AustinTalks (http://austintalks.org/tag/may-community-academy/)
Dance and engineering classes are starting at the building the used to house May Community Academy before it closed in June. But the popular drumline isn’t continuing because of lack of funds.
The YMCA and other service providers offer after-school, summer and weekend programs for students, parents and community members at May.
Friendship Baptist Church was nearly filled to its 900-person capacity Thursday night for Chicago Public Schools’ school closures meeting in the Austin-North Lawndale Network.
The seventh and eighth-graders teamed up with Columbia College Chicago to produce music, videos, stories and poetry to express their feelings about violence on the West Side.
Hear 12-year-old Austin resident Travis Feazell play and learn more about the program that starts today.
Move N’ Crunch, operated by Westside Health Authority and funded by BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois, will continue at several Austin sites over the next school year.
Students from May Community Academy are leaving their musical mark. The school is one of six across the city involved in the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic’s jazz alive program.
Sherron Parker, a fifth-grader at May Community Academy, 512 S. Lavergne Ave., was once just a normal kid attending school in her Austin neighborhood and hanging out with her friends. But since winning first place in her age group in a community-wide spelling bee last year, Sherron, 10, is now like a rock star. “Everybody is nicer to me at school,” said Sherron, who won a computer and trophy for correctly spelling the word “cookie.” “When I won I was like, ‘I feel great,’ loud and enthusiastically. I was really happy.”
The buzz is spreading through Austin once again that the 2nd annual Spelling Bee is coming up on April 8, 9 and 10, at the Austin Town Hall, 5610 W. Lake St. Registration packets have gone out to 23 neighborhood schools.