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Malcolm X Shabazz

High School | Grades 9-12

The House That Malcolm Built

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Home » Archives for Cameron Barrett

Cameron Barrett

The Future Project

The Future Project

Nov 4, 2014

High schools aren’t living up to what we all know they can be. Too many students drop out. Even more are disengaged daily. And the current thinking–to blame more teachers, impose more rules, and inject more money–just isn’t working.

At The Future Project, we see the problem simply: Our students aren’t pursuing their dreams. We're out to turn high schools into Future Schools, where students develop the skills to do just that.
How do we transform high schools?

Step 1: We embed a "Dream Director" into a high school.

Dream Directors are people with the full-time job of helping students act on their dreams. Part rock-star, part coach, and part entrepreneur, they spark and orchestrate the campaigns to transform their schools.

Step 2: That Dream Director builds a team of students, faculty, and coaches from the community.

Transforming the culture of a school is a group effort. That's why the first task of a Dream Directors is to find the people who are already dreaming, taking risks, and otherwise shaking things up.

Step 3: Students get to work leading incredible passion-based projects.

Inspired by their Dream Director and supported by their coaches, Fellows (those are the students who choose to put their passions into the world) dream up Future Projects and lead teams of peers to execute them.

Step 4: The Dream Director orchestrates a school-wide campaign that channels the energy of the projects in transforming the school.

This is where the magic really happens. Within all projects is a common thread: self-expression, individuality, love… whatever resonates with the school. By weaving it into a single campaign, the Dream Director gives students the power to write the story of their own school.
So... how's it working out?

Amazingly. The Future Project, in its second year, is already impacting over 1,000 students in three states. Among The Future Project's Board Members and National Advisors are Timothy Shriver, Dan Pink, Bill Drayton, Sonal Shah, and Tony Wagner. We find that within one year, a Dream Director can make big progress in helping students develop the confidence, 21st century skills, and passion they need to thrive both in the classroom and beyond. One of our partner principals has stated that in twenty years of education, he has never seen anything, "so resourceful or so magical.”

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National ‘Hour of Code’

National ‘Hour of Code’

Oct 27, 2014

Newark Students Take Part in National Hour of Code

By Julie Daurio, WBGO News | Newark | December 11, 2013

Listen to the Podcast

MrMurray
Math Teacher Mr. Murray

HourofCode
Ciara Gillette, Samanthan Hunter and Chadwick Bryan test out their code

Students across Newark are taking part this week in the Hour of Code, a national initiative to introduce kids to computer programming. Teachers and students and Malcolm X Shabazz High School say it's an opportunity to have some serious fun.

Patrick Murray knows first-hand how important computer literacy is for today's kids. He was a professional coder for 30 years before becoming a calculus teacher. Murray teaches students JavaScript in his spare time and says he jumped at the opportunity to get the school involved in the National Hour of Code event.

"Every kid now needs to know a little bit about code, whether they end up becoming a coding expert or just knowing about it. It's much easier to have a successful career no matter what you do if you're writing code."

But for Murray's students, it isn't only about getting into a promising career field. Junior Ciara Gillette says it's also a lot of fun.

"As you went on with the lesson, all new things happening on the computer all at the touch of a button. So I'm like, oh, that's really cool. It caught my attention."

Murray's students say they're looking forward to using their new coding skills to build websites and even video games.

© 2013 WBGO News

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Newark students and tech companies share an ‘Hour of Code’

Newark students and tech companies share an ‘Hour of Code’

Oct 27, 2014

HourOfCode
Peggy McGlone/The Star-Ledger
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on December 10, 2013 at 6:13 PM, updated December 11, 2013 at 2:10 PM

NEWARK — The assignment appeared simple: Create part of the solar system by placing the Earth at the appropriate distance from the sun and establishing its orbit around it.

The students worked quietly at their keyboards, adding strings of unintelligible letters and symbols on a black background. When they clicked submit, the screen changed from type to an image of a sun and the Earth.

It seemed like magic, but it was code.

Thirteen students at Malcolm X Shabazz High School in Newark participated today in “The Hour of Code,” joining millions of Americans in a lesson about the language that makes computers work.

A national initiative launched by code.org, a nonprofit company devoted to increasing access to computer science education, “The Hour of Code” goal was to get 10 million students to spend one hour this week learning computer language.

Microsoft’s Bill Gates and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg are on board, as are celebrities from Ashton Kutcher and Chris Bosh to Sen. Cory Booker. President Obama made a video encouraging kids to join. Apple stores are offering lessons, and across the country students from kindergarten to college are spending some class time on it.

In Newark, 30 volunteers from local businesses worked with students at 16 schools, from Malcolm X Shabazz and Science Park high schools to Ridge Street and McKinley elementary schools.

Ivy Hill Elementary School teachers Ivy Peeples and Rodney Avery used the same lesson plan, too, and they shot a video of the class.

