Program's photos on Flickr

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South Carolina National Guard Soldiers and fire department/EMS rescuers with the S.C. Helicopter Aquatic Rescue Team (SC-HART) program, S.C. Urban Search and Rescue Task Force 1 (SC-TF1), perform rescue training aboard an UH-60L Black Hawk utility helicopter during “Patriot South 2017 Exercise” (Patriot South 17), a joint training-exercise focused on natural disaster-response and preparedness, Gulfport and Port Bienville Industrial Complex (PBIC), Mississippi, Jan. 31, 2017. Patriot South 17 is taking place at multiple locations across Mississippi, from January 23 through February 7, 2017, and it offers the National Guard and its local and federal partners a realistic-training opportunity to test response capabilities, procedures, and readiness through a simulated earthquake and Tsunami scenario “hitting the coastal areas of the state.” In preparation for future operations, South Carolina’s Headquarters and Headquarters and (-) Company A 2-151st Security and Support Aviation Battalion, 59th Aviation Troop Command, deployed both its current HART-capable platforms, the UH-60L Black Hawk utility helicopter and its LUH-72A Lakota light utility helicopter--the latter being a recent addition to the HART program for South Carolina. (U.S. Army National Guard Photo by Staff Sgt. Roberto Di Giovine/Released)

Elev8_Ames_Mentor_EYS_03_15_11029 by LISC.Chicago

Elev8 Parent Mentor Program at Ames Middle School Chicago:

