Monarch Movers & Shapers

Monarch Movers & Shapers -- UPCOMING M&S EVENTS!

Thursday, December 7th, 11 am-12:30 pm: New member Orientation at The Learning Center (TLC);

Thursday, December 7th, 12:30-2 pm: Luncheon meeting at TLC for all M&S members, with breakout meetings of all 4 committees.

Date to be determined: Christmas party for all M&S members! Let's choose a nearby restaurant (or even M&S home, if anyone wants to graciously host it).

Please make every effort to attend. Also, if you have any brilliant ideas for the time and place of our proposed Christmas party, call or email your fearless M&S Chairman, Justin Fox, at 281-367-9680 (home), email: jfox7@houston.rr.com.

Movers and Shapers Christmas Party??

Would any of you be interested in a Christmas get together? One of our M & S members (John Barone) suggested that we ask our chairman (Justin Fox) to host!!! Other members (myself, Julie Meaux and Emily Reiter) thought this was an excellent idea!!! (Justin, I would start making and freezing the 'petits fours' now!!!!
Any interest, comments, suggestions as to how we could pull this off?

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Email Alerts Change

The Blog Alert system appears to be having some problems accepting new email addresses (as far as I can tell, if you've already signed up, you should still be getting alerts). If you are not receiving email notification of new blog entries and you would like to, please use the "blogarithm" (really, who comes up with these names?) box on the right sidebar. (I'm leaving the Blog Alert box there because I don't want to risk affecting those of you who have signed up through that system.)

Questions? Please let me know (mhenry4@uh.edu). Thanks for your patience!

New York Times article

The New York Times recently ran an article about students with Asperger's Syndrome attending college. "Students on the Spectrum" describes the academic and social experiences of several college students and reports on efforts many schools are making to accommodate their special needs. [I'm not sure how long the article will be available for free on the Times website. If the link doesn't work, please let me know (mhenry4@uh.edu), and I'll be happy to help you get access to it another way.]

Also, if you haven't already, be sure to check out the story about Kate Matthiesen and Adam Farris, two Monarch graduates who are continuing their education at Houston Community College.

Another Volunteer Opportunity Nov. 10th

If anyone is interested in helping stuff about 700 information packets for the Miracle Makers Morning Breakfast I could use a couple of volunteers. We will be meeting the morning of Friday, November 10th at my house (not far from Monarch). If you are interested in helping please contact me at jmeaux1@houston.rr.com.

History, Vision, and Organization

Posted on behalf of Justin Fox.

THE MONARCH SCHOOL
MOVERS AND SHAPERS

HISTORY, VISION AND ORGANIZATION

The Movers and Shapers (M&S) was founded in 2005 as a special kind of support group for The Monarch School (TMS).

An M&S “Core Team,” originally consisting of eleven members, met several times in 2005-2006 with Dr. Marty Webb, Head of School and John Barone, Director of the Monarch Learning Center, in order to establish the goals, structure and direction of the M&S. The M&S Core Team continues to guide the execution of the goals of the M&S, to work actively in the recruitment of new M&S members, and to oversee the M&S committees to ensure that they are functioning in ways that reflect the group’s vision and guidelines.

There are currently 26 individual M&S members. It is anticipated that this number will increase as the M&S further develops. Each new M&S recruit is first invited to a tour of TMS, then completes an application form and interest inventory, and then is approved by TMS staff. Thereafter, the M&S recruit attends a M&S orientation meeting. Then the new M&S member chooses to join and participate in one of the four M&S committees (described below), or to be available for “work groups” for specific projects.

The present M&S Chairperson is Justin Fox.

The primary purpose of the M&S group is to support the mission of TMS and assist the school in a number of creative and innovative ways.

More specifically, the M&S group is divided into four separate committees, namely: (1) The Builders; (2) The Developers; (3) The Educators; (4) The Heralds.

Each of these four committees is headed by one or two facilitators, whose main job is to convene and oversee periodic committee meetings, preferably every month. These meetings may be held at a time and place convenient to its members, such as at a restaurant, residence, office, or TMS. After each committee meeting, a brief summary of will be posted on the M&S Blog: http://moversandshapers.blogspot.com/

THE BUILDERS COMMITTEE: Includes any project that involves construction, demolition, remodeling, redecorating, maintenance, etc.

