Foreign Language Academic Alliance for International Rapport
An Academic Alliance of Georgia and South Carolina
Vol. 30, No. 4 (May 2015) Editor: Jana Sandarg
Department of English and Foreign Languages Georgia Regents University
Congratulations
2015 FLAIR Student of the Year Henry Burns
Augusta Preparatory Day School
2015 FLAIR Teacher of the Year Sonia Puerta-Quinn
Episcopal Day School
s
2015 FLAIR Outstanding Students of the Year Faith V. Lyons, German, Academy of Richmond County
Stephanie Munie, French, Aquinas High School Edward T. Frails, Spanish, A.R. Johnson Health Science &
Engineering Magnet School Sophie Pollock, Spanish, Augusta Christian Day School
Henry Burns, Latin & Spanish, Augusta Preparatory Day School Stanley Beck, French, Butler High School
Jarret A. Hutchens, Spanish, Cross Creek High School Christopher Carter Page, Latin, CSRA HEA
Khadesia Dexter, Spanish, Davidson Fine Arts Emily Ruth Hill, Spanish, Edmund Burke Academy Aleia Trunnell Ringel, Spanish, Evans High School
Sara Tyrell, Spanish, Fox Creek High School James Robert Clay, Spanish, Greenbrier High School
Jacob Totaro, Spanish, Grovetown High School Brittany Roberts, Spanish, Harlem High School Faith Wesby, Spanish, Hephzibah High School
Kendall Clay, Spanish, Lakeside High School Serica Weaver, Spanish, Lucy C. Laney High School
Brooke Tipton, Spanish, North Augusta High School Shania Butler, Spanish, T.W. Josey High School
Nykierra A. Reynolds, Spanish, Washington County High School Erica McClean, Spanish, Westside High School
FLAIR Honor Society Induction
March 2 and 3, 2015 For the third year, FLAIR held two honor society inductions because we have outgrown the theater, which seats about 750 folks. Richmond County public schools, private schools and North Augusta High School attended on March 3rd. All other schools attended on March 2nd. Below are some highlights from both events.
Left: North Augusta High School ROTC Above: Yung Jun Oh & Kristen Surrao, Lakeside High School Right: Kendall Clay and Lina Gu, Lakeside High School
Left: Washington County High School students
sing a song in Spanish. L-R: Richard Jenkins, Justin
Sanner, Aakiyah Harlemon, Lar'kara Betha,
Jameisha Porter, and Benzell Holmes
Below: The Evans High School Step Team perform
to a Latin beat. Directed by Di Johnson.
Below: The Panamanian dance
group, “Venimos de Panama,”
performs under the direction of
Ricardo Rodriguez
Poetry recitation in French by
Aquinas High School students:
Elizabeth Stevenson (left) and
Stephanie Hayes (right).
Butler High School French students sing “Frere Jacques” under the direction of Michael Harris (right).
At left, a student plays the
keyboard while Mercedes
Morales (above) sings. Both
are from Hephzibah High
School.
At right, Ana Rivera from
Colombia recites poetry.
At left, Alysha
Worden and
Elena Ramage
from Aquinas
High School
recite poetry in
French.
Stephanie
Munie (left)
from Aquinas
High School
recites a poem
in French.
FLAIR Black History
Month Presentation
On February 19, 2015, Julio Avila (North Au-
gusta High School) gave a talk on “Antonio
Machín and the Cuban Golden Era,” which was
part of the Black History Month at Georgia Re-
gents University. Over thirty attendees enjoyed
the lecture and lively music from an animated
and knowledgeable speaker. A singer devoted to
music, Julio also lectures on Renaissance music.
Julio Avila, North Augusta High School
Culinary Arts Class
For the second year in a row, we held a Culinary Arts class, “International Cuisine: Cook and Eat,” for FLAIR honor society members on March 19th. Our host and head chef was Craig Oglesby (Richmond County Technical Career Magnet School). Other teachers who taught the cooking class were Julio Avila (North Augusta High School), Sonia Puerta Quinn (Episcopal Day School), Leslie Dawson (Evans High School), Christy Presgrove (Greenbrier High School), Michael Harris (Butler High School) and Susan Philllips (A. R. Johnson). Edwin Pérez (FLAIR Treasurer) was an invited chef and Jana Sandarg (Georgia Regents University) was the official taster. A big thank you to all the students and teachers who attended! Below are photos of students, teachers and chefs enjoying the class.
At left, Leslie Dawson smiles
as her students help make
dessert. At right, Michael
Harris cooks up onion soup.
