Got a new Xbox 360 for the holidays? Looking to clean out your closets and get rid of that oh so old Wii from 2010? Are your hardly ever worn basketball shoes, rain boots or hiking boots covered in dust and feeling lonely? Too much tea cluttering your cupboard that you can’t find the sugar for your coffee in the morning? Got tickets to an upcoming local performance that you can’t make after all?

What’s that you’re wondering… why, yes! Open Meadow IS looking for these and a few other donated items that have been recently requested by our programs and more than 900 youth. If you are able to help out, or have a friend who is eager to get rid of that karaoke machine that just never quite made it out to the living room, then please consider donating an item from our wish list. We promise it will get used!  Contact (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) at 503.488.5187 for further details.

Last week, two Open Meadow High School students received $1,000 scholarships from The Skanner Foundation to pursue their higher education. The awards were presented to our students at The Skanner’s 26th Annual Martin Luther King Breakfast. Congratulations to Kelsey and Jeremiah for the great work toward their post-secondary success!

A recent Portland Tribune article by Jennifer Anderson features Open Meadow’s leading work as one of ten Portland Beacon Schools driving the local initiative to close the racial achievement gap.

We are proud of the work of our staff across programs and excited to partner with our students, families, and Portland Public Schools in this critical work.

Open Meadow is celebrating it’s 40th anniversary this year.

It’s been 40 years of memorable moments for students, parents, staff, volunteers, sponsors and the whole community.
We’d like everyone to help us celebrate these Open Meadow “moments”.

Open Meadow has been special to us for so many reasons. It has been full of moments we treasure and moments that remain a huge part of us. We want to celebrate these moments and gather them. Josh Monda, an Open Meadow Board member and alumni from the Class of 1999, has started a facebook page where you can like the page and share your Open Meadow stories, photos (old and current), video, audio, written notes and quotes from the last 40 years. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Open-Meadow-Moments/285946158115335

For more information on the great ways Open Meadow is celebrating this huge milestone contact Amy Smith at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

The Betties 360 group at Open Meadow High School have been busy this semester with activities that are empowering them with skills including increased focus, self confidence, stress management and coping strategies, preparedness and more… From exploring their cooking abilities to learning yoga, archery and self defense, these young women are on the move. They’ve been offered programs such as Wilderness First Aid and Banking for Life, and have gone out into the field to an urban farm.

Most recently they visited with Daimler Trucks North America on Swan Island. There the girls enjoyed a tour of how semi-trucks are designed and built. Seven female engineers led them through the test center including the shaker room (where a truck is put on a big shaker to simulate rough roads to test all components of the cab structure), the wind tunnel and the design studio where prototypes are built out of clay. The purpose of this trip was to expose the girls to the idea of design and engineering. Many of the OM girls love to create, draw and design things, and this trip showed them how they can use those interests for a career. Also, the girls greatly benefited by seeing and interacting with a diverse group of smart and capable women who all love what they do for work. Thanks to Daimler for being such wonderful hosts to our young women!

Open Meadow students and staff show up at Council and SING PRAISES of the city’s support of Youth Pass. Continuation of this pass means that not only can Open Meadow’s 24 graduating seniors get to school to graduate, but so can the other 1,600 graduating seniors who live in poverty across the city and the 6,000 other high schoolers who live in poverty. And not only can they get to school, but like Evan who testified to Council today, they can take advantage of distance volunteer and work-based learning opportunities like Evan has at the Oregon Zoo to extend their learning and give back to the community. The wheels on the TriMet busses say – GRADUATE! Thank you City of Portland, TriMet and Portland Public Schools!

Need a coffee break during this cold month of December? Stop by Fuel Cafe at 1452 NE Alberta Street and check out the artwork of Open Meadow High School students currently on display! Fuel Cafe displays new local art every month and this month they’ve chosen to exhibit some of the artwork of our students at Open Meadow. Their original art ranges from sketches to paintings to photography. Our students’ artwork will be on display until December 28th, 2011. So stop by the café between 7AM-7PM and grab a cup of steaming Stumptown coffee while you admire the creativity of our students in the bright and welcoming atmosphere of Fuel Cafe.

Before Open Meadow High School’s students left on their Thanksgiving break, the students had the opportunity, on Wednesday, November 23rd, to take some time out of their day to share a meal with their fellow classmates and advocates to celebrate the upcoming holiday.

Open Meadow’s Thanksgiving lunch was prepared and donated this year by Capital Pacific Bank. Volunteers from Capital Pacific Bank and the high school spent several hours the morning before our Thanksgiving lunch setting up and decorating the dining area, preparing the food, serving it to the students, and cleaning up afterward. This Thanksgiving meal was an excellent way for our students to celebrate the beginning of their Thanksgiving holiday and it couldn’t’ have happened without our hardworking and generous volunteers. Clearly, Open Meadow Schools have a lot to be thankful for this season.

