The Stew Thickens

We have a few big things brewing over here in Carrollton-Farmers Branch in the HIPPY pot. Last week Carla and I met with the Head Start folks at Brookhaven College to discuss implementing the HIPPY curriculum as part of their center-based pre-K set-up. AND we had Amber Brown from UT Arlington on our side, offering to apply for a federal grant to pay for the start-up and implementation. That definitely sweetened the deal! UT Arlington apparently is interested in doing research on the effects of a child completing the HIPPY program with the Head Start program, versus a child completing Head Start alone. We already know what the results will be! We just need the data to prove it ;) They were very interested in moving forward with this initiative, so keep your fingers crossed that we secure the grant!

I've also made some progress through the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Rotary Club. It's kind of a long story how that all came about... so get comfortable :) Since January I've been volunteering at Farmers Branch Elementary through Communities in Schools. The way that works is, once a week I go and have lunch with my Kindergarten "buddy" Martin, and we work on spelling or reading or we play games, really whatever Victoria, the campus manager, plans out for us based on Martin's performance in the classroom. Meanwhile, some time in February, I sent a giant packet of HIPPY info to the Rotary Club, and when I didn't hear back right away I assumed they weren't interested. But then one day when I went to have lunch with Martin, Victoria sat down with me and said, "Hey, another of our volunteers is a Rotarian, Mr. Cross, and he called me to see what I knew about HIPPY! Would you be interested in meeting with him?" Of course I was! So we had a meeting, Mr. Cross and I, and I told him all about the HIPPY program and what it would mean for Carrollton Farmers Branch. He admitted that he had some issues with the program, but invited me to speak to the Rotary Club and make my case for a HIPPY program here. So I did! It went very well, and apparently the idea of supporting our program financially will be brought up at their next board meeting. Exciting!

So that's what I've been doing lately :) What have you been up to?

Me in my little nook, plugging away at Special Care & Career Services! Thanks to Helen for taking this picture :)