughout Charlotte where they are employed as retail clerks, dry cleaning attendants, maintenance assistants and day camp workers.

The mission behind the program is provide the education and training necessary to get ahead in the workforce.

Teens in LEAP begin during the school year by participating in YDI’s LIFT Life skills Academy. The Academy is a semester-long afterschool program that aims to inspire disadvantaged and/or struggling students to stay in school, improve their grades, maintain attendance, establish good behavior and make wise decisions.

Participants in LIFT are referred by juvenile court counselors and school resource officers. LIFT is primarily funded by the Juvenile Crime Prevention Council.

LIFT uses a Career and Technical Education-formatted curriculum, called the Life Management Guidance Course, to help students match career options to their personality and interests.  

During the program, students must also attend weekly math and literacy instruction on Fridays throughout the summer to keep their jobs.

Pictured:
(Top)16-year-old Ja’Shari Billups, of Turning Point Academy, works as an attendant at Sunrise Dry Cleaners off Albemarle Road, where he sorts and tags clothing items dropped off by customers.

(Bottom) 15-year-old LIFT participant Jeneha Townes, of Myers Park High, has a job at a consignment shop located on Pecan Avenue.

Photos courtesy of Darryl Bego, President of Youth Development Initiatives.

Cuthbertson High student tests tech skills

Rachel Velasco, a student at Cuthbertson High, is being recognized nationally for her skills in Microsoft Office.

Rachel was recently named one of six top finalists in the United States competition on Microsoft Office.

In the competition, presented by Certiport, Inc., students tested their skills on Microsoft Office Word, Excel and PowerPoint. From August 2011 to May 2012, more than 250,000 students in the U.S. competed to demonstrate their proficiency in the applications. 

Students with the highest exam scores and lowest exam-taking times were invited to represent their countries at upcoming World Championships.

At the World Championship, each student will compete for World Champion in his or her category (Microsoft Word 2007, Microsoft Word 2010, Microsoft Excel 2007, Microsoft Excel 2010, Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007).

Rachel will go on to compete at the Worldwide Competition on Microsoft Office July 29-Aug. 1 in Las Vegas.


Learn more about the competition at www.officecompetition.com.

National Merit Scholars announced

In the fall, several area graduates will be attending universities across the nation as National Merit Scholars.

These recipients join 8,100 high school graduates from across the country being recognized as a national winner. Each college-sponsored award provides between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study.

Charlotte area recipients include: Ryan Potocnik of Charlotte Christian School, attending Auburn University; John Cambern of Providence Day School, attending Vanderbilt University; Evan Gold of Providence Day School, attending Hampshire College; Hadley Wilson of Charlotte Latin, attending Vanderbilt University; Paulina Campbell of Woodlawn School, attending Grinnell College; Natalie Sanchez of Gaston Day School, attending Indiana University Bloomington; Andrew Goins of Weddington High, attending UNC Chapel Hill; Megan McGuire of Porter Ridge High, attending Vanderbilt University; and David Hawisher of Ardrey Kell High, attending UNC Chapel Hill.

In addition to college-sponsored awards, two other types of National Merit scholarships were offered. Those include 2,500 National Merit $2,500 scholarships, for which all finalists competed, and more than 1,000 corporate-sponsored Merit scholarship awards for finalists who met specific criteria designated by their grantor organizations.

Off to Governor's School

Twenty-one students from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools are among 550 high school students selected to attend North Carolina Governor’s School this summer. The five-week session goes through July 21 on the campus of Meredith College in Raleigh. The school is the oldest statewide summer residential program for academically and intellectually gifted high school students in the nation.

 Ardrey Kell students: Seok-Jin Hong and Soonmin Hwang, Instrumental Music (clarinet and cello, respectively); Rosa Park, Math. Butler: Kaitlyn Baker, Social Science; Dang Pham, Math. Hough: Craig Amasya, Social Science; John Buffum, Natural Science; Eileen Jakeway and Mary Schwalbe, French. Myers Park: Poulumi Banerjee, Sona Kumar and Apourva Thatavarty, Natural Science; Douglas Barnes, Art; Sydney Feinglass, French; Conner Kearse, Theater; Yeonsoo Lee, Social Science. Northwest School of the Arts: Kathryn Guild, Choral. Providence: Brinda Bhaskar, Natural Science; Halley Freger, Social Science; Erich Jegier, Math. South Mecklenburg: Sarah Peters, Math. Among others selected from

Charlotte-area schools: Cannon School: Barclay Sparrow, English; Sam Workman, Natural Science. Charlotte Catholic: Lauren Nahouraii, Social Science. Charlotte Country Day: Matthew Harden, Social Science; Alexander Kim, Instrumental Music; Eryn Ratcliffe, Art. Charlotte Latin: David Farrow, Social Science; Katherine Mayopoulos, Theater; Alexandra Ozmeral, Dance; Leora Sharma, Choral Music; Constance Zhou, Natural Science. Covenant Day School: Ian Johnson, Math. Mooresville High: Kathryn Elkin, Math; Gina Marchitell, Instrumental Music.

