KCA Newspaper; An EL Project Spring Edition, 2011

Welcome to the new front office! The old office was a

dark and gloomy room that had no eye appeal. The KCA’s sec-

retary/registrar, Sheri Thomas, was stuck behind a barricaded

desk that made her feel separated from the faculty, students and

parents. Luckily, the Green Team audit found out that the of-

fice was the place that met all the criteria (repair, safety, envi-

ronment and aesthetics) for new renovations. So the group took

the idea to the board and they approved it!

The first thing Kathy, Buster and other volunteers did

was take out all of the furniture and Buster took up the carpet.

They soon found out that the asbestos tile had to be taken up,

so Bing tried to pull it up, but couldn’t because of health risks.

A local company was hired to properly take up and dispose of

the tiles, according to the health standard requirements. After

pulling up the tile, they tried to stain the concrete, but couldn’t

remove the glue from the concrete.

Coming to the rescue, Kevin Cummings gave a big discount for the school on floor

tile for the office. The color scheme was chosen by Kendall Kerr, Sheri Thomas, and Erin

Stein. Luke Davis gave us a significant discount on the paint. The office was given “in

kind” (not money) donations to improve the office furniture. The Midwest Counseling Center

donated reception furniture for the office, library and conference room. KCA was able to fund

the majority of the upgrade because of a generous grant from The Oppenstein Brothers Foun-

dation. The grant was awarded to the school to help with safety and overall wellness enhance-

ments to the building. “The cool thing is that the whole process started because of health is-

sues, but we were able to redo the whole office,” Sheri stated, “the process wasn’t fun, but it

was worth it. I feel I am more efficient in my workspace. At first, it felt like I was sealed off

from the faculty. Now I feel like I’m apart of the school and it feels more comfortable to have

more openness.” The office is cleaner and most

importantly, it’s healthier. Both employees and

students will

have years of

visual enjoy-

ment.

-

Victoria Lee

Something Old, Something New and

Something Borrowed…

Here we see Sheri working in the new front

office. Enjoying the change of atmosphere.

(Above) Below we have pictures from the

Trip to New York City. See page 2 for the

whole story.

KCA students took a bite out of

“The Big Apple”. The purpose was to go to

the United Nations and participate as dele-

gates to the Commission on the Status of

Women and Girls (CSW). The United Na-

tions is an international organization that

“aims to facilitate cooperation in interna-

tional law, international security, economic

development, social progress, human

rights, and achieving world peace.” The

headquarters is located in New York City,

and currently has 192 member states and is

considered international territory. The

United Nations has had considerable suc-

cess in the social arena, fostering human

rights, economic development, de-

colonization, health, assisting refugees and

ensuring fair trade. There may always be

international problems, but they would be

magnified and multiplied if it weren’t for

this international body.

When we first arrived at the La-

Guardia Airport, the cigarette smoke filled

air. We took a cab to our new home for the

week and headed off to meet Sally Dunne,

other Loretto members, and other girls who

were going to The United Nations events.

The next morning we went to Pace Univer-

sity, from 9 am to 5 pm, for a conference

put on by the Working Group on Girls, a

U.N NGO (non-government organization),

to hear about the history and background

of The United Nations. The program had

broken the meeting up into sessions about

Stem (Science, Technology, Engineering

and Math), and Education in the morning

and Family1, Family2 or Family3, School,

and Community. In the afternoon, I at-

tended an education session to learn about

some girls home problems that will affect

them in school. In the afternoon, I attended

Family2 the session was about trying to

answer questions about why some parents

abuse their children. After the two ses-

sions, we went back to the meeting room

where we heard speakers talk about how

women are treated in their countries. When

the conference was over, we walked to

China Town. Around 11 pm, Barclay,

Irene, Amanda, and I didn’t want to sit at

the hotel so we decided to walk to Time

Square. It was very beautiful and we

stayed out until 2 am. The best thing that

we ate that night was a Middle Eastern cui-

sine called Falafel from a food stand out-

side of Radio City.

