Together in the Divide

TEDxWCMephamHigh is back for its third time! This year's theme: Together in the Divide highlights talks designed to bring us closer in these times of turmoil.

TEDxWCMephamHigh

Here is the lineup:
Session 1
Melanie Sirof - Welcoming Remarks
Nicole Farina - Poet Laureate
Meghan Corless - The Power of Humor During Dark Times
Aidana Matekova - Central Asia: Fighting the Misconceptions
Lori Mayo - Conversations about Race
Rob Schulman - ​Being Limb Kind

Session 2
Lee Rubin - Heat and Pressure
Hafsa Ikram - The Power of Believing in Yourself
Vanessa Cafiero - Feeling Into Healing 
Emma Bhansingh - History, Please Repeat Yourself
Scott Joshua Dere - Take a Stand for Those that Have No Voice

Session 3
David Kuelz - Inventing the Future of Stories
Amritha Jacob - TBD
Jennifer Sapir - Party Like It's 1999
Austin Silano - The Power of Perception
Christine Stevens - TBD

Join us for these sessions and so much more! TEDxWCMephamHigh takes place at Mepham High School on Saturday, March 30, 2019, from 9:00 am - 1:15 pm. Tickets are on sale here and include a swag bag, snacks, and lunch.

The Book Fairies

Collection Bin in the School Library

Through the end of the month, we are collecting books for The Book Fairies, a Long Island-based nonprofit organization that excepts donations of new and gently used books. Book Fairies connects these book donations with libraries, schools & organizations that don’t have the funds. The Mepham Key Club has placed bins in the school library and the English classrooms.

Here are some ideas on what to donate:

• Board books
• Picture books
• Elementary chapter books
• Elementary non-fiction
• Young adult (middle/high school)
• Adult novels
• The Book Fairies DO NOT accept encyclopedias or magazines. 

Since 2012, the number of books donated has exceeded 1.6 million. The Book Fairies are responsible for spreading books and literacy across the metropolitan area. To find out more about this incredible organization and how you can get involved, please click here.

What's in Your Dream Basket?

Mepham High School Library Bulletin Board

In the book Neema's Reason to Smile by Patricia Newman, Neema's basket is full of big dreams like becoming a teacher or inventor. The students that attended last week's author visit had a chance to color in their own dreams. A few of them made it on this bulletin board in the school library. Stop by to check it out!

School Library Display

Donna Rosenblum Visits Mepham

This year Mepham's National English Honor Society hosted Donna Rosenblum, a former librarian and now the supervisor of School Library Services for Nassau BOCES and the Executive Director of Reason2Smile.

Donna Rosenblum speaks to students in the Mepham High School Library

The book that Mrs. Rosenblum came to discuss is Neema's Reason to Smile by Patricia Newman. She did not write the book or illustrate its pictures, but she did provide countless hours of research to the book's author. In fact, it is amazing how much research went into this picture book. While Neema's Reason to Smile is a work of fiction, it is based on the real-life students at Jambo Jipya School who "understand the power of education." Everything that you see and hear in this book came from Mrs. Rosenblum's descriptions. Newman had actually never visited the school before writing the book, but she did have some ideas of what it looked and sounded like because she did visit the country before.

Mrs. Rosenblum spoke to the students about the Jambo Jipya School in the town of Mtwapa, Kenya. She told us about Christine Mwende, the school's madam and how often students of the school do not have enough money for items like uniforms or school supplies. She also told us that many of the families in this part of Kenya do not understand that education can lead to a better life. She talked about the process of showing Patricia all of this information as well in the form of anecdotes, photographs, and videos.

Mrs. Rosenblum delivered a high-energy presentation that truly informed the audience on the many discrepancies in education across the world. She answered questions from the audience and left students with a taste for African culture and society. Stay tuned for a project that has arisen from this visit...

Photo taken with the GoPro HERO6

Read Across America

Join us as we celebrate a nation of diverse readers on Friday, March 1st for Read Across America. Come into your school library and find many of these books that represent an array of experiences and cultures, which are recommended by the National Education Association (NEA). 

From NEA...
NEA’s Read Across America is an annual reading motivation and awareness program that calls for every child in every community to celebrate reading through our theme: Celebrating a Nation of Diverse Readers. Many schools and libraries celebrate with an annual event on March 2, the birthday of children’s author Dr. Seuss, but NEA’s Read Across America also provides NEA members, parents, caregivers, and children the resources and activities they need to keep reading on the calendar 365 days a year.
In our diverse and complex society, students need books that provide both windows and mirrors if we are going to create more readers, writers, and people who feel included and recognized, and who understand that the world is far richer than just their experiences alone.