Author: Deborah Bailey

BALTIMORE — There was a lot of whooping, a little bit of hollering and endless hugs and tears of joy on display at the Lyric Opera House this past weekend. The jubilant sounds were the sweetest music to the ears of the Baltimore City Community College’s 2017 graduating class. The city’s only public community college concluded the college’s 70th anniversary year with graduation ceremonies held in midtown Baltimore.

BCCC’s 2017 graduates range in age from 18 to 70 and hail from 100 countries including: Belarus, the home of class valedictorian Larysa Paliashchuk, who traveled from a small town in the Eastern European country to study at BCCC. Paliashchuk expressed love and gratitude for BCCC and the opportunity it represents for students from many cultures and experiences.

Courtesy Photo/BCCC

Jasmine Jwanita Alston earned her Associate of Arts Degree in General Studies.

“All of us came from different backgrounds, families and upbringings. We all have different stories to share. But today, we’re graduating as one,” Paliashchuk said.

Mayor Catherine E. Pugh, the keynote speaker for the occasion, recounted the tenacity and endurance BCCC graduates displayed to make it successfully to graduation.

“I know that for many of you this has not been easy. Some have struggled, working every day trying to make sure family needs and obligations were met,” Pugh said.

Pugh’s speech was punctuated with “amens” and affirmations of “yes that’s right” from the audience as she encouraged graduates to continue the next chapter of their lives with the same resolve used to juggle multiple priorities and steer through obstacles to arrive at graduation.

“Others slipped into classrooms between getting children off to school and helping them with their homework in the evening and working eight hour shifts. Regardless of your struggle, today you all have arrived at the same place. You may not have come here today at the same pace— but you all are here,” Pugh affirmed.

Student Success Center Advisor, Tanya Deshields celebrated as intensely as her graduates and their parents when students were called to the stage to receive their degrees.

“To see the success of students who graduate from Baltimore City Community College [is] what we look forward to each year,” Deshields said. “A lot of our students have different struggles, different challenges and to see them make it to the stage to graduate means they are overcomers.”

Ultimately, BCCC graduations are family affairs. For Denise Burrus-Moseley, like many other BCCC graduates, graduation day is as much a milestone achievement for family as it is for the graduate.

Denise’s husband sat quietly on the edge of his chair, waiting for his wife to be called to the stage. Burrus-Moseley suffered a stroke just two weeks before graduation, but Dennis said she insisted on being present for the ceremony. So the family sprang into action to support her on her special day.

“We had to roll her in from the nursing home. She just had to come here,” Moseley said.

Denise, who earned her Associate of Science Degree in Nursing has worked for 32 years as a nurse and was determined to take her love of caring for others to the next level.

“She went through so much to get this degree. She’s done a fine job. She deserves it,” Moseley beamed. “My daughters, her grandchildren and all of her loved ones are so proud to see her here today.”

Like many newly minted BCCC graduates, Regine Gambrell, a Baltimore native is on her way to “paying it forward” for Baltimore, as Mayor Pugh encouraged during her speech. Gambrell, who earned her Associate of Arts in Allied Human Services, hopes to open group homes for children in Baltimore after obtaining her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work.

Exuberant and with degree in hand, Gambrell summed up the pride and possibilities expressed by her fellow BCCC graduates.

“It feels really, really good. It feels like I can do anything,” she said, glowing. “I’m not going to stop because this world really needs me.”

There was a lot of whooping, a little bit of hollering and endless hugs and tears of joy on display at the Lyric Opera House this past weekend. The jubilant sounds were the sweetest music to the ears of the Baltimore City Community College’s 2017 graduating class. The city’s only public community college concluded the college’s 70th anniversary year with graduation ceremonies held in midtown Baltimore.

BCCC’s 2017 graduates range in age from 18 to 70 and hail from 100 countries including: Belarus, the home of class valedictorian Larysa Paliashchuk, who traveled from a small town in the Eastern European country to study at BCCC. Paliashchuk expressed love and gratitude for BCCC and the opportunity it represents for students from many cultures and experiences.

“All of us came from different backgrounds, families and upbringings. We all have different stories to share. But today, we’re graduating as one,” Paliashchuk said.

Mayor Catherine E. Pugh, the keynote speaker for the occasion, recounted the tenacity and endurance BCCC graduates displayed to make it successfully to graduation.

“I know that for many of you this has not been easy. Some have struggled, working every day trying to make sure family needs and obligations were met,” Pugh said.