On Monday, Kathy, Barclay,

Irene, Amanda, Daniel, John, and I went to

the United Nations to get our ID badges. It

was a quick and easy process that I really

enjoyed. The rest of the day was basically

a free day. Everyone wanted to go shop-

ping, but then we remembered that the stu-

dents that have Kory’s class had to go to

the Tenement museum and learn about it.

We took the train to Broadway and went to

The Converse store first. Our group was

split into two groups; the Piecing it To-

gether group and the Moore’s group. I was

in the Piecing it Together group and it was

about the Levine family's garment work-

shop and the Rogarshevskys' Sabbath table

at the turn of the 20th century, when the

Lower East Side was the most densely

populated place in the world. The tour

showed how the immigrants balanced

work, family and religion at a time of great

change. But when they came here it wasn’t

as easy as they had planned. When the tour

was over, it was dark and we didn’t want

to go shopping again, so Daniel’s Aunt

Stephanie joined us for dinner. She was

really fun and showed us where all of the

hot spots were to get good food. Stephanie

took us to an ice cream place called Seren-

dipity. I believe they have the best ice

cream in the world. We all went to explore

some stores in the city.

Tuesday morning we met with

Sally Dunne and other Loretto members

and co-members. Sally had invited a girl

from Iraq named Sara to talk to us about

herself and how her life was in Iraq. Sara

told us that she wanted to become a dentist,

but couldn’t afford to go because her father

had to pay for her brothers’ chemotherapy.

Although she was already finished with

school in Iraq, they put her back in high

school. She’s been fighting to get to a

school offered by the U.N, even though her

country doesn’t approve of it and then she

is not welcomed in her country. She is very

happy to be in America and to be able to

go to college. Next, we went to a session of

our choice, which was Tzu Chi, an organi-

zation that helps other organizations in

other countries. The speakers were very

passionate about their work. Tzu Chi pro-

vided us with sushi, rice cakes and other

Chinese delicacies; they also gave us water

containers so we could keep the earth clean

and not use water bottles that we only use

once and throw them away. We took off on

our lunch break to a tiny place near the U.

N. we ate lunch in a little café where we

discussed the program. On our way back,

we stopped by UNICEF where Barclay and

his friends go to help kids in school stay

clean and healthy. If you bought something

there, it would benefit a child in another

country. We returned to the U.N for a

meeting about women in poverty in Thai-

land. Barclay had an idea that we could

spell out “Thank You” in Times Square

using our bodies. We capped our night

with falafels and hanging out in the hotel

hall.

Wednesday we went to a meeting

with Sharon Kotak, a Loretto alumni, Mi-

lan Veneer, Ambassador General to the

United States Mission and Peggy Kerry.

They were there to give us more informa-

tion on the U.N and how the stereotypes of

women have changed. After that, we then

took off on our little break for food and

drinks at Goodburger. Our group then gave

Barclay his gift for coming on the trip with

us. He was very thankful and glad to have

taken this trip. We went back to the U.N to

go to our last session that was a “Boy to

Girl Dialog” for kids who were 18 and

younger. They talked about how women

and men are portrayed in the media. That

night, Barclays’ friend, Chel, took us to a

Thai restaurant in Queens called Tuk Tuk.

She showed us around Queens and gave us

a background of the buildings and sights.

Our group then took the train to the Staten

Island Ferry to go see The Statue of Lib-

erty. We went back to Times Square and

did our last souvenir shopping. Now we

were left to try to fit everything we bought

into our bags for the return to home.

Thursday morning, we had to

hurry and get out of the hotel, so we could

make the plane. We didn’t want to leave

and it was really sad. While we were wait-

ing to board the plane, Barclay came up

with this great idea to have an individual

award ceremony. Kathy gave Amanda the

Perseverance award, Barclay gave John the

Courage to be in a New Group award,

Amanda gave Daniel the Best Little

Brother Award, Irene gave Kathy the Most

Organized Person award, I gave Barclay

the Best Person/Tour Guide/Travel Person

award, Daniel gave me the Best and High-

est Self-Esteem award and John gave Irene

the Best Comedian award.