Open Meadow Middle School takes pride in fostering a sense of community on campus. On any given day a visitor who walks into the building might find our students leaning on each other, both literally and figuratively. One avenue for building this sense of community happens during unique experiences that allow our youth to be expressive and showcase their talents.

Last quarter Open Meadow Middle Schoolers embraced the opportunity to take a piano class as part of their schedule. An excited group of students immersed themselves in this keyboarding journey every Wednesday. At the heart of each class, students learned basic music theory and a song, which they practiced each week.  Week after week, their confidence increased and their skills honed. By the end of a few short months the class offered their first public performance. And the song “Lean on Me” echoed appropriately through the halls… 

Commissioner Dan Saltzman and the staff from the Portland Children’s Levy came out to visit the Step Up program at Madison High School on Monday, November 7th. They were treated to a student tour and some rich conversation with parents, Madison Principal Petra Callin, Don Barney volunteering from the Portland Pearl Rotary, and Open Meadow staff. We shared data that included 100% retention of Madison High School students – which is significantly higher than its mainstream dropout rate – and the fact that 75% of Step Up freshman passed all core classes which gave a significant lift to the overall 59% rate for mainstream students across the district for this Key Milestone measurement.

The Portland Children’s Levy supports 279 youth across three Portland high schools receiving extended year and extended day supports. As one parent said, “It made the difference for my daughter – she has completely changed in her relationship to school.

Basketball fever has swept over the Open Meadow community, and it’s not the NBA finals we’re talking about here! Read below for a quick recap of two recent events that got everyone cheering.

On Tuesday, May 31 the Open Meadow Goats student basketball team scrimmaged with a determined team of adidas employees at the adidas US Headquarters. With home court advantage, the adidas team squeaked by the Open Meadow students - their overall level of class was matched by the energetic high school team. This scrimmage was a warm-up to the annual student/staff game, slated to take place on Tuesday, June 7th at the Open Meadow Middle School gym. Thanks so much to adidas for joining in this annual fun!

And the results are in for the annual student-staff basketball game - Open Meadow won! With their typical class and flourish, Open Meadow students and staff worked each other on Tuesday. At halftime the students were up by four with some incredible defense and a 25 - 10 run. The second half was dominated by Fazal’s outside shooting that ultimately led to everyone running hard and breaking a sweat. No one ever figured out whether the walls were out on the side or whether it was line that was out and it didn’t matter - a good time was had by all with the promise of coming back next year to see if the win can be by an even greater margin. 

Announcing Ninth Grade Counts Summer 2011

Ninth Grade Counts recently released the 2011 Ninth Grade Counts Guide Book, which includes Open Meadow’s Step Up program. If you know a youth who is looking for opportunities to stay engaged this summer, the guide is a great resource. Click here: NGC Guidebook 2011 for English version. Click here: NGC Guidebook-Spanish for version en Espanol.

Ninth Grade Counts programs provide academic support, enrichment, and exposure to college and career options in order to help incoming ninth graders prepare for high school and beyond.  Most programs also offer the opportunity to earn high school credits. The initiative is a part of Summer Youth Connect, a series of summer support opportunities sponsored by the City of Portland, Multnomah County, the Portland Schools Foundation and Worksystems, Inc.

One cold, wet Friday morning in mid-April, Open Meadow High School students could be spotted around the neighborhood, wandering through parks and streets in search of trash. In conjunction with Global Youth Service Days, the Black Student Union and The Pangaea Project students from OMHS participated and organized a neighborhood clean up day with the support of an Oregon Volunteers mini-grant. Our globally minded students and staff spent over two hours braving the cold rain picking up litter in north Portland. These folks deserve a big shout out for their successful service to Open Meadow’s neighborhood community. With smiles on their faces, they put their feet to the ground and showed they cared.

In mid-April, a team of students from the University of Portland hosted an awareness night for Open Meadow on their campus as part of a service project for their Ethics class. A nice turnout of students showed up to learn about the great work happening right down the road from them. Those in attendance watched a moving video about Open Meadow and listened to perspectives of various Open Meadow community members including a student, staff and volunteers.

Open Meadow High School student Patrick Prom discussed his challenging, yet rewarding experience taking a pre-calculus class at UP. He shared with the audience how the experience helped him to realize that a four year college would be part of his future plans, and now sees a pathway for making it happen. In his own words, he described the “many doors that have been opened” to him as a result of his time spent at Open Meadow.

