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Life& Times C6Friday,September 17,2010

SynergyLocal news, local teens

School day,ear could

lengthen

BY KARAMAGI RUJUMBAP ITTSBURGH POST-G AZETTE

PITTSBURGH As yet another schoolear unfolds, some students may bemoan thend of a long summer break.But students at City High Charter School,

n downtown Pittsburgh, have had to adjusto a shorter break just one month be-ause the school operates on a year-roundalendar.I wasnt used to being in school that long,

ut I got used to it, said Angelo Carr, a jun-or.

Rick Wertheimer, principal and co-founderf the school that opened in 2002, said, We

ust dont think its healthy for a student tospend 11 weeks out of their academic routine.hats when they develop bad habits again.City High is part of a movement to lengthen

the time students spend in school and use itstrategically.

Its calendar includes 186 days of instruction longer than many other public schools and about a month off three times a year.

The push for more time in school has wonsupporters as prominent as President BarackObama, who last year said the typical Amer-ican school day puts the nation at a compet-itive disadvantage over countries wherestudents spend more time in school.

We can no longer afford an academic cal-ndar designed when America was a nation

of farmers who needed their children at homeplowing the land at the end of each day,

Obama said.The comparison has been a repeated re-frain since 1983, when a U.S. Department of

ducation report, A Nation at Risk, con-cluded that the lackluster amount of time and poor use of it in American schools isone of a number of factors that contribute toa rising tide of mediocrity in the U.S. edu-cation system.

The report found that American studentsspend about six hours a day for 180 days a

ear in school compared to their peers insome other countries who spend at least eighthours a day for 220 days a year in class.

In Pennsylvania, the norm is around80 days.

Adding time has been a tough sell, given theconomics of paying teachers more to teach aonger day and the practical realities of win-ing support for shorter summers or lessime for after-school activities and jobs.

BY M ARY FOSTERASSOCIATED P RESS

NEW ORLEANS Chayil Johnsonwas thinking of applying to the New Or-leans Center for Creative Arts for themusic program. After all, the 13-year-oldplays the saxophone and piano, andNOCCA has turned out such noted mu-sicians as Harry Connick Jr., TromboneShorty and the Marsalis brothers.

But a three-week culinary camp spon-sored by the school this summer put

Johnson on a different career path. Hedecided hot dishes suited him more thancool rhythms.

I love jazz, Johnson said. But I justfeel Im more creative in the kitchen.

Musics loss may be the gourmets gain. Johnson, along with Victoria Farmer, 14,

and Janee Taylor, 17, dreamed up dishesthat will appear in all of Emeril Lagassesrestaurants in October.

This is reallyinc red ib l e ,

L a g a s s esaid, after

he, LeahChasea n dPoppyT o -o k e rspentl u n c h

trying to select one of the youngsterscreations to go on Lagasses menus.These are dishes that are well-re-searched, beautifully cooked and pre-sented, and that we will prepare andserve just as you see them.

The three were finalists in a contest tosee who could come up with the onedish Lagasse would serve. But the judgeswere stumped after tasting FarmersCreole rabbit with roasted butternutsquash & spicy corncakes; Johnsonsapricot glazed roasted duck with butter-nut squash risotto; and TaylorsLouisiana surf and turf and grilled rib-eye, seafood mashed potatoes featuringCajun crab boiled asparagus.

All three dishes will be served nextmonth.

They are original ideas and excellentdishes, Lagasse said after declaring thecontest a three-way tie. Were puttingall three on the menu.

Lagasse says the dishes will make a dif-ference. Each time he sells one of them,$10 will go to Lagasses foundation tohelp fund a new culinary arts kitchen atNOCCA.

Lagasse also announced that he willdonate $100,000 to funding a four-yearculinary arts program at the school. Hisfoundation has already donated morethan $500,000 to that cause.

This is what I want to do, get theseyoung kids and show them a wonderfulworld that is waiting for them, Lagassesaid.

NOCCA, a high school devoted to thecreative arts, offers intensive trainingin dance, music, writing, theater,visual arts, and beginning next year, culi-nary crafts.