Co-Facilitators: Penny Weiss and Sara Ranger

Members: Penny Weiss, Sara Ranger

Pilot projects:

• Apprentice: Grounds, pond and trails maintenance (faculty contact: Debrah Hall);
• Challenger: Zoo butterfly garden support (faculty contact: Richard Klein);
• MLC: Painting (faculty contact: Emily Reiter).

Items discussed in the most recent meeting of the Builders Committee on 9/11/2006:

An on-going project that the group will be organizing is the weeding and watering of the Butterfly Garden at the Houston Zoo by selected TMS students, who go there on Thursdays. Volunteers now will be organized to go to the zoo for that purpose at another time on an on-going basis.
Doing some projects at TMS involving renovation and refurbishing. For instance, some shelving will be made for one of TMS work rooms, and weeding of TMS trails will be undertaken.
Postponing of most of the ideas for projects, which were discussed at the last meeting, until much closer to TMS’ move to its new campus in less than two years.

THE DEVELOPERS COMMITTEE: Includes foundation relationships, grant writing, support for fundraising and friend-raising events, recruitment of new members, support of school outreach, etc.

Facilitator: Julie Meaux

Members: Julie Meaux, Stephanie Wheatley, Carolyn Trozzo, Susan Meek, Justin Fox, Scharlene Fox

Pilot projects:

• MLC: Solicitation of off-campus workshops (faculty contact: John Barone);
• Development: Tour recruitment (faculty contact: Jessica Stoner);
• Events: Training in raising more money (faculty contact: Shannon Woodruff).

Items discussed at the most recent meeting of the Developers meeting on 9/11/2006:

Confirmation that the Developers Committee would serve these two purposes: (1) development of external contacts; (2) development of TMS parent community.
The following six (6) methods of developing external contacts were discussed:

1. Established that networking is the most effective method to publicize TMS.
2. Contacting school districts, particularly special services personnel.
3. Personal contact will be made by Development Committee members with friends and acquaintances in the education community.
4. Agreed that health professionals need to be contacted. One suggested method would be for TMS to donate books to doctors’ offices, with these books having details of TMS placed inside them.
5. Car decals with TMS logo and email address were discussed, and estimates from printers of these decals will be obtained.
6. It was suggested that these decals would make an excellent gift for the upcoming TMS fundraising breakfast on 11/14/2006.

It was suggested that an electronic “TMS Parent Newsletter” would be an effective method of building community spirit and school support among the Monarch parent community.


THE EDUCATORS COMMITTEE: Includes all direct service with students and faculty, including academic support, mentorship, internships, guest speakers, special events for students and/or staff, faculty support, off-campus practice opportunities, etc.

Co-facilitators: Miranda Bennett and Kay Kahl

Members: Miranda Bennett, Kay Kahl, Ami Felker, Chassidy Andrew.

Pilot projects:

• Challenger: Reading room (faculty contact: Neal Sarahan);
• Apprentice: Summer program support for out-or-town parents (faculty contact: Debrah Hall);
• MLC: AV/DVD mentorship (faculty contact: John Barone).

Items discussed at the most recent Educators Committee meeting on 9/11/2006:

Upcoming opportunities for volunteers to work with TMS students, to include internships for the students to learn new skills and to increase their confidence.
Mentorships: Speakers are needed to give presentations or mini-workshops to TMS students. These mentors could address students’ interests and/or discuss their life experiences, with an emphasis on making decisions and overcoming challenges. Lectures, demonstrations and hands-on instruction are encouraged.
“The Ultimate Gift”: TMS students are using this curriculum to reflect on their gifts and the legacy of their family heritage. Later in the fall of 2006 volunteers can assist students with the writing and recording of their reflections.


THE HERALDS COMMITTEE: Includes Informational Technology (IT), multi-media advertising, brochure design, photography, public relations, videography, DVD production, web-site design and maintenance, email design, Monarch Learning Center (MLC) promotion, etc.

Co-Facilitator(s): None at present.

