"Civics First" to Honor School Champions in Trial, Debate

If you're a fan of civic education, particularly in Connecticut, May 31 will be a special day.  That is when the organization Civics First conducts its annual awards dinner, and recognizes  this year's stellar teams and individuals in various competitions sponsored by the organization.  Among this year's champions:

• Crosby High School, 2012 High School Mock Trial State Champion
• Kennedy High School students Shyler Losty, Arlee Biggins, and Anxheliki Duro, 2012 High School Forensics Competition champions
• Academy at Little Farm students Genevieve Riccoboni and Hannah Hunt, 2012 High School Debate State Champions

The Middle School Debate final rounds were held yesterday, with the winners (Our Lady of Mercy) to be honored as well.   The Awards recognition dinner will take place My 31 at 30 Bank Street, New Britain at 6 p.m.

Civics First is a private, non-profit association that promotes and conducts law-related education programs and projects in Connecticut's public and private schools, courtrooms and communities. Its goal is the incorporation of citizenship education into the curriculum of all schools, from kindergarten through high school.

Wondering about the civic health of Connecticut?  Check out the latest data from the Corporation for National & Community Service and the National Conference on Citizenship about Connecticut, now on the Civic Life in America website.  Among the data:  45.9 percent of residents in Connecticut voted in the 2010 National election - ranking them at number 19 among the 50 states and Washington, DC.

Teacher Appreciation Week Arrives; Negotiations Continue

As the Connecticut General Assembly and Malloy Administration grapple with education reform in an effort to forge a compromise package  prior to the end of the regular legislative session at midnight Wednesday, this week will be observed in schools throughout the state and around the country as Teacher Appreciation Week. On Tuesday, May 8, students all across America will show their appreciation by recognizing their teachers, and the impact that teachers have on their future - individually and collectively.  As the AFT Connecticut website points out, "teachers – the people who educate us and give us the vital knowledge which we need to live our lives. They encourage, support, discipline and prepare us for the road ahead and now it’s time for us to show them our appreciation."

Schools and school districts around the state are observing the annual appreciation week with a variety of activities, and a number of websites have cropped up, including a national site simply called,  thankateachertoday.org  The Students First organization is providing students and parents an opportunity to record a message to a teacher, which can be heard on their national website.

CT Science Fair Winners Headed to National Competition

Of the 446 projects entered in Connecticut’s only statewide science fair, nearly 200 projects earned honors. Top overall winners as well as the top high school winner of the new Urban Schools category and the winner of the Alexion Biotechnology category will represent the state at the Intel International Science & Engineering Fair (ISEF), May 13 to 18, in Pittsburgh, PA.

The Connecticut Science Fair is made possible by a grant and volunteer support from its presenting sponsor United Technologies Corporation and by contributions from industrial and individual supporters.

The winners were announced at Quinnipiac University, which hosted the science fair.

We're #1: Lollipops, Frisbees, Helicopters, Vacuums & Nuclear Subs

If you ever wondered why Connecticut is often referred to as the home of Yankee Ingenuity (as opposed to being the Land of Steady Habits), a review of the state's "firsts" in the past century may explain.  When does that museum exhibit open, dedicated to the state's firsts? The list:

1907 -- first permanent public planning body in America, Hartford's Commission on the City Plan 1908 -- first lollipop 1920 -- first Frisbee, Yale students discovered empty pie plates from Mrs. Frisbie Pies in Bridgeport could be sailed across the New Haven Green 1933 -- first vacuum cleaner 1934 -- first Polaroid camera 1939 -- first FM radio station, WDRC-FM began broadcasting in Hartford 1939 -- first helicopter, Igor Sikorsky designed the first successful helicopter in the Western Hemisphere 1948 -- first color television 1949 -- first ultra high frequency UHF television station to operate on a daily basis, KC2XAK in Bridgeport 1954 -- first nuclear submarine, launched in New London 1982 -- first artificial heart, Dr. Robert K. Jarvik, a Stamford native, invented the world's first artificial heart

No doubt, there are others.  But these are not too shabby.  Wonder if PEZ counts.*

(*sorry, PEZ moved to Orange in 1974 from NYC, but had its origins in Europe)

Jackson Labs CEO Center Stage for UConn Health Center Commencement

Dr. Edison Liu, Jackson Lab’s president and chief executive officer, will speak at the Health Center commencement exercises, May 13 at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford. Liu, who has been president of the international group the Human Genome Organisation since 2007, joined Jackson Labs (JAX) in Maine from the Genome Institute of Singapore. As founding executive director, he built the GIS from a staff of three into a major research institute of 27 laboratory groups and a staff of 270, with faculty in functional genomics, computational biology, population genetics and genome-to-systems biology.  Before moving to Singapore in 2001, he was the scientific director of the National Cancer Institute’s Division of Clinical Sciences in Bethesda, Md.

