Weekly Media Roundup - July 2, 2014

Education Called Civil Rights Issue of Today (Clarion Ledger, Mississippi)

Freedom Summer organizer, Bob Moses, who led the historic African American voter registration movement  50 years ago, is back to rally for better education in Mississippi.  At a Conference in Tougaloo, parents, experts and activists talked about what they can do to help students improve their test scores and prepare them for a successful future. “During the session, both panelists and audience members called for better funded schools, more access to pre-kindergarten, higher quality teachers and summer and after-school programs,” the Clarion Ledger reports.

Weeklong Camp Offers Survival Tips To Eager Students (The Blade, Ohio)

Members of the Coast Guard taught Toledo’s Maritime Academy cadets basic swimming and treading techniques, scuba diving and rowing this summer.  One cadet who was initially timid around the water now participates in the relay races and feels quite comfortable.  Sheri Rodgers, an instructor at the academy told The Blade, “Because she knew all the new survival stuff, she got across the pool with confidence and with eyes big as saucers saying, ‘Look, I did it!’”  The weeklong camp was funded by a grant from a 21^st Century Community Learning Center. 

V. Manuel Pérez, Students Make Frog a California Symbol (Desert Sun, California)

The red-legged frog, which first gained popularity as the featured species in Mark Twain’s short story, “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” is now a California state symbol, thanks to some civic-minded students at Sea View Elementary.  The effort began in an afterschool program, and quickly gained popularity throughout the school.  Sea View Elementary principal, Timothy Steele, communicated the exhilaration of the process.  He told the Desert Sun, “It’s beyond exciting.  It’s surreal.” Not only did the students learn about amphibians and the legislative process, but as Steele said, “we can make a difference no matter how old we are.”

'Passport' Takes Children inside the Herald (New Britain Herald, Connecticut)

As part of the 2014 Summer Learning Passport Program, New Britain students got a behind the scenes look at what it takes to publish a daily newspaper earlier this week.   Over the course of the summer students will also visit the New Britain Fire Department, youth theatre, police department and Avery Beverages.  At each stop of the summer learning initiative, students are taken behind the scenes to learn more about each industry.