Members: Dennis Woods, Dwight Wolf, Cathy Graham, Gala Edwardsen, Chris Edwardsen

Pilot projects:

• IT: network infrastructure design (faculty contact: Kyle Nguyen)
• IT: website proofreading (faculty contact: Marty Webb)
• MLC: email newsletter design (Faculty contact: Emily Reiter)

Items discussed in previous two Heralds Committee meetings on 5/3/06 and 9/11/06:

Website ands email content issues, including perhaps adding a calendar section to help TMS parents, committee members and others to keep up with various events at school;
Distribution of email newsletter to interested parents and committee members;
Development of speakers bureau for TMS;
Ideas for spreading the word about MLS upcoming symposium, such as making connections with leaders of local professional groups, using TMS website to promote the event, and focusing on target audiences when sending out the material, especially when contacting individuals within an ISD.

The foregoing “M&S History, Vision and Organization” was compiled on October 30, 2006 by Justin Fox, M&S Chairperson.

Interested in joining M&S? Please contact Justin Fox at jfox7@houston.rr.com

Volunteers Needed for Reading Program!

Dr. Neal is looking for volunteers to listen to students read. If you'd like to help out and are available during school hours (specific days/times not yet available), please let me (mhenry4@uh.edu) know.

FYI: This is also a great opportunity to interest new recruits in Movers & Shapers. However, because this activity involves direct contact with students, new folks will need to go through the initial orientation before participating. If you find someone who would like to get involved, just send his/her contact info to Justin, and he will start the initiation process.

For projects not involving direct student contact, non-M&S people are welcome to take part before getting oriented. (All this policy stuff comes from John Barone; I'm not just making it up as I go along!)

By the way, thanks for making such great use of the blog! (I knew I'd hook you sooner or later....)

-Miranda

Developers Meeting Minutes - October 30, 2006

Present: Julie Meaux, Justin Fox, Stephanie Wheatley, Carolyn Trozzo, Susan Meek, Shannon Woodruff, Jessica Stoner

• Stephanie Wheatly updated everyone on the progress of a parent newsletter. It was decided that creating a parent Blog would be a good place to start for Monarch parents to interact and share information.
• Discussed the possibility of having a book drive to collect books to be donated to doctor's offices (especially pediatricians) with details of the school inside the front cover. This could possibly be a service project for the kids.
• Suggested that some type of thank-you event would be nice for all of those that make pledges at the breakfast on November 14th. Possibly a dinner or party.
• It was suggested that Monarch might benefit from offering an annual open house in the evening.
• Discussed reaching out to preschools, especially through the different churches, to help educate the community about Monarch.

Thanks to Our Awesome Volunteers

A huge thanks to all who helped yesterday at the Learning Center by sticking labels on about 7,000 news letters that will be going out this week. We had several parent volunteers, Monarch staff and Movers and Shapers members who showed up to tackle this task. The work that we thought would take 1 1/2 days was completed in only 4 1/2 hours. Way to go volunteers!!!!

Builders Committee Project

Members of the Builders Committee recently rolled up their sleeves and with hammers in hand, responded to a need in the Monarch Life Academy for more shelf space. Penny Weiss and I spent two afternoons hanging shelves along two of the walls in the Life Academy. As you can see from the picture, the shelves look great, and are being put to good use! The Building Committee is incredibly appreciative to Penny for driving this project. Life Academy- how are the new shelves working out for you?

Volunteer Opportunity October 30th and 31st

If anyone has some free time on Monday, October 30th between 8:30am and 3:00pm and/or on Tuesday, October 31st between 8:30am and 11:30am we will be stuffing and labeling approximately 10,000 envelopes in the Learning Center for a mass mailing and could use your help. If you are interested in helping with this task please contact me. If you find you have some time to spare at the last minute feel free to just show up - I'm sure there will be plenty of work to go around.

Computers and Laptops

If you have not already heard, I wanted to share the great news with all of you. The Monarch School is a member of a program called Gifts In Kind. This program allows non-profits like us to "Shop" (we don't actually pay anything) for items that we need. These items are typically donated by large corporations. These items can be anything from furniture or computers, or even office supplies. Upon hearing that ExxonMobil had donated over 400 desktops and laptops to the program, I immediately asked for 32 desktops and 10 laptops. And guess what?!?! We got ALL of them. This is great news because these computers can replace all the student computers on both campuses.