Below left is Susan Phillips
helping to prepare the onion
soup. At bottom right, Jana
Sandarg tastes the stew made
by Julio Avila. Yum!
Craig Oglesby (left) & Edwin Perez (right) pose with a student.
Sonia Puerta-Quinn (left) helps students chop vegetables
for the stew.
Christy Presgrove (left) & her husband, Brian (in red) show students how
to make tortilla española.
Julio Avila chops vegetables for a stew.
Edwin Pérez (center)
shows students how to
fill the empanadas with
spicy meat. This was a
favorite dish—not a
single empanada was
left!
Congratulations to
Krista Himes Spanish teacher at Davidson Fine Arts Magnet School, who was awarded a SCOLT Study Abroad Scholarship for 2015. She won the Cemanahuac Educational Community Scholarship and will study in Cuernavaca, Mexico, this summer.
Congratulations to
Yelitza Maura
Georgia Regents University
2015 AATSP-Georgia University Student of the Year
Yelitza was also the recipient of a national service award: Her hundreds of hours earned her the
2014 President’s Volunteer Service Award
which included a bronze medal, a certificate called
“Points of Light” for national and community service, and
a congratulatory letter from President Barack Obama.
FLAIR TEACHER GRANTS are available to active FLAIR members who are presenting at a conference, working on a special project, or other similar items. Up to five $100 teacher grants will be awarded per year, if
funding is available, to active FLAIR teachers. Teachers may receive the grant only once. To apply, e-mail Terry Meredith at [email protected] No deadline.
FLAIR wants you! We need steering committee members. Please contact Terry Meredith
([email protected]) or Jana Sandarg ([email protected]) if you wish to be added to the steering
committee email list. Everyone is invited to attend the meetings.
Certificates of Merit for Middle Schoolers For the ninth year, FLAIR offered Certificates of Merit to middle school students who have maintained an A average for a year and a half of foreign language study. We hope they will join the FLAIR Honor Society when they reach high school.
2015
Jul 17-20 AATSP Conference, Denver, CO Aug 29 FLAIR Conference, Georgia Regents University Sept 12 AATSP-GA Conference, Atlanta Oct 9-11 Hispanic Festival, the Commons, Augusta Nov 20-22 ACTFL Conference, San Diego, CA
2016 Feb 18-20 SCOLT Conference, Charlotte, NC 29 FLAIR Honor Society Induction, GRU Mar 1 FLAIR Honor Society Induction, GRU 4-5 FLAG Conference, Augusta, GA Nov 18-20 ACTFL Conference, Boston, MA
2017 Mar 16-18 SCOLT Conference, Orlando, FL Nov 17-19 ACTFL Conference, Nashville, TN
Please email items for the calendar to the editor: [email protected]
$250 Student Study
Abroad Award
Students who are members of the FLAIR
Foreign Language Honor Society are eligi-
ble to receive a $25 award for partici-
pating in a study abroad program. Only
one award will be given per year. Stu-
dents must participate in an organized
program and the funds will be disbursed
after receiving official documentation of
completion of the program. Contact:
Terry Meredith at
$250 Teacher Study
Abroad Award
Teachers who are active members of FLAIR
are eligible to receive a $250 award for par-
ticipating in a study abroad program. Only
one award will be given per year. Teachers
must participate in an organized program
and the funds will be disbursed after receiv-
ing official documentation of completion of
the program. Contact:
Terry Meredith at
In the News Episcopal Day School, Augusta, GA
International Trips
by Charlotte Jewette Last year EDS inaugurated international summer trips by sending thirteen students in 5th-8th grades along with 3 faculty members to Costa Rica with Chill Expeditions. The trip more than met our ex-pectations. Zip-lining, white-water rafting, caving, and visiting an organic farm were a few of the action packed activities. Students also took an extended jungle walk, on which an expert guide pointed out plants and animals that provide medicines and other items helpful to mankind. Students became im-mersed in the culture by attending a church service, shopping in a small town and doing community ser-vice at a small parent-funded school. Students and faculty alike were thrilled with the experience and so this year 14 students and 2 fac-ulty members will take off for Belize. This trip will include cave tubing, going on an archeological dig at a
Mayan ruin as well as a visit to the oldest Mayan ruin. There will again be community service in a local school. We believe the cross-cultural experience is invaluable for these students, and will pay dividends many years in the future.