What we do here has a strong rela-tionship with the culture of the areaaround us, said Kyle Wedberg, Presi-dent and CEO of NOCCA.

And our food and its preparation just like our music is a big part of ouculture.

Indeed, all three of the budding chefscooking in Emerils test kitchen grew upcooking with family members.

I always cook with my grandmotheand my parents, Farmer said. Sincewas about 5 or 6, were in the kitchen to-gether all the time.

NOCCA has offered culinary camps inthe summer for the past four years.

Four students apply for each slot,Wedberg said.

AP PHOTOSCulinary writer Angela Sagabaen, left, helps high school culinary student Victoria Farmer check on her rabbit stockwhile creating a meal in chef Emeril Lagasses test kitchen in New Orleans Sept. 10. Farmer is one of three highschool students whose dish will be served in Lagasses restaurants in October, with proceeds from the dishes salesgoing toward a culinary arts teaching kitchen at a local arts-intensive high school.

High school culinary student ChayilJohnson samples food while prepar-ing a meal in chef Emeril Lagassestest kitchen in New Orleans Sept. 10.

Emeril helps teenchefs raise moneyfor cooking school

Pennsylvania

Report: U.S. students in classless than in other countries

Children go live on newscasts

BY S HIRLEY J INKINSFORT W ORTH STAR-TELEGRAM

GRAPEVINE, Texas Itslights, camera, action every week-day morning in a corner of theHeritage Elementary School li-brary.

The KHES studio is the nervecenter of the 450-student K-5campus; its community journal-ism in its earliest stage.

Lets go from our poppin freshlunch to our poppin anchors,said fifth-grade chef Alexandria

Nault during a recent Fridayshow, smoothly transitioning tothe campus news after announc-ing the days lunch menu of pop-corn chicken or pinto beans andbrown rice.

Its fun, and I get to say some-thing crazy at the end, she saidlater.

Each of the Grapevine-Col-leyville districts 11 elementaryschools offers a student-producedmorning news telecast at least afew days a week.

Fifth-graders fill the roles of an-chors, reporters, editors, photog-raphers and technicians,replacing old-style faculty an-nouncements with style and en-ergy.

It promotes leadership, makesthem poised and articulate inpublic speaking, and when theywrite out their cue cards, theyhave to be grammatically correct,said Heritage Principal StaceyVoigt, who brought the idea withher 10 years ago from TimberlineElementary. Classroom an-nouncements, meeting notices,football ticket prices and birthdayshout-outs are given equal time

with science words of the day,wise quotations and charactetips on good manners.

O.C. Taylor Elementarys TTN(Taylor Tiger News) airs eachmorning at 8 a.m.

Bransford Elementary studentswatch KBEST for their morningupdates. At Cannon Elementary,the format is a little different.

For five years, it was producedlive just like the other elementaryschools, faculty adviser CindyWalling said. Last year wechanged the format to an after-school club where the studentsplan, film, edit, and create eachepisode of the morning an-nouncements electronically.

Each episode takes the cast o15 to 20 students about two hoursto complete. Once the episodesare created and saved, the stu-dents upload them onto teachersclassroom computers.

AP PHOTO

Konner Carr, foreground left, flips cue cards as Brett Bostick,center, and Savannah Shapley rehearse for the five-minutemorning show broadcast at Heritage Elementary School inGrapevine, Texas, Sept. 3.

Fifth-graders createdaily TV program

OXFORD, Ala. White Plains HighSchool has found a way at add an extrahour to the day.

This year, White Plains began itsschool year with an eight-period sched-ule. The school day isnt any longer, butthe school shaved off a few minuteseach period in its earlier seven-periodschedule, and added an extra, 35-minute class period to the school day.

Principal Todd Chandler said teacherscan use the extra period for remedia-tion. For most students, he said, it willbe a time to focus on reading.

While many schools in other areashave only four class periods per day,most schools in Calhoun Countyhave stuck with traditional schedulesthat put kids in six or seven classes perday.

Associated Press

ALA. SCHOOL ADDS CLASS

Stars ofthe menu

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