All in all, the trip was a success.

Everyone learned something different. I

have a different mind set on how women

are treated and how some women are being

forced to be submissive. So now, I am go-

ing to try to help change the stereotypical

mindsets of women and men.

- By: Victoria Lee

New York, New York…

Just about

every single

person at KCA

has at some

point in time

or another run

across some

technological

problem. Per-

haps the Inter-

net wasn’t working for your computer or

every single printer refuses to print that

assignment you should have turned in fif-

teen minutes ago. Who do you run looking

for to save your hide? Bing of course! I

asked Bing a few questions so that the stu-

dents that rely on his skills might get to

know a thing or two about the wisecrack-

ing technology guru.

Q: What do you do here at KCA?

A: Tech support, a little teaching, and a

little humor. Try to bring in some sunshine

on rainy days

Q: How long have you been here?

A: It’s my third year.

Q: How did you end up at KCA?

A: Kathy Baldwin-Heitman. A mutual

friend got us in contact with each other.

Q: What is it that you like about the com-

munity of KCA?

A: I really like the diversity of the people

here. I like that by on any given day,

there’s no way of telling WHAT’S going

to happen (laughs)

Q: What is it about EL that you like?

A: I like the idea of wrapping context

around learning. Trying to do that, at least,

is not easy.

Between his jolly attitude, his vast

knowledge of computers, and his philoso-

phy on learning; it’s safe to say that Bing

fits in perfectly with the KCA community.

Whether he’s fixing whatever you

screwed up on your computer, cracking a

joke, or just kickin’ it old school, Bing will

always find some way to add a little flair to

your day.

-By Arsalan Ansari

board, although at the meetings he doesn’t

talk much. He chose KCA because his

mom knew Cobe, and Cobe recommended

this. Mr. Springer had been to big tradi-

tional schools and didn’t like it, so KCA

was his best choice. He loves KCA, “this

school is a great place!” he said. When

asked about E.L., he said it was great, al-

though it was quite obvious that he hadn’t

a clue what E.L. is. He is a teacher’s assis-

tant for Anne, when asked why he chose

this instead of community service, he said,

“Anne tricked me!” He also said that she

used dark magic to convince him. His in-

terests include video games and hunting.

His favorite games include “Black Ops”

and “Battle Field Bad Company Two” and

his preferred system is the XBox 360. He

hasn’t gone hunting yet, but he wants to try

it. He says, “it looks fun.” So, there you

have it. So ends the story of Mister

Springer, the new student from a far away

land.

-By Robbie Adelman, with assistance

from Arsalan Ansari

Bing: Part Machine or Just

Really Tech Savvy?

Meaningful Math

At one point or another, the vast majority

of students at KCA have had a math class

taught by Karen. We all know her as our

extremely kind math teacher that makes

math interesting and relevant. Karen is a

one of a kind math teacher that genuinely

cares about her students and wants them to

excel at math and actually learn the subject

matter. Karen Medhi started teaching at

KCA in the fall of ’07, while her son was

going here. Before becoming our math

teacher, Karen was a substitute teacher.

She decided to teach at KCA because her

son went to school here and this school

was important to his learning and develop-

ment. Karen likes to teach because she

knows “a lot of kids come to school with

baggage around math.” She went on to say

that her dream is “to help kids see math in

a better way.”

-By Robbie Adelman

(Above) Here is Bing en-

joying lunch at the 80

That out of state new kid from

Cincinnati

If you have ever been to KCA this year,

you have probably seen Cameron Spinger

with his jolly, semi-creepy smile. Cameron

is a new student here. He is also on the

(above) Karen, at the 80 acres trip.

(Bellow) Cameron Springer at KCA’s

yearly one homeless night, hiding in a box.

Kansas City Academy- Waldo's

Best

Congratulations to Kansas

City Academy for being selected by

the Waldo Area Business Associa-

tion Property Committee for the

September Waldo's Best Award!

