Sharon Blackman, Ed.D.
The week of Spring Break is upon us and the official start of spring is just around the corner. It’s a time of renewal and re-energizing so that we can continue helping our students have a rewarding experience while they are at Brookhaven College. During the last few weeks, we have celebrated our 40th anniversary, participated in a community service activity, and kicked off a new partnership with Head Start of Greater Dallas, Inc. I want to acknowledge several people who were mistakenly omitted from an earlier communication to the college. There were others who set their alarms early to help with the District’s 40th anniversary celebration. Sarah Graifemberg, Bonnie Brisendine, Terri Edrich, Jamie Jenkins and Ann Coder, and we thank them for their service with the celebration.
Kudos to the members of the All-College Service Project committee. Their precision planning helped to execute a very successful first all college service project. We collected $1,500, which the North Texas Food Bank can use to purchase the equivalent of $ 16,500 of food. About 70 students and staff members volunteered their time at the food bank and packed 33,476 meals in a four-hour period. Although it was a windy day, the celebration in the Commons Courtyard was nice and there were some very creative ice cream sundaes made by those who took advantage of the free ice cream.
On Friday, March 10 we had the groundbreaking of the Head Start Center. This venture is the first of its kind in the country. The center will provide development for 176 children and will serve as an active learning laboratory for students in the child development program.
As the semester continues to move forward so does our work with the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District and the early college high school. We continue to meet with the newly selected principal, Adriana Gomez, and other school officials to prepare for the opening of the new high school on Brookhaven’s campus in August. Presentations have been held at middle schools with parents and students who were identified by principals and counselors as those who would be a good match for the early college high school. We expect the naming of the new high school in a couple of months. Meetings are being conducted with Brookhaven faculty to discuss possibilities of dual credit with the high school. There is much work to be done and we are looking forward to this new endeavor with the C-FB ISD.
Our own Mary Brumbach continues her recuperation and hopes to return to work in several weeks. We continue to wish her well and we look forward to her return. We also send well wishes to Jim Dwyer during his recovery. We know both of these individuals will be happy to return to the Brookhaven family.
Have a good rest of the semester and I’ll talk with you in the next edition of the Chatter.