Matt Martone, founder and CEO of ClixSocial, a tech company based in the city, led a solar lesson, created with a Code Academy lesson plan. He told students that mastering code will benefit them.

“It helped me get into college, get my first job, and helped me start my company in Newark,” he said. “It is the underpinning of the entire world. It should be a fundamental part of the curriculum.”

The students in Patrick Murray’s pre-calculus and AP Calculus classes caught on fast. Murray, a self-proclaimed computer geek, spent 30 years writing code for tech companies before becoming a teacher.

“It's become a mainstream skill,” Murray said. “When I was a kid, you were special if you did code, but now everyone needs to learn it or at least know what it is about.

“For every three kids who know code, there are five jobs,” he said. “The companies are competing for the workers.”

Kelechi Beasley, a senior, was working on the Earth’s rotation when the bell rang.
“I wanted to come because calculus is hard, and this seems fun,” he said about the event. When pressed, Beasley said the computer science lesson was interesting. “It’s a great opportunity,” he said. “Mr. Murray does it with other kids and they have fun.”

Senior Chad Bryan already knows some JavaScript, and he plans to study computer science at Rutgers next year. Mr. Murray was his inspiration, too.

“I’m interested for career possibilities,” he said.

That’s music to Lyneir Richardson’s ears. Richardson is CEO of Brick City Development Corporation, Newark’s economic development arm. He helped match the city’s businesses with the public schools for the event, and he stopped by Shabazz to check it out.

“This is economic development done organically,” Richardson said. “We go out of the city to welcome people to start their businesses here, and we want to encourage Newark residents and students to explore the same job opportunities and careers.”

He paused, looked over the shoulder of 11th grader Nadira Wilkins and her glowing sun, and smiled.

“And it’s fun,” he said.

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Landus Theatre Program

Landus Theatre Program

Oct 27, 2014

Theatre LILA takes a unique approach in its first Madison production Stories to tell by company recently relocated from New York City
Gwen Rice on Thursday 01/02/2014
Theatre Lila's "No Child..."
LandisTheatre

A dozen strangers, including students and teachers, lie on the cold wood floor of Madison Opera's rehearsal hall. Their bare feet are smudged with dirt after running around a makeshift stage for two hours. Their eyes are closed, and their chests rise and fall quickly. They have just performed an impromptu dance piece. Now a calm, reassuring voice urges them to find their breath and focus on it, much like a yoga teacher would. When they open their eyes, they'll receive a new assignment that feels like play but yields more than applause. It helps them tell personal stories in a physical, theatrical way.

This type of storytelling is at the core of Theatre LILA, a New York City project Jessica Lanius moved to Madison recently. Madison audiences may remember Lanius from her lead role in Forward Theater Company's 2010 production of In the Next Room, or the vibrator play. Or from the production of Anne of Green Gables she directed and choreographed for Children's Theater of Madison last fall. Or as someone who visited their living room to sell pain relievers, home-improvement supplies or a new car via national TV commercials.

Even though Lanius has helped advertise all sorts of everyday products, Theatre LILA isn't an ordinary acting troupe. It addresses tough issues such as the achievement gap through movement, drama and more, beginning with a performance of No Child... at the Overture Center Jan. 9-12.

"My hope is that this will be the first of many performances in Madison that explore the fusion of dance, theater, storytelling, poetry and movement," Lanius says.

LILA's leading lady
Lanius has an easy Midwestern smile, a warm and charming voice, and a gentle confidence. Her auburn hair frames her fine features and fair complexion, and she moves with the grace of a dancer. It's no wonder she has been featured in commercials for everything from Claritin to V-8, as well as Toyota, Special K, Lowe's and Babybel Cheese. Some of her defining traits must stem from growing up in Sauk Prairie, in a family full of artists.

"My dad and brother are industrial designers; my mother and grandmother are visual artists," she explains. "It was an environment that encouraged expression."

From an early age, Lanius found ways to express herself through performance. As a youngster she was "constantly dancing around" and creating stages in unlikely places.

"There's a story my mother tells of me silencing an entire diner with my rendition of Three Little Monkeys," she says with a laugh. On another occasion, Lanius' mother answered the door and was surprised to find a group of neighbors who'd been personally invited to a production in the Lanius family's basement. The friends were ushered downstairs, to a world-premiere puppet show Lanius had created.

Lanius was also inspired by high school teachers who directed her in show choir.

"For the first time, I was encouraged to take risks, to put myself out there. I began to see how powerful it was to connect with the audience and reach out to the community, to tell a story," she says.

These teachers also showed Lanius that majoring in theater in college was viable. This convinced her to shelve her previous career plan: becoming a psychotherapist.