Pugh’s speech was punctuated with “amens” and affirmations of “yes that’s right” from the audience as she encouraged graduates to continue the next chapter of their lives with the same resolve used to juggle multiple priorities and steer through obstacles to arrive at graduation.

“Others slipped into classrooms between getting children off to school and helping them with their homework in the evening and working eight hour shifts. Regardless of your struggle, today you all have arrived at the same place. You may not have come here today at the same pace— but you all are here,” Pugh affirmed.

Student Success Center Advisor, Tanya Deshields celebrated as intensely as her graduates and their parents when students were called to the stage to receive their degrees.

“To see the success of students who graduate from Baltimore City Community College [is] what we look forward to each year,” Deshields said. “A lot of our students have different struggles, different challenges and to see them make it to the stage to graduate means they are overcomers.”

Ultimately, BCCC graduations are family affairs. For Denise Burrus-Moseley, like many other BCCC graduates, graduation day is as much a milestone achievement for family as it is for the graduate.

Denise’s husband sat quietly on the edge of his chair, waiting for his wife to be called to the stage. Burrus-Moseley suffered a stroke just two weeks before graduation, but Dennis said she insisted on being present for the ceremony. So the family sprang into action to support her on her special day.

“We had to roll her in from the nursing home. She just had to come here,” Moseley said.

Denise, who earned her Associate of Science Degree in Nursing has worked for 32 years as a nurse and was determined to take her love of caring for others to the next level.

“She went through so much to get this degree. She’s done a fine job. She deserves it,” Moseley beamed. “My daughters, her grandchildren and all of her loved ones are so proud to see her here today.”

Like many newly minted BCCC graduates, Regine Gambrell, a Baltimore native is on her way to “paying it forward” for Baltimore, as Mayor Pugh encouraged during her speech. Gambrell, who earned her Associate of Arts in Allied Human Services, hopes to open group homes for children in Baltimore after obtaining her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work.

Exuberant and with degree in hand, Gambrell summed up the pride and possibilities expressed by her fellow BCCC graduates.

“It feels really, really good. It feels like I can do anything,” she said, glowing. “I’m not going to stop because this world really needs me.”

BALTIMORE — For many students across Baltimore, May is prom time but thanks to the Fund for Educational Excellence, Baltimore City Public Schools’ principals enjoyed a festive and fun spring celebration of their own.

Ten City Schools’ principals were honored at the Hippodrome during the Second Annual Heart of the Schools Awards on May 22, 2017.

“This special night recognizes our district’s exceptional leaders and highlights ten who have demonstrated exemplary innovation, execution and leadership, building strong school cultures,” said Sonja Santelises, CEO of Baltimore City Public Schools.

John B. King, Jr., CEO of the Education Trust and former U.S. Secretary of Education, encouraged the principals to build foundations of love and hope in the future.

“I want to thank the principals in the room for leading from a place of love,” King said. “For understanding that at the foundations of schools are relationships. You give them that word of encouragement at the end of the day and ensure them you’ll be right there tomorrow to love them and stand for their success.”

Five grand prizewinners, from a diverse array of public schools were selected through an extensive nomination and review process and received a $2500 award to support programs and initiatives.

Tammatha Woodhouse, principal of Excel Academy at Francis M. Wood High School, one of the night’s winners. Marveled in her acceptance speech she said, “this is the first time that an alternative school has been honored.”

Roxanne Forr, principal of Cecil Elementary School, gained credibility in the community and the confidence of a staff that has seen their principal serve the Northeast community, as well as the school for more than a generation. Forr has been Cecil’s principal for nine years but has worked there—her “home away from home”— her entire career.

“I have been fortunate in my tenure at Cecil to have been surrounded by great mentors, teachers who are eager to learn, caring parents, and giving partners all for 30 years,” said Forr.

For Samuel Rather II says serving as principal at Calvin M. Rodwell Elementary School opens up opportunities to defy stereotypes every day.

“Why is it that when I tell people that I work for Baltimore City Public Schools it is naturally assumed that I work with discipline or athletics? I wonder if it’s the same reason that I was written off as a problem student who didn’t care about school,” said Rodwell who is a young African-American male. “You couldn’t have told me as a kid that I would be a teacher, let alone a principal. But something changed.”

Crystal Harden Lindsey, a native Baltimorean was honored for her work to make Green Street Academy a comprehensive, wrap around community school, where everyone in the West Baltimore neighborhood near the school is welcome.