At the end of the evening, UP students walked away with a sense of the growing partnership Open Meadow has developed with the University, as well as a number of ways to get involved. We extend our gratitude to the committed group of students who put forth their efforts at this busy time of year to help coordinate this event.

Earlier this month The Oregonian reported on Charity Navigator’s rankings of local organizations in Portland. A website designed to help consumers assess the infrastrucutural/management elements of nonprofits, Charity Navigator rates the nation’s 5,500 or so largest charities from one to four stars. They recently rated Open Meadow with four-stars—their highest ranking! We appreciate our dedicated staff, whose hard work and daily efforts helped to make this rating happen.

Betties360 and Open Meadow are partnering again for another year of action and fun-filled, adventure challenges. Last month, the SnowBetties! went on their annual snowshoeing trek up on Mount Hood. This adventure allowed our students to learn back-country safety techniques and map / compass skills, while participating in team-building and goal-setting exercises. The mission of Betties360 is to inspire well-being in girls and women through action sports and outdoor adventure. Through their participation in the program, a group of young women from Open Meadow High School are encouraged by adult women mentors to be courageous and healthy, and to always believe in themselves.

The US Department of Education is hosting the National Youth Summit in Washington, DC on February 26. It’ll bring young people from across the country together with adult leaders for an authentic exchange of ideas on education reform and what students need to finish high school ready to attend – and complete– college or training. 

While most of us are not traveling to Washington to participate, there is still a strong opportunity to participate:

The Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, has agreed to answer the top questions chosen by you on SparkAction.org.

WHAT: Visit http://sparkaction.org/summit and suggest questions that you want Secretary Duncan to answer. Check out what other young people have suggested and then use your five (5) votes to choose your favorites – you can choose your own or others posted by the SparkAction community.

WHEN: Starting Wednesday, February 9.

But hurry! Voting closes on February 18th. Don’t miss a chance to have your voice included.  For more details and full instructions, visit http://sparkaction.org/summit

Governor Kitzhaber is honoring Feb. 3rd as Private Schools Appreciation Day. As a staunch supporter of public education, Open Meadow is proud to be recognized as an independent, private school that serves students who do not fit best in the public system. Although we’re a private school, almost 75% of our students are kids in poverty—and none pay tuition. None. Not even those attending college, which is well-over 75% of our graduating class.

As a small, flexible, private school, we’re deeply appreciative of our ability to individualize the learning experience and cultivate strong, effective partnerships that allow students to connect to post-secondary success in a way that they had not imagined. We’ve got ten of our high school students attending classes at the University of Portland this semester, learning not just what it means to go to college, but what life looks like at a four-year, private University. And, individual donors who provide scholarship support help to make the financial picture a reality. THANK YOU!

The University of Portland is convening a group of educators and community supporters from across the North Portland Peninsula to examine how we can expand on these successes and assure that ALL STUDENTS on the Peninsula get connected to post-secondary education. We’re proud of our student success at Open Meadow and look forward to deepening our work with the University of Portland and Portland Public Schools so that every child across the Peninsula can experience success in post-secondary.

On February 3rd, let’s put our hands together for private schools working aggressively to strengthen public education for ALL STUDENTS!

Sincerely,

Andrew Mason
Executive Director, Open Meadow

Last week Open Meadow High School hosted a group from Portland Business Alliance’s Leadership Portland program. Portland’s next generation of business leaders were given a tour and heard first hand what goes into running our school. Curious about the role of school leadership, they asked questions about what makes our school unique and the challenges that we face as an independent nonprofit. The cohort also inquired about student achievement goals, and wanted to learn more about the qualities of effective teachers. The visit to Open Meadow was one stop in their day long agenda, which included opportunities to further their understanding of the educational system and the needs of students. We hope that our future leaders helped educate these future leaders!

On Thursday, January 13, Writers in the Schools (WITS), a program of Literary Arts, will be celebrating the release of their latest student anthology entitled Take My Hand I Want to Show You Something. The reading at Powell’s City of Books will begin at 7:30pm, and is free and open to the public. The event will showcase the work of talented young writers from Portland Public schools and Open Meadow. Our very own Bronson Enos will be a featured reader! We are so proud of Bronson and all the attention he has received for his recent writing and collaboration with Literary Arts.

The Writers in the Schools program has partnered with Open Meadow for many years, providing semester-long writing residencies taught by local professional authors. WITS also provides students with mentoring, publishing opportunities, tickets to Portland Arts & Lectures events, and visits with touring authors. Examples of student work and updates on the WITS Program, as well as other scheduled readings, can be found online at the WITS blog, witspdx.com.