National Spanish Exam Results by Charlotte Jewette
This year more than 157,000 students took the National Spanish Exam. Episcopal Day School had 38 students in the eighth grade who took the Level 1 Exam. A total of sixteen of these students were rec-ognized for their scores nationally. The six students who received Honorable Mention were Kate Lee, Glen Owen, McNeill Franklin, Thomas Lee, and Imani Bowen. Bronze medals were earned by Katie Grant, Maggie Pennington, Drew Moses, Shelton Swint, Madeleine Baker, Jack Monnig and Salley Wilson. Students scoring better than 85% of those taking the test earned a Silver Medal. These students were William Smith, Daniel Nesbit and Nicole Alleyene. Kevin Buscemi of the National Office says that stu-dents are to be commended for such an achievement.
Happy Retirement by Sonia Puerta-Quinn
EDS is sad to say goodbye to Señora Charlotte Jewett, but wishes her Happy Retirement and thanks her for all the years of great teaching!
Send us your news so we can showcase foreign languages in the CSRA.
Señorita Latina Contest If you have students who might be interested in participating in the Señorita Latina Contest sponsored by
the Asociación Cultural Hispanoamericana (ACHA), please consult the webpage for more information:
www.elcervantino.org
Minutes of the FLAIR Steering Committee Tuesday, April 28, 2015
The FLAIR steering committee met at 5:00 pm on Tuesday, April 28, 2015, at Mi Rancho Mexican Restaurant on Washington Road. The following members were present: Julio Ávila, Rob Bledsoe, Leslie Dawson, Michael Dock-ery, Marisol García-Mitchell, Michael Harris, Rebecca Humphries, Di Johnson, Pam Light, Nicole Meyer, Sonia Puerta-Quinn, and Jana Sandarg. Jana prepared the agenda and Di volunteered to lead the meeting. Announcements:
*We welcomed Rebecca Humphries and Marisol García-Mitchell to the FLAIR steering committee. *We recognized the faculty we knew who were retiring, such as Sandra Moore. We will try to arrange an evening of margaritas with Sandra since she has spent so many years working for FLAIR on our steering committee. *Jana announced that we need faculty to translate fairy tales into Spanish and record them. Sonia is already working on this project. Interested faculty should contact Wally Evans at GRU by the end of May. His email is [email protected] Proposal approved by email: *Steering committee members voted to pay $500 to Victoria Vox, who will perform at GRU in the fall. Nicole is making the arrangements. All votes in favor; none opposed. *We voted by email to give Craig Oglesby a $50 certificate for hosting the culinary arts class. Newsletter Send information and photos to Jana Sandarg at [email protected] Treasurer’s Report Edwin was not present, but sent his report by email. We have a balance of $1,202.17 in the bank. It was moved and seconded to accept the treasurer’s report. The motion carried. Black History Month Talk About 30 folks attended the talk given at GRU by Julio Avila. Jana will send him a certificate of thanks. Honor Society Induction We agreed that next year we will put more schools with Richmond County public schools to balance out the number of students at each ceremony. Jana will send thank-you notes to the commander of the ROTC unit who did the flag ceremony. No dates yet for next year. Culinary Arts Class We had about 20 students attend, cook and eat! Jana will send thank-you notes to Craig Oglesby for hosting the event. We also thanked FLAIR steering committee members Sonia Puerta-Quinn and Edwin Pérez for cooking, also. It was moved and seconded that we give Craig Oglesby an additional gift certificate for $50 for hosting our event and preparing food. The motion carried. It was moved and seconded that every year, we will give Craig Oglesby a gift certificate for $100. The motion carried. Victoria Vox Event The student field trip to GRU to see Victoria Vox will probably be Friday, September 25th, with a concert on Thursday, September 24th for the public. Nicole is working on the dates and will make arrangements for rooms at eh JSAC for Friday morning. The Friday morning concert for the students would be at 10:30 am, followed by a spelling bee from 11:30—12:30. Teachers will have to register prior to the event so we can confirm numbers. 2015 Fall conference
Di has checked with two presenters from SCOLT (Kristy Britt from Alabama and Stacey Powell from Auburn) to see if they would give a three-hour workshop for our fall conference. We will host it at GRU and Jana will find rooms. The tentative date is Saturday, August 29, from 9:00 am until noon. The conference title is “Mobile Apps to Foster Learner Engagement.” Jana will arrange for internet access and passwords. It was moved and seconded to offer the two speakers expenses of $900 (mileage, food, hotel) and $150 honorarium for each, for a total of $1200. The motion carried. Everyone thanked Di for contacting the speakers. We will have pre-registration because the room we expect to use will not hold more than 70 participants. We will have coffee and pastries at 8:30 am. Next meeting
We will meet on Tuesday, September 8th at 5:00 pm at Mi Rancho on Washington Road. Submitted by: Jana Sandarg