“I believe that strong educators can change the trajectory of students across our nation while simultaneously, transforming communities in impoverished areas,” Lindsey said. “Education can be the currency to defeat poverty.”

Christophe Turk, in his fourth year as principal of George Washington Elementary in Southwest Baltimore shares a love for his students, staff, parents and the community that radiates from the hugs and handshakes he freely gives at school all day. Turk has also served as the leader of the advocacy movement led by principals in City Schools to support additional funding.

“This work consumes a lot and it is serious work. I take it seriously and everyone in this audience takes it very seriously [too],” said Turk. “This is not something that I earned, but something our entire George Washington Elementary School has worked in collaboration to develop.

“This award is the result of great people who take a student first approach and work so incredibly hard because they are fully invested in making a difference each day,” he ended.

Five additional principals were recognized and each was awarded a $1000 educational grant to use for any need in the school. They are: Corey Basmajian, Principal of Windsor Hills Elementary/Middle School; Patricia Burrell, Principal of North Bend Elementary/ Middle School; Amber Kilcoyne, Principal of Medfield eights Elementary School; Danielle Tillman-Cromartie, Principal of Armistead Garden Elementary/Middle School; and Zaharah Valentine, Principal of Baltimore Design School.

“Every day, our principals are building positive environments where students and teachers can thrive,” said Roger Schulman, president and Chief Executive Officer of the Fund for Educational Excellence. “Through the Awards, we’re showing our principals that we support and value the critical role they play in the lives of our students and the success of our city.

The Heart of the School Awards debuted in 2016 to spotlight the pivotal role principals play in the success of their schools and students. The inaugural event was attended by nearly 600 community members and helped raise more than $250,000.

Adrienne Kearney-Clemons will be able to spruce up her classroom at Catholic Charities’ Head Start – Harlem Park Elementary School without going into her own pockets this spring, thanks to a new initiative launched this week by PNC Foundation and DonorsChoose.org.

Like all caring teachers, Kearney-Clemons purchases needed supplies for students that just aren’t in the budget of schools serving low-income communities.

While K-12 schools have turned to crowd sourced funding at sites such as DonorsChoose.org to raise money for school supplies, pre-schools and programs like Head Start were not eligible to post requests on the popular crowdfunding site.

Thanks to PNC Foundation, all that changed this week. Laura L. Gamble, PNC Bank Regional President for Greater Maryland announced the PNC Foundation’s “Grow Up Great” program has reached an agreement with DonorsChoose.org to include requests from early childhood education teachers, including Head Start classroom teachers.

“PNC will match, dollar-for-dollar, every preschool donation made to schools on DonorsChoose.org in the locations where the bank has offices,” said Gamble, when announcing the foundation’s $5 million gift to fund pre-school requests on the crowdsourced site.

“This is a great way for all of us to call attention to the value of investing in early childhood education,” Gamble said. “A dollar invested in early childhood education is the best investment. It’s irreparable.”

As part of the announcement event, Catholic Charities Head Start teachers and students at Harlem Park Elementary School received T-shirts, books, gift cards, puppet kits, piggy banks, lunch bags and an iPad. The children were also serenaded with a performance by the Opera Bears, a local group dedicated to ensuring Opera is accessible to children.

The day was a game changer for Kearney-Clemons, her new co-instructor Shannon Bishop, and the entire Catholic Charities Head Start staff.

“These are my babies. I have a passion for them,” said Kerney-Clemons who first connected with Head Start when her own children were enrolled in the program and has now served on the Head Start staff for more than 20 years.

“It’s the first time I’ve witnessed anything of this magnitude,” said Kearney-Clemons. I’m very excited and looking forward to participating in the DonorsChoose.org option created by PNC. I’m one of those teachers who puts a lot of money and time into creating a classroom experience for my children.”

Since the “Grow Up Great” program was founded, PNC employees have logged more than 652,000 hours for the initiative through a progressive policy that allows 40 hours of paid time off each year to volunteer. Volunteers have collected more than 930,000 books, art supplies, hats, mittens and other items that have been donated for use in classrooms or for the personal well-being of preschool students.

Christine Flores, second year employee with PNC’s Wealth management team is excited about having a little seniority with the bank and is venturing out beyond corporate headquarters to serve the community.“This is my second year at PNC. I’ve always been interested in helping out with kids and the community,” Flores said.

PNC Grow Up Great is a $350 million, multi-year, bilingual initiative that began in 2004 to help prepare children from birth to age five for success in school and life