eric@smittyimage.comGloria Bedillo had never served as a school volunteer before, or thought of herself as a leader. But within XX months of the day her daughter enrolled at Logan Square’s Ames Middle, all that changed. Suddenly Bedillo found herself serving as a classroom assistant, a family book group leader, a truant outreach worker, a member of the local school council, and chair of the school’s No Child Left Behind Committee. REACTION FROM HER—IS SHE SURPRISED? While Bedillo is one of the more active parents at Ames, she is hardly unusual. Inner-city schools often bemoan the lack of parental involvement, but Ames has it in spades: 20 parents are volunteering or working for modest wages at the school almost daily at a variety of jobs through Logan Square Neighborhood Association’s Parent Mentor Program. “It’s an enhancement to everything we do,” said Ames Principal Thomas Hoffman who credits the program’s parent truancy outreach workers for helping to raise the school’s average daily attendance rate more than two percentage points in the past two years. LSNA launched the Parent Mentor Program in 1995 as a way to give parents, mainly Hispanic women, the skills and confidence to get more involved in their children’s education. Since then, the program has trained more than 1,300 parents at nine neighborhood elementary schools as classroom mentors for struggling students.But learning how to assist students and school staff is just the beginning. Parent mentors are encouraged to become leaders in their schools and politically active in their communities. And they are urged to pursue personal goals, such as finding employment or pursuing further education. Many have gone on to take ESL or GED classes offered at Ames and four other Logan Square elementary schools.Maria Marquez, a former parent mentor who now coordinates that program at Ames, went even further. She enrolled in LSNA's “Grow Your Own” program which helps Logan Square residents earn undergraduate degrees in education and land jobs in Chicago Public Schools, helping to alleviate the bilingual teacher shortage. More than 20 other parent mentors have done likewise. “Had it had it not been for the Parent Mentor Program I would not be going to Northeastern [University],” she said.For Bedillo, joining the program was no less transformative. As a former substance abuse counselor with an associates degree in social services, she had always enjoyed helping people. BUT OUTSIDE HER CIRCLE?, she had been hesitant to speak her mind. “She was kind of quiet when she first started, not wanting to say a lot,” Marquez recalled.But in the safety of the parent mentor group—LSNA trained a dozen this fall—she began to speak up, said Marquez. “She's a little bit more confident about her opinions.”During one meeting, when a mother complained that her son was unable to get reduced city bus fare because he couldn't prove he went to Ames, Bedillo volunteered to ask the principal about providing student IDs. The principal agreed to do so. WHAT MADE HER DECIDE TO DO THAT.The other mothers were impressed, said Marquez. Later, when she asked for volunteers for the school’s No Child Left Behind Advisory Committee, they quickly nominated Bedillo as chair, said Marquez.“I was like 'Me?' Bedillo recalls. “They were like, 'Yes, you.'”Bedillo, a friendly woman with a ready smile, initially signed-up as a parent mentor because of concerns about school safety, which provided to be unfounded, she said. But that first step was a gateway. “The more I get involved with my daughters school,” she said, “the more I want to be involved.”Her sudden interest surprised her daughter, Jaileen Martinez. “I was shocked about it. I just thought of my mom as a house mom.” The 7th-grader was also worried. “I was kind of scared because I thought she would embarrass me,” Jaileen acknowledged. But she needn't have worried. Her friends thought Bedillo was cool. “When they see me they're like, 'Where's your mom?'” And rather than embarrassed by her mother's involvement at the school, Jaileen found herself impressed. “She's so into it. Her trying to help somebody makes me want to do the same. She motivates me.”Parents in neighborhoods like Logan Square often don't realize how eager schools are for their participation, said Marquez. That's especially true for those immigrating from Mexico or other Central American countries, she explained.In Mexico, parents don’t ever question the teacher or principal, said Marquez. “You can't come into the classroom because it’s invading their domain.”But the parent mentor training makes it clear how much they are valued, not only by recruiting them to serve in a variety of additional roles—safety patrol, truancy outreach, after school tutorCK—but by building their confidence. Before parents step foot in the classroom, they get two weeks of training on the school's math and reading curriculum and also on personal development and leadership. The training continues for two hours a week throughout the school year. Parents without degrees often imagine they don’t have much to offer the school, said Leticia Barerra, another Parent Mentor alumna who now manages the program for LSNA. When parents realize they have lots of skills and talents they can offer to the school, they feel important and useful.” CAN BEDILLO COMMENT ON HER EXPERIENCE?Parents also need to know they have the right to speak up to authority, she said, whether to the principal, the alderman or their state representatives. “They didn't realize how much power they could have,” Barerra explains. “As soon as they know, they start making phone calls.” During last school year's training, a group of mothers suddenly decided to visit the alderman and demand traffic-calming measures around the school: They got their way. After this year's initial training, parents spontaneously teamed up to go door to door to encourage their neighbors to vote. ASK BEDILLO ABOUT THIS.HOW MANY TIMES THIS YEAR, past and present parent mentors have hopped on a bus to Springfield to lobby legislators on immigration reform. NEED A LITTLE MORE HERE“We're speaking out and being heard and not being afraid,” Bedillo said. “We're not just parents now. Were being heard as a group and working together.”After that, came back and was speaking more passionately.Gloria already had associates degree. Benefits mothers as much as students. many gone on to get bachelors degrees and become teachers in the community. Feeds into Grow Your Own,HeadBedillo said she initially decided to join the mentor because her daughter, a 7th-grader, was nervous about attending the new school which she heard had a lot of fighting and bullying, rumors that later proved to be unfounded. Parents receive xx hours of training over xx weeks before they are each assigned to a classrooms two hours a day Monday through Thursday. Bedillo assigned to a math class and then a science class, helps all students but particularly those who are still learning English. QUOTE FROM TEACHER ABOUT WHY THIS IS HELPFULIdea is to make parents realize that they can be part of school. in mexico, not welcome.Bedillo is from Puerto Rico, immigrated to Chicago at three and grew up in Spanish-speaking household. Graduated from St. Augustine college with an associates degree in social services and worked as a substance abuse counselor until 2008. Never been active in school before. When her daughter went to Nixon, didn’t have those opportunities. NEED TRANSITION.Comfort of group, started speaking up. went to principal. Got ids. Then chosen for no child left behind, also on local school counsel.now that I got involved as a parent mentor at my ds school ive felt the need to get more inv and more invRecruited to do extra work for modest hourly wage. Part of elev8 programs. Ames part of elev8 program, extra funds to do truant outreach—phones disconnected and many parents don’t realize kids not in school. money also for literacy ambassadors.Recently she and her daughter visited another neighbor and read about seeds. Youngest participant in 5th grade, the oldest his grandmother. Xx said bedillo’s daughter, who also went along.Role models for their kidsBedillo’s daughter said she was worried when her mother was going to volunteer, meant they would walk to school together each morning. thought she was going to embarrass me. Surprised to find that her friends thought her mom was actually pretty cool. Now she’s motivated. Also part of the Elev8 program where afterschool tutoring raised her math grade c TO A. mother also able to help out more, with parent mentor traning. huge confidence boost. Set her sites on selective high school marine biology. mother as an inspiration.The award-winning program was launched xx years ago and now operates at nine neighborhood schools including Ames. Since its founding, LSNA has trained over xx parents to mentor struggling students in the classroom. But mentorship is just the beginning. The program trains parents, mainly Hispanic women, to become leaders in their schools and politically active in their communities. It also recruits them to serve in a variety of additional roles at the school from safety patrol to neighborhood book group leader.Gloria quotesThe more I get involved with my daughters school the more I want to participate, the more I want to be involved.Speaking out. To the needs that I see that we need. And not being afraid. Speakingout and being heard. Safe place to do that. I see solutions and bepeople workingwith it. We'rebeingheard. Wer'not just parents now. Were beingheard as a group and working together.encouraging them to become leaders in their schools and politically active in their communities.