Responding to crisis
While in the theater program at UW-Stevens Point, Lanius had another epiphany about the power of performance. While working part-time at a local Perkins restaurant, she got to know a fellow waitress who frequently came to work covered with bruises. Lanius realized the woman was being abused by her spouse but struggled to find a way to help.

"She was crying," Lanius recalls. "I'm only 20 years old [then], and I don't know what to do. Her husband is beating her up, but she keeps coming in to work."

At that point, Lanius was beginning to experiment with modern dance and choreography in her college coursework. The harrowing situation inspired her to create.

"I felt so passionately that I wanted to help this woman, to raise awareness about her situation.… I decided to compose a dance duet about domestic violence in hopes that she would see it and things would change," Lanius says.

The piece, 16 Women While You Watched, references the number of domestic assaults that take place in the U.S. during the time it would take to watch the performance. Not only was audience reaction to the duet overwhelmingly positive, but it was nominated for an ACDFA/Dance Magazine Student Choreographer award in 1996. As a result, Lanius had the opportunity to dance in the piece at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

"It was my first taste of success," she says. "Not just acknowledgement that people liked it, but people were moved. That's why I do what I do."

After college, in the late 1990s, Lanius decided to continue her theater studies in an MFA program near New York City.

"I always knew that I wanted to go to New York to get the training and the tools to do the best work I could and learn from the best teachers," she says.

Her search led her to Rutgers University, where Maggie Flanigan, Will Esper and Loyd Williamson (former pupils of theater legend Sanford Meisner) were central to the graduate curriculum. In this immersive, intensive training program, "the floodgates opened" for Lanius. She also met theater director and fellow grad student Andy Arden Reese during this period. The two found they shared an aesthetic and a passion for "expanding the theatrical terrain with visually stimulating performances...entering into theater from a physical place."

From Manhattan to Madison
To keep pursuing their own projects and their unique creative process, the kindred spirits co-founded Theatre LILA in New York City, in 2004, after they had both graduated. The company's mission was to create performances using the "360° actor," a physical, intellectual, psychological and emotional being, in a fusion of drama, dance, music and sound.

But this approach didn't just spring from a grand concept of multidisciplinary performance.

"The truth is, I'm terrible at being an actor," Lanius confesses. "I'm not passionate about getting parts. I don't like sitting around waiting for a job."

Admiring the work of such prominent female directors as Mary Zimmerman (Metamorphoses), Anne Bogart (co-founder of SITI Company) and Julie Taymor (The Lion King; Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark), she was much more interested in creating her own projects than being cast in others' work. Living in New York City and starting a theater company was expensive, though, so Lanius waited tables, taking theater and TV roles when they were offered. She also found work in national commercials to fund her pursuits.

Lanius used her residuals from this work as seed money for Theatre LILA. Soon the group gained a following off-off-Broadway, attracting more trained actors and designers who would work collaboratively for up to six months on a project. From 2004 to 2008, Theatre LILA mounted a dozen productions, often adapting classic works such as August Strindberg's Miss Julie, Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and William Shakespeare's King Lear.

As the decade came to a close, Lanius considered returning to the Madison area. She had a young son she wanted to raise near the rest of her family. Theatre LILA had made great strides, but it was hard for one small company to make an impact in an arts-saturated market like New York City.

"Madison was primed for the kind of theater that we do. I thought it would be a great artistic home. And it was my home," she says.

Performance meets policymaking
Lanius chose Nilaja Sun's evocative, award-winning No Child... for Theatre LILA's first Madison production. She directs, while Milwaukee-based actress Marti Gobel stars. (Full disclosure: When I worked for Forward Theater Company, I met both Lanius and Gobel when the troupe staged In the Next Room.)

Based in part on Sun's experiences working with at-risk youth in New York City schools, the one-woman play examines the challenges facing the public education system in the wake of No Child Left Behind legislation. The story follows a struggling actor who tries to inspire the "worst class" in New York City's Malcolm X High School by casting them in a play. Over the course of the performance, Gobel portrays teachers, students, parents, administrators, janitors, security guards and more.

Lanius says "staggering" statistics on educational disparities motivated her to take action.

"I was really caught up in discussions about the achievement gap over the past several years," she says. "Unfortunately, they echo what's happening in schools across the country. I wanted to add to the conversation in my own way, to keep all the stakeholders talking about solutions."

The play is food for thought rather than an indictment of the system, Lanius adds.

"No Child... really demonstrates the impact one teacher can have," she says.

Beyond the script
Inspired by elements of the No Child... script, Lanius reached out to local schools in 2013. This included organizing in-school workshops for students at Malcolm Shabazz City High School and coordinating low-cost matinee performances of No Child... for other area students in conjunction with the Overture Center's Community Arts Access Program.

Through movement and improvisational exercises, educators and students created short theater pieces based on their own experiences in school, from forging a special bond with a teacher to getting into a playground fight. Titled No Story Left Behind, this collage of funny and poignant stories will come to life in a free performance at the Overture Center on Jan. 11.