Happy Independence Day

Those looking for things to do this Independence Day need look no further. Here are a few suggestions of events going on in the Charlotte area:


Parades: 
Uptown- Shriners International 4th of July Parade at 2:30 p.m. in uptown Charlotte. This free event will be filled with marching bands, clowns and tiny cars. 


Indian Trail - Festivities begin today at 9:30 a.m. at Indian Trail Town Hall and the parade begins at 11 a.m. 


Celebration: 
Birkdale Village and the Town of Huntersville will host the 8th Annual 4th of July Celebration today from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Birkdale Village. Activities include bike decorating, face painting, a clown bounce,arts and crafts, a parade, water fight between the fire stations, music and food. 


Fireworks: 
Uptown- After a long day of parade watching, take a seat uptown for the annual firework show over the skyline. Center City Charlotte and Presbyterian Hospital will host the firework show in uptown Charlotte from 6 p.m.-10 p.m. Fireworks will begin around 9:30 p.m. 


Whitewater Center- Live music will start off the afternoon at 4 p.m. and fireworks will begin at dark. Guests can watch fireworks being launched from Hawk Island and the show will display over our whitewater river. 


Lake Wylie- Fireworks at Lake Wylie near the Buster Boyd Bridge will begin around 9:45 p.m.


Photo:7/4/2005 - Fourth of July fireworks light the sky above the uptown Charlotte skyline. GARY O'BRIEN

Chess on the road

Cannon School's K-6 chess team has learned the game can be played anywhere - and is ideal for passing time.

While driving to compete in the chess Elementary Nationals, hosted by the U.S. Chess Federation in Nashville, the team hit a bit of traffic.

So what did they do with their time stuck on the interstate - they played chess of course. Teammates broke out boards and chess pieces and began to play what they call "blitz chess," or timed five-minute games, right on the asphalt of I-40.

Practice must have paid off because when the team finally made it to the competition, they placed sixth out of 49 teams from across the nation and first among North Carolina schools.

At the tournament, each of the following students played more than 20 hours of tournament chess during seven rounds, held over three days: Joshua Doolittle, a rising sixth grader from Huntersville; Grayson Herrera, a rising sixth grader from Harrisburg; Joseph Hurtado, a rising fifth grader from Concord; Dylan Kabasakalian, a rising third grader from Huntersville; Lucas Kabasakalian, a rising fifth grader from Huntersville; Owen Koehler, a rising third grader from Mooresville; Matthew Kroll, a rising third grader from Concord; Joshua Reid, a rising third grader from Concord; Mudiame Tokunboh, a rising sixth grader from Huntersville; and Rob Trufant, a rising fifth grader from Concord.

Lucas Kabasakalian placed 13th out of 292 players from around the country.

The team will continue to train and play over the summer at the Queen City Chess Association in uptown Charlotte.

Photo: Courtesy of David Long.

Traveling to a place where dreams really do come true

This week, we hear from two area teens selected from thousands across the nation to participate in Steve Harvey's Disney's Dreamers Academy in Orlando.

The program, held in March at the Walt Disney World Resort, aims to provide youth with the opportunity to learn how they can make their dreams come true.

During the four-day program, 100 high school students participated in career workshops and networked with professional mentors.

Savannah Barnwell, a rising sophomore at Myers Park High and Jerri Gaddie, a recent graduate at Phillip O. Berry Academy of Technology, were two of the Charlotte-area teens selected for this year's experience.

"I think it's a life-changing experience," Jerri said of the program. 

While in Florida, the teens participated in "deep dive" sessions where they explored career options and learned how to achieve their career goals. Session topics are centered around entertainment, the medical field, entrepreneurship, culinary arts and Walt Disney Imagineering.

Teens also had the chance to hear career success stories from celebrities including Sean Kingston, Soledad O'Brien and Jordin Sparks.

The biggest lesson they learned: "Don't let anyone tell you that you can't because they will," Savannah said.

As for their futures, Jerri will attend Winston-Salem State University in the fall with plans to study physical therapy. Savannah said it is her goal to one day attend Duke University and become a doctor.

Photo: Savannah Barnwell at the Disney's Dreamers Academy. Photo courtesy of Savannah Barnwell.