Through the years, KCA has col-

laborated and partnered with many

local organizations including volun-

teering at Hope Care Center, dis-

playing art at Waldo Pizza, cleaning

up the Trolley Trail, sharing space

for community meetings, and sup-

porting area families with fresh pro-

duce from their collaboration with

KC Community Gardens. This past

year, the KCA community worked

to convert an unusable space that

was causing drainage and damage

to the building into what is now an

outdoor classroom called "The

Grove." Congratulations to Kansas

City Academy for beautifying the

community and for being one of

Waldo's best!

-Alex Vogt

At KCA we have great teachers.

But one of the best happens to be

Anne.

Anne is the Science and Computer

teacher here at KCA. Anne was

born in St.Louis, Missouri, but

moved to Kansas City later in her

life. Anne's favorite place is The

Rocky Mountains. Anne’s history

with KCA is very long; she actually

co-founded KCA, in the fall of

1984. "The school used to be lo-

cated on Armour and Kenwood

Which was moved in 1999, moving

the school made things easier for

me personally because of leg prob-

lems and better for the school be-

cause they needed more space" said

Anne. "My motivation to keep

teaching the best that I can is my

strong faith in God," Anne contin-

ued. Anne said that the "EL fit into

her teaching syllabus just fine. “It’s

actually helped my students a lot.

By using EL methods and making

use of the learning targets, students

get the point, I also thinks the pro-

gram increased teaching and learn-

ing." Anne will always be known as

the best science teacher, one that

can't be replaced. Anne is the

Woman.

-By: Robert Young

Kory Gallagher is not your typical history

teacher. If you go to KCA, you have

probably heard one of his dry, sarcastic,

“witty” remarks. Kory started teaching at

KCA last year and he teaches three classes;

government/economics, American history,

and ancient civilizations. The reason why

Kory teaches is because he likes introduc-

ing new and foreign ideas to the young,

empty minds of students. He chose KCA

because he likes the academic freedom,

and he heard about the job opening from

the previous teacher. He also teaches

American history at UMKC, where he is

also working on two masters degrees in

history and public administration. His hob-

bies involve hockey and losing on Xbox

Live to cocky little twelve year old kids.

His favorite quote is “It is not the critic

who counts; not the man who points out

how the strong man stumbles, or where the

doer of deeds could have done them better.

The credit belongs to the man who is actu-

ally in the arena, whose face is marred by

dust and sweat and blood; who strives val-

iantly; who errs, and comes short again and

again, because there is no effort without

error and shortcoming; but who does actu-

ally strive to do the deeds; who knows the

great enthusiasms, the great devotions;

who spends himself in a worthy cause;

who at the best knows in the end the tri-

umph of high achievement, and who at the

worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring

greatly, so that his place shall never be

with those cold and timid souls who know

neither victory nor defeat.” -Theodore

Roosevelt.

-By Robbie Adelman

If you go to KCA you have proba-

bly seen Sydney Steehn’s brightly

colored hair. Sydney came to KCA

her freshman year, and is currently

a senior. She had been un-schooling

(un-schooling is a method of teach-

ing, in which you learn concepts

and principles for life by doing

daily activities that are truly rele-

vant to every day life, such as going

to the store for example. In short,

it’s kind of a EL version of home

schooling, per se) for a year and a

half and realized she couldn’t read-

just to traditional schooling so she

came to KCA. She likes KCA and

E.L. because “you learn, but with-

out the pressure, and it is hands on”.

Her hobby is roller derby and her

favorite team is the Black Eyed

Susans. She likes roller derby be-

cause she enjoys skating, and when

she goes to watch it “good times are

had by all.” Her plans for the future

are to go to UMKC for a degree in

business administration with focus

on entrepreneurship. As much of a

go-getter as Sydney is, she shall

surely succeed and excel with her

dream!

-By Robbie Adelman

Anne's The Woman

Anne Goldkamp, pictured above teaching her Microsoft Office class, Kory Gallagher kickin’ it in his history

class, and Sidney Steehn “studying”.

History Rocks! Most Likely To Live Under An

Overpass