Like much of Lanius' work, these workshops emphasize movement-based exploration. She says her unique rehearsal process is also essential. Like improv comedy, it's "physical, fun and allows for exploration of ideas without a script," she notes.

Lanius spends much of her time doing this type of outreach because she knows everyone has stories to tell, including people living on the margins.

"I love watching people's stories from the workshops, and I love sharing them," she says." When you watch someone take that brave step to open themselves up...it opens up the audience. In the end, we're more connected to each other and to the community."

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Shaq Attack

Shaq Attack

Oct 27, 2014

Reebok ad for 'Shaq Attaq' sneaker shot at Malcom X Shabazz in Newark

Naomi Nix/The Star-Ledger Naomi Nix/The Star-Ledger By Naomi Nix/The Star-Ledger
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on November 25, 2013 at 5:27 PM, updated November 26, 2013 at 8:55 AM

Shaq
In this photo, Shaquille O'Neal attends a press conference on Aug. 5, 2009 in Santa Monica, Calif. The now-retired basketball player is releasing a sneaker for Reebok this month. Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images

NEWARK — If Shaquille O’Neal's love for New Jersey wasn't obvious enough from his community and political partnerships, Reebok has made it clear in a new commercial.

The advertisement, for Reebok's Shaq Attaq “Brick City” sneaker, pays homage to O'Neal's Newark upbringing according to a report from DrJays.com.

In the commercial, O'Neal walks onto a basketball court at Newark's Malcolm X Shabazz High School as a crowd of students get excited about his arrival.

"Playing here wasn't a privilege. It was a dream," O'Neal says as he gives the students high fives and slaps them on their backs.

The kids featured in the commercial are students from from Malcolm X Shabazz High School and Eagle Academy for Young Men of Newark, according to Malcolm X Shabazz principal Gemar Mills.

Many of them want to become professional athletes or fight childhood obesity, Mills said. He added that they were working with The Future Project, a New York-based organization that encourages kids to pursue their dreams.

“It was a great thing for them to meet Shaquille," he said. "To tell them that...they can actually do it.”

The commercial was shot earlier this month, and Reebok flew in California-based artist Madsteez to paint a mural of O'Neal on the school's exterior, Mills said.

O'Neal, who did not attend Shabazz, ends his monologue by saying he developed fortitude and determination while living in Newark.

"These streets didn't break me, they made me," he says in the commercial. "It wasn't easy on the body or the mind, but somebody always makes it out. That person that made it out was me: Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal and I'm from Brick City."

The commercial ends with the students shooting hoops on the court to music, while O'Neal and Redman, a rapper from Newark, watch.

The red and grey sneaker retails for $160, according to the report.

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Sports Illustrated: Underdogs: Band of Brothers

Sports Illustrated: Underdogs: Band of Brothers

Aug 28, 2014

Once the high school of former New York City mayor Ed Koch (it was called South Side High School then), Shabazz is now located in one of the most gang-infested parts of Newark. Students arrive from all different parts of the city, none of which would be considered safe. Even if several different parts of Newark are represented at Shabazz, Friday night is showtime. The football team looks playoff-bound again this year and "The President's Band," which has performed for Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, is always there to perform.

Violence, rivalry, drugs and conflict lingers near the Shabazz field, but Coach Darnell Grant says it hasn't crossed its gates. Under Grant, the team is a brotherhood, it's only enemy, it's weekly opponent. Because, as the team motto states, if you're not a bulldog, you're dog food.


QB Juwan Jackson

One of the top players in the Super Essex Conference, Jackson was taking a bus home from school one day when he was the subject of an attempted robbery. The friend he was with was shot in the leg (he survived and is fine) while Jackson made it away safely. Jackson is now a viable collegiate football prospect and has the Bulldogs out to a 3-1 record.


LB Al-Rasheed Benton

The star of the team, league, and conference, Benton holds over ten Division-I offers and will likely play linebacker in college. A powerful running threat as well as a sure tackler, Benton hopes to be the first Bulldog to play in the NFL since Stylez G. White played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 2007-2010.


Principal Gemar Mills

Mills took over Malcolm X Shabazz in 2011, and changes are already taking place under his watch. Mills has actively fought truancy and low graduation rates in his year at the helm, and he also is seeking publicity for the school. Last year, Shabazz played its first televised football game, which was also the first in the district's history. By offering vocational education in conjunction with its traditional education, Shabazz has progressed over the last two years.


Coach Darnell Grant

Grant is in his third season at the helm at Shabazz and is looking to return the Bulldogs to the playoffs. The coach has emphasized brotherhood in his quest to build Shabazz into a team of champions and enriched young men. Grant drives several players home from practice every day to make sure they avoid any neighborhood violence.

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