Also, we recently received a generation donation from the Viereck's (Monarch parents) to pay for a defibrillator and cabinet for each campus, and for pediatric pads for the Apprentice campus. We are thrilled that they did this for us, especially with all the news going around about schools that do/do not have them. All staff will be trained at the beginning of November on how to use them.

Studio Saturday: cARTography

The Blaffer Gallery at the University of Houston is offering a free program this Saturday, October 21, which may be of interest to some Monarch students and teachers. The schedule includes guided tours of the exhibit "A Fiction of Authenticity: Contemporary Africa Abroad" at 1:00; an art-making activity, in which participants will create maps of their personal histories, at 2:00; and an opportunity to share these maps and discuss the exhibit and project with Leamon Green, a fine arts professor from Texas Southern University, at 3:30. According to the flyer advertising the program, "All art-making materials provided and refreshments are served--just bring your imagination."

Interested? Please RSVP to Katherine Veneman, curator of education (what a cool title!), at 713-743-9526 or kveneman@uh.edu.

Our Resident Artist

Hello all you Movers & Shapers,

If you missed it, check out this terrific Channel 2 News Report on the success of Kate, one our Monarch students!

http://www.monarchschool.org/NewsArticle17.html

Best,

John

Blaffer Gallery programs for students

Ranger has been talking to a friend of hers at UH's Blaffer Gallery, exploring possibilities for Monarch students to visit and enjoy some of the gallery's educational programming. Please take a look at the Education section of their website and let Ranger or me know if you'd like more details. (In addition to being an interesting place to visit, the Blaffer has the advantage of being on the UH campus, and a session there could be combined with a stop at another site, such as the KUHF studio, mentioned in an earlier blog post.)

Don't Miss This Great Show!

Greetings all Movers & Shapers,

Susie and I went to the Hobby Center last night to see our very own Kay Kahl in Masquerade Theatre's performance of "Sweeney Todd." Kay was awesome, as was the entire cast.

The delightful show, although three hours long, captivated us the entire time, and the singing and acting were brilliant! The Houston Press had this to say in their review: "The entire cast is definitive, as is director Phillip Duggins's minimal production, which moves this classic with a relentless, chilling drive."

It's not too late to catch this masterpiece performance! There are two shows left before the show closes on Sunday.

Cheers,

John

Spreading the Word

The Learning Center is looking to expand its list of contacts for this year's workshops. Because it is our first year to offer continuing education units to professionals, we're hoping to increase our contacts with special education professionals in the schools. If any movers and shapers have contacts in public or private special education or any mailing lists of professionals that they would be willing to share, please either email Emily Reiter at ereiter@monarchschool.org or call 713.933.0568, thanks!

Coaching from Cathy

I just wanted to thank Cathy Graham for agreeing to lend her time and skills in public relations to mentor me in the promotion of the Learning Center. We recently met to discuss the best possible route for promoting the Learning Center's upcoming symposium. Cathy gave great suggestions for focusing on building relationships with other organizations in the community. She also suggested different ideas of how to effectively reach the Learning Center's target audience. I had a great time brainstorming with Cathy, and look forward to more meetings in the future!

Calling All Heralds!

Monarch is hosting a free workshop on hair pulling and skin picking on Oct. 19. Any help in getting the word out would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers,

JB

Possible field trip idea?

I was just looking at the KUHF website and came across an article about tours of the studio. This sounds like a great opportunity for Monarch students to learn more about radio (and TV--the PBS station operates out of the same building and is included in the tour) broadcasting. According to the article, the free tours can be scheduled on Tuesday or Thursday at 9 am (weekend and evening times are also available, but I assume these wouldn't work). If this seems like a good idea, I'd be happy to find out more.

Field trips (I know that's not the term Monarch prefers, but I can't remember the right one) fall within the scope of the Educators' work, and we'd be delighted to get additional suggestions!

Thanks,
Miranda