Update on the Jackson Labs - UConn plans, from the JAX website:

JAX Genomic Medicine will be built on a 17-acre site on the University of Connecticut Health Center campus in Farmington. Initial operations will begin in 2012 using leased space while a 173,000-square-foot permanent facility is designed and built. Construction will begin in 2013, and the new facility will open in 2014. It will house 300 biomedical researchers, technicians and support staff in state-of-the-art computing facilities and laboratories.

The JAX Genomic Medicine facility is an expansion, not a relocation, of The Jackson Laboratory. JAX will continue to grow its basic research campus in Bar Harbor, Maine, while the new facility in Connecticut focuses on medical applications of genomics with academic and clinical research partners from Connecticut and around the world.

Closing Connecticut's Reading Gap for Young Children

"Every Child Reading by Third Grade," an informational forum sponsored this month by the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus of the General Assembly, the Connecticut Commission on Children, Literacy How, Haskins Laboratories, and the Connecticut Association for Human Services (CAHS), revealed some sit-up-and-take-notice statistics:

• More than 1/3 of poor children enter kindergarten already behind their peers in reading.
• Of every 100 children who leave first grade as poor readers, 88 will still be poor readers at the end of third grade, limiting their changes of academic and future workforce success.
• 74% of Hispanic and African-American students are not at goal in reading y  the end of third grade
• Connecticut has the largest reading gap in the nation.

The policy forum included speakers highlighting progress and strategies to help children learn how to read.

Solid Return on Investment From State's Private Colleges

The Connecticut Conference of Independent Colleges (CCIC) reports that 28% of undergraduate enrollment in Connecticut is at one of the 16  CCIC institutions across the state, which account for 44% of the bachelor's degrees earned in the state.  Underscoring the significant return on investment for the state from the private colleges and universities, the association also notes that only 3.7% of the state's higher education budget is directed to the schools. CCIC has also announced that eight of its member institutions were named this month to the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll.  The national program highlights the role of colleges and universities in solving community problems and placing students on a lifelong path of civic engagement by recognizing institutions that achieve meaningful, measureable outcomes in the communities they serve.

Selected for the 2012 Honor Roll were:  Connecticut College, Fairfield University, Quinnipiac University, Saint Joseph College, University of Bridgeport,University of Hartford, University of New Haven, and Wesleyan University.  The distinction is an indication that the institution displays a strong institutional commitment to service and has formed compelling partnerships that produce measurable results in the community.

Connecticut History Online Tops 15,000 Digital Sources

Connecticut History Online (CHO) is a digital collection of over 15,000 digital primary sources, together with associated interpretive and educational material.   Perhaps not widely known, CHO features a collaboration with the Encyclopedia of Connecticut History Online (ECHO) to serve the needs of scholars, K-12 and post-secondary teachers and students, genealogists, and the general public. The four lead CHO partners - the Connecticut Historical Society, Connecticut State Library, Mystic Seaport, and the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center at UConn - represent  libraries, museums and historical societies, encompassing the three major communities that preserve and make accessible historical collections in Connecticut.  Participating institutions also include the Hartford History Center, New Haven Museum and Stonington Historical Society.

Connecticut Libraries Rank 36th in State Financial Support

There were more than 22 million visits to Connecticut's libraries last year, with visitors borrowing 31.4 million items, according to the Connecticut Library Association.   Association President Betty Anne Reiter, in testimony at the State Capitol recently,  noted that although the state's libraries are among the most frequently visited in the country, the state ranks only 36th nationally in the level of state support ( $.58 per capita in CT vs. $2.94 per capita nationally).  Reiter also expressed concerns, on behalf of the organization's more than 1,000 members, about recent budget cuts sustained by the Connecticut State Library.

Technical School Preparation in CT, by the Numbers

After meeting five times, holding one public hearing, and filing a 34-page report and recommendations, the work of the state’s Task Force on the Technical High School System is complete. Even as legislation is considered based on the findings, the numbers are worth a second look, as priorities are considered and jobs remain the state's preeminent focus. In the report’s appendix one gets a clearer sense of the educational resources available, by category, across the system, which serve about 11,200 full-time high school and adult day students with programs in 30 occupational trade areas.  Looking at the number of shops in the technical high schools, topping the list one finds 17 for automotive technology; 16 each for culinary arts, carpentry, and electrical; 13 for manufacturing technology; and 12 for plumbing and heating.

There are 10 trade specialties with a single shop across the system, including automated manufacturing technology, media production, bioscience and environmental technology, pre-electrical engineering and baking.  Overall, there are seven trade clusters with a total of 189 shops in the 19 schools.