Please visit the Middle School at Parkside site to donate online: http://parkside.jpsk12.org/
We are on the right side of the page! A link to this site should be up soon.
Thank you.
Get on Facebook
Go to the Jackson Community Foundation page
Like the page
Click on photos
Click on Love Your Community photos (37 photos)
Find the photo of the library at Parkside
Like the photo and…
Help us put a beautiful mural in the school’s library!
From April 30 – May 11 you can vote for the Community Library Mural request on Facebook by:
1) Liking the Jackson Community Foundation page
2) Like the projects
3) Go to photos
4) Go to Love Your Community Photo Album
5) Vote for Community Library Mural
If we are in the top 10 we will receive up to $500 to create a student/local artist mural for the new…and improved…library at Parkside!!!
Starting Monday, April 30, people can vote for their favorite Jackson Community Foundation Love Your Community Mini-Grant. The 10 projects with the most votes will receive up to $500 to make their project a reality.
The Parkside Media Center Project requested funding for an art mural to be painted by local artists and students, which will be displayed in the new library. This is something that is very important to the idea of making this a community owned space and a way to celebrate the creative process.
So tell everyone you know to follow these steps to vote for the mural:
Go to the Jackson Community Foundation Facebook page (taken down until Monday)
Like the page and like the projects
Go to the photos and then to the Love Your Community photo album
You can vote for as many projects as you wish by liking each project
Spread the word to everyone you know!
Be sure to put Wednesday, May 23 on your calendar! The Parkside Media Center Project will take part in Community Night at In Good Company, a restaurant in Clarklake. Between the hours of 4 p.m. – 9 p.m. our group will receive 15% of sales and we will have an informational table with sketches of our future library!
Stop by, tell your friends, spread the word and help this event be great!
Visit the restaurant’s site at http://igcrestaurant.food.officelive.com/default.aspx
In the fall of 2011 I went to a meeting at my daughter’s middle school in Jackson, Michigan. The meeting was held in the school’s library. Sophie had been a student at the school for a few weeks, but somehow I missed what I was taking in at the meeting…an almost empty library.
The meeting lasted over an hour and most of my time was spent looking around at the nearly empty shelves, space that only had chairs scattered throughout, an outdated card catalog and blank walls. I actually felt like a bad parent for sending my daughter to a school without checking that it had a full and functioning library first, I guess I just assumed it did. My mistake.
I knew I had a couple options: pull Sophie out of a school she already loved or try to do something positive. Since we moved our daughter across the country only the year before, I didn’t think another new school was a good idea, so I was left with option 2. Oy.
Fortunately the principal, William Patterson, also wanted to get the library back up and running, so when I met with him about my concerns he was fully supportive of taking action. That was six months ago and since then something wonderful has happened: people in the community have stepped forward to offer their time, services and yes, money to help bring a functioning and fabulous library to the school. People really care that there is a school without a library. We are on our way to making this happen, but we still have a long road ahead of us.
The reality is that we need a lot of money to make this project successful. We want to renovate the space to include an extensive collection of print and electronic materials, collaboration areas, technology friendly stations, an area for lectures and workshops, an automated circulation point and a refreshment stop for students to refuel. We want to staff the library with a knowledgeable and engaging librarian who can guide our children in utilizing all the resources available to them. We want to build a library that can grow with the changing times and serve its current students as well as future generations. We want to build a space for the community to gather after school hours, a space that we can be proud of, because it shows that we value education.
We need the support of our community. You can help this project by serving on a committee, by donating funds and by spreading the word that we believe a thriving library in every school is imperative to student success and a right of every child in public education.
“Like” our Facebook Page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Parkside-Media-Center-Project/261460013899374 and stay informed of what is happening with this important project! Contact us at parksidemediacenterproject@gmail.com and let us know how you would like to help. Spread the word!
I am seeing this book everywhere! I am taking that as a strong hint to get the book and read it. If you’ve read it, tell us what you think. If you haven’t read it, hop on the bandwagon with me, won’t you?