Mallard Haven Farm in Dorchester County, Md. by Chesapeake Bay Program

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Pipes emerge from a flooded agricultural drainage ditch on the farm of Jerry Harris in Church Creek, Md., on March 11, 2014. With financial assistance from the state of Maryland, Ducks Unlimited and North American Wetlands Conservation Act Grants (NAWCA), Harris built berms to create a series of separate water impoundments for use by waterfowl across 80 acres of the 230-acre farm. (Photo by Steve Droter/Chesapeake Bay Program)

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20150608-RD-ST-0003 by U.S. Department of Agriculture

New Mexico Congresswoman Michelle Lujan Grisham’s aide Alma Acosta helps nail paneling on the Mutual Self-Help Housing Program’s 50,000th home in Bridgeville, DE on Jun 8, 2015. Volunteers from Congressional staff, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development (RD), and local lenders gathered to help the Tony Tilsen family frame their new house. The volunteer effort helped take two weeks off the Tilsens expected construction time and was part of June’s National Housing Month celebrations. The Tilsens are building their house with the help of other local Self-Help participants and the assistance and supervision of the Milford Housing Development Corporation, a non-profit. USDA photo by Steve Thompson.

03/16/18 - SAS blanks Allegany-Limestone in final minutes for 55-50 win in Class C girls basketball semifinal by Syracuse Academy

Eighth-grader Alexius Pierce made the go-ahead layup in the game's last minute, and junior Diamonne Harris hit four straight free throws in the final 10 seconds as the Syracuse Academy of Science held off Allegany-Limestone, 55-50, in a Class C girls basketball state semifinal at Hudson Valley Community College.

The Section III-champion Atoms (20-4) will play in the 8-year-old program's first state final at 4 p.m. Saturday against Section IX champion Millbrook.

"It feels unbelievable," said Harris, who led all scorers with 20 points. "We worked so hard - day after day - it was all worth it. It feels so good."

"We just willed our way (to the win), said senior leader Lyrik Jackson, who scored 14 points, grabbed eight rebounds and made five steals for the Atoms. "Coach said keep pushing. We didn't want to go home."

SAS, which trailed by six points at the half (32-26) sparked its second-half offense with a pressing defense that forced Allegany-Limestone into 22 turnovers and yielded a dozen steals.

