Wednesday, February 20, 2013

President's Volunteer Service Award

President's Volunteer Service Award  http://www.presidentialserviceawards.gov/

The President’s Volunteer Service Award is the premier volunteer awards program, encouraging United States citizens or lawfully admitted permanent residents of the United States through presidential recognition to live a life of service.

Your recognition inspires others to take positive action to change the world.

Served  and certified hours in a personal calendar year

50+ hours, age 14 or under
100+ hours age 15 or older
YOU qualify for the President's Volunteer Service Award. 

See Mrs. Clay this week to create a file at the awards website. 
Awards are ordered in the month of March and deliver during National Volunteer Week, April 21-27.

Saturday, February 9, 2013

RAK WEEK: MISS TEEN OKLAHOMA UNITED STATES VOLUNTEERS

“A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love.” Saint Basil (329-379); bishop of Cesarea
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Casady sophomore, Caitlin Costello is Miss Teen Oklahoma United States!  Caitlin invited her friends to volunteer at the Food Bank Saturday, February 9, 2013.  Caitlin and teens from McGuiness High School and Edmond North kindly provided ideas to motivate people to celebrate Random Acts of Kindness Week (RAK WEEK). One of the ideas was to volunteer at the Food Bank more than once.

Caitlin will travel to Washington D.C. this summer to compete for the Miss Teen United States title. The areas of competition include interview with 5 judges, platform, evening gown and fitness. The dates of competition are July 2nd thru July 7th, and she will be marching in the 4th of July parade on Capitol Hill.

Caitlin has been doing volunteer work with various charities and has chosen the Infant Crisis Services Center as her platform. She hopes to raise awareness regarding hunger in our state as well as our country and the world. The United States Pageant System's national platform is Relay for Life.

Caitlin has never competed in a pageant before, but her sister who is 10 years older has competed for 7 years, so Caitlin has seen the process. Her sister Anna Marie has competed in many systems and won or placed on the state and national level. Anna Marie also applied for the Miss title and won.  Anna Marie and Caitlin will be making appearances and going to Washington D.C. together. Congratulations and best wishes to Caitlin and Anna Marie! 


RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS WEEK



At the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation, we believe people should practice kindness every day, but during RAK Week, we hope you will go above and beyond to make others feel special. If you're going out to eat, pay for someone else's meal or give the server a big tip! If you are light on money, think about volunteering your time at a local charity (and during RAK Week, make a commitment to volunteer more than once). If you don't live near family or close friends, make an extra effort to reach out to them with a phone call or hand-written letter instead of a text or email. If you live near an animal shelter you can donate food, blankets, towels or old (clean) t-shirts. Whatever you do this week, let us know about it! When we share, it inspires others to go out and act! Send us a message at info@randomactsofkindness.org, tweet your story at #rakweek or post on our Facebook wall.
Rak_week_kindness_ideas
Monday, Feb 11—Smile at 10 strangers.
Tuesday, Feb 12—Buy something for the person in the line behind you.
Wednesday, Feb 13—Reach out to someone you haven't talked to in a while.
Thursday, Feb 14—Bring a treat to a neighbor or your co-workers.
Friday, Feb 15—Donate your time or money to a local charity.
Saturday, Feb 16—Cook a healthy meal.
Sunday, Feb 17—Let someone go in front of you in line.
 

Senior-K Literary Exchange Project

Each trimester Casady seniors take a new English course.

Mrs. Finley offers Multiple Genre Creative Writing during the winter trimester, and students conclude a unit of study focused on children’s literature.

After spending a few days reading and critiquing children’s literature, seniors begin the process of crafting their own stories. They work diligently being conscientious about their content, structure, characterization, use of rhetorical devices, and illustration. The project culminates with an opportunity for seniors to share their stories with kindergarten children. One of the students remarked, “The pressure is on when you know that at the end of your work you are going to be critiqued by real 6-year-olds!”

The project started in 2010-2011. It was such a great success that some of the kindergarten teachers used the experience as a launching pad for their students to write stories too. In the year 2011-2012, the Casady kindergartners crafted their own unique stories and reciprocate at sharing story time with seniors in the spring.

The 2012-2013 project expanded, Dr. Hubble's classes joined the literary exchange.  Seniors shared stories with Kindergarten students the second week in February.

 The kindergarten students will share their stories with seniors in the month of April.


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Friday, February 1, 2013

Bill Gates Letter


I am writing to share my fifth annual letter about the work our foundation and its partners are doing.

From time to time we should step back and celebrate the way that the right goals and smart innovation have done so much to improve the lives of people.

In previous annual letters, I’ve focused on the power of innovation to reduce hunger, poverty, and disease. But any innovation—whether it’s a new vaccine or an improved seed—can’t have an impact unless it reaches the people who will benefit from it.

That’s why in this year’s letter I discuss how innovations in measurement are critical to finding new, effective ways to deliver these tools and services to the people who need them most.

You can read my letter at billsletter.com.

Together, we can create a world in which all people have the chance to lead a healthy and productive life. Thank you for taking the time to learn more.

Sincerely,