The Great Pumpkin and New People

Well this is Emi again, and here in South Texas a flurry of things have been going on… mostly grant writing! With the excitement of finally being notified that we received the ENCORE grant, we set to work writing and rewriting a grant for RIF… Until the middle of November we’ll just kind of be sweating it out and hoping that our writing prowess was at its best.
On the 30th my daughter (pictured above) participated in the Literary Parade at school where they dressed as a book character and then had a parade in the halls all morning. She did such a good job that as a reward for both our efforts (I sewed her costume until 3 am) our family went to the Festival of the Great Pumpkin at the University of Texas Pan American. We had a really good time and I was able to buy some wares being sold by the Golden Key Honour Society which I belong to.
Between the writing, rewriting, and final rewrites and visiting the great pumpkin we transformed maybes into yes and I can now proudly say that Tony Forina who is a board member for South Texas Academic Rising Scholars and Heather Margain from The Shell Corporation is on our Advisory Board! These are two great people who have a history of giving back to the community and Liz and I are both excited and eager to see the great work we will be able to accomplish with them on board!

Lights, Camera, Action

Quiet on the set… And Action. Several Dallas HIPPY families were recently featured in a promotional video for the Every Child Ready to Read @ Dallas Program. The event, sponsored by the Dallas Public Library and Big Thought /Thriving Minds, featured an interactive workshop for HIPPY parents and storytime for the HIPPY kids.

As part of the Ready to Read @ Dallas program, enthusiastic library staff and trained facilitators provide free, fun early literacy workshops in neighborhood locations such as libraries, recreation centers, schools, day care centers, churches and nonprofit agencies. Parents, caregivers and childcare providers attend these free workshops focusing on three age levels: Early Talkers (birth to age 2), Talkers (ages 2 and 3) and Pre-Readers (ages 4 and 5). The Dallas program is unique from other national programs in that it places an emphasis on arts education as well. Please visit http://dallaslibrary.org/ecrr/index.php for more info on the Ready to Read @ Dallas Program and be sure to our Texas HIPPY website www.unt.edu/hippy where a link to the promotional video may be posted soon. Cut. That’s a wrap.