The #SASAtoms also held Gators' star senior center Morgan Davis to 14 points, about five below her season's average. Morgan only had six in the second half.

"Amazing. Just amazing," said #SASCS head coach Reggie Pickard. "I'm still kind of dreaming - like are we here or not, you know? We're doing everything possible to win a championship. We've worked hard for eight years, and here we are."

The Atoms trailed by as many as eight points late in the second quarter but caught the Gators just two minutes into the third using a press that started paying off in turnovers.

"Our pressure has been the key for us all year," Pickard said. "We force turnovers, make the game kind of ugly.

I thought if we pressured a little more in the second half it would harder for them to get the ball to their bigs."

Allegany-Limestone, from Section VI near Olean, still led by two at the start of the fourth quarter, but SAS sophomore Xyel Bradford's 3-pointer put the Atoms ahead, 41-40, with just under 7 minutes left. Pierce hit another huge three with 2:30 left to play that gave SAS a 47-46 advantage.

But the Gators continued to make big baskets, too, and Allegany-Limestone had a 50-49 lead, and the ball, with just under a minute left to play.

On the in-bounds play, Harris dove for a steal and somehow got the ball to Pierce, who drove in for what would turn out to be the winning points, making it 51-50, Atoms.

The Gators began fouling, but Harris proved worthy against the pressure, hitting two sets for free throws in the final eight seconds.

"It was very nerve-wracking, but we do this all of the time in practice," she said. "I have to stay calm."

Allegany-Limestone coach Frank Martin said his team just couldn't quite hold it together in the final minutes against the SAS quickness.

"I'd love to have the last minute and a half back," he said. "We weren't as good as we needed to be to close this game out. We just weren't as good as we needed to be at the end."

The Atoms had a scare in the final seconds when Jackson took a shot to her head when she went down chasing a loose ball and an Allegany-Limestone player fell on top of her. She had to be helped off the court but was up and talking in the aftermath.

Harris said she hoped to go swimming in the hotel pool later in the day, but her coach wasn't hearing it.

No, no. We're not going to do any swimming," he said, laughing. "Too much muscle movement. They got mad at me last night because I took their phones from them. I'm doing that again tonight, too."

Article posted at highschoolsports.syracuse.com/news/article/-7252830500074...

UF Environmental and Land Use Law Program Spring Break Course by Florida Sea Grant

Students and faculty in UF Law’s Environmental and Land Use Law Program’s Spring Break Field Course explored the diverse marine and coastal ecoregion shared by South Florida and the Bahamian archipelago.

The purpose of the week-long course, led by Tom Ankersen, Florida Sea Grant's Legal Specialist, was to provide students a firm grounding in the law, policy and practice of coastal and marine sustainable development through field-based immersion, practitioner lectures, and reflective discussions.

The group traveled from the intensely developed waterfront of Biscayne Bay to the bustling government center of Nassau in the Bahamas, and then on to the quiet, rural family island of Andros, bounded by the great Bahama Bank and the Tongue of the Ocean. While there is a world of difference between the two neighbors separated by the Gulf Stream, they share a remarkably similar ecosystem facing many of the same threats, and common language of the common law.

This year’s Spring Break Field course furthers the UF Law Conservation Clinic’s South Florida Bahamas ecoregional initiative supported by Florida Sea Grant, and in partnership with the Bahamas National Trust.

To read more about the course and what the students learned, visit: www.law.ufl.edu/…/elulp-students-faculty-spend-spri…/

(UF/IFAS photos by Amy Stuart)

Matt Preedy describes new SR 99 on-ramp by Washington State Dept of Transportation

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Matt Preedy, the Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement Program’s director of south end projects, talks to a reporter about the Friday, March 11, opening of the S. Royal Brougham Way on-ramp to northbound SR 99 in Seattle. Learn more about construction underway to replace the south end of the Alaskan Way Viaduct.