Those needing to improve their English language skills are encouraged to register for the Fall 2010 semester at the English as Second Language (ESL) Institute at Austin Peay State University. Registration for the fall semester is from August 9th–25th.

The ESL (ESL) Institute at APSU offers a diversified and intensive program of study in English designed for international students seeking undergraduate admission to APSU or another university. In addition, students from the Clarksville area community who wish to improve their English language skills in order to improve their workplace skills or further their professional careers regularly participate in the program. The ESL program’s intensive English courses are offered through the Center for Extended and Distance Education and are not taken for credit.

Class size is small in order to provide students with more personalized attention and opportunities to improve their learning skills. ESL Institute instructors have taught English in the U.S. and abroad, and all have strong backgrounds in education and extensive experience in teaching English to non-English speakers. Students also have access to University computer labs as well as state-of-the-art SmartBoard technology used by trained instructors in the classroom.

ESL students experience American culture daily in many ways, and the Institute works closely with APSU’s International Education department and the International Student Organization to organize at least one cultural activity trip each semester. Past excursions have included the Nashville Zoo, Country Music Hall of Fame, Graceland in Memphis and several regional destinations that highlight the history of Clarksville and the surrounding area.

The ESL Institute also facilitates a conversation partner program, in which fluent English-speaking APSU students are partnered with ESL students to promote practice of the English language in natural conversation and participation in various campus activities and events.

APSU’s ESL Institute also works with local businesses and individuals to provide tutoring for their employees, customizing a course of study to accommodate work schedules and desired language and life skills. Community resident students may enroll either full time or part time. Students must provide proof of their citizenship or immigration status and a photo I.D.

For more information, visit online at www.apsu.edu/ext-ed/esl or by call the ESL Institute at 931-221-6270.

Lanie Johnson, regional director of external affairs at AT&T, presented the grant during a reception held July 21st at APSU.

(from left) Dr. Patty Orr, assistant professor of nursing and the Lenora C. Reuther Chair of Excellence; Dr. Tristan Denley, provost and vice president of academic affairs; state Sen Tim Barnes, D-Adams; Dr. Chita Farrar, professor of nursing; Lanie Johnson, regional director of external affairs at AT&T; Tim Hall, APSU president; state Rep. Joe Pitts, D-Clarksville; Richard Jackson, vice president of legal and strategic affairs; and Dr. Sherryl Byrd, vice president of student affairs. (Photo by Melony Shemberger, APSU Public Relations and Marketing)

“We have seen some of our students leave the nursing program because of the difficulties they face with trying to go to school and raising a family and other obstacles that they feel force them to quit,” she said. “The minute we recognize that they are having problems, such as a low score on a quiz, that’s when intervention will take place.”

In addition to faculty mentoring, intervention techniques will include tutoring and remediation.

For more information, call the APSU School of Nursing, 931-221-7710.

TECTA presented the grant to the library July 20th.

(From left) Participating in a grant presentation from Austin Peay State University TECTA to the Clarksville-Montgomery County Public Library were Claudia Rodriguez, TECTA coordinator; Dr. Linda A. Sitton, TECTA director; Pam Murphy, public library director; and Jean Nichols, director of the children’s library.

Previously, TECTA awarded $2,000 and $3,000 several years ago. With the most recent grant, the TECTA program at APSU has provided a total of $10,000 in resources to the early childhood community.

TECTA represents the first statewide early childhood training and professional recognition system in the nation administered by higher education to include orientation training through advanced degree programs. The TECTA statewide training system is based upon the belief that early childhood education personnel need professional knowledge and skills to provide appropriate care for young children. The primary goal is improving the quality of early childhood education by providing articulated preparation programs.

For more information about TECTA, call 931-221-7585.

Many Montgomery County School children cannot afford lunch, much less basic school supplies and studies indicate that the average teacher spends between $ 500 and $ 1,000 of his or her own money to buy supplies for their students. Countywide the school budget has been slashed dramatically and there is a great need for student and teacher support.

Help support the “Teachers Warehouse”, providing a unique means to transfer donated, value purchased and created products from businesses and individuals free to teachers for use in school classrooms.

Do you want to help by donating supplies, volunteering to sort supplies or to help staff the teacher’s free store? Contact: Rita Arancibia at Hands on Clarksville 931-551-5450 or e-mail rita. or Candy Johnson at 931-920-7955 or e-mail: candy..

Volunteer Opportunity

Six volunteers are needed to help sort donated school supplies on August 9th, 2010 from 9:00am-12:00noon at the Montgomery County Operations Complex located at 2620 Madison Street Clarksville, TN. Be sure to wear comfortable clothing. Call Rita at 931-551-5450 or Candy at 931-920-7955.

Fort Campbell, KY — Come out to the 4-H and Child, Youth and School Services (CYSS) activity day for military Families living in the Oak Grove, KY community on July 28th. This is a perfect opportunity for military Families who do not come onto post frequently and who are looking for fun new activities, or who are new to the area, or are just running out of things to do as school gets ready to start.

The activities are geared towards school age children or older and will take place from 1:00pm until 4:00pm at the Oak Grove Community Center. Children will have the opportunity to make homemade ice cream, no sew pillows, t-shirt decorating, airplane kits, and dream catchers.

The Oak Grove Community Center is located at 1705 Thompsonville Lane. Reservations are required as space is limited.

For more information about 4-H and CYSS activity day, please call 931-216-8205 or 270-886-6328.

Sales Associates in Crye-Leike, REALTORS Clarsksville/St. Bethlehem office woke up early on Saturday, July 10^th - but their motivation wasn’t to make a sale.

The Realtors inspiration to skip sleeping in that morning was a pancake breakfast fundraiser they planned and organized for United Way.

Crye-Leike Clarksville/St. Bethlehem Branch Managing Broker Kimberly Newlove and her client Lisa Blodgett

Thanks to several Crye-Leike associates including–Phil and Kathy Munden, Kimberly Newlove, Ann Marshbanks, Rita Knight, Aaron Moore, Tootie Louie, BJ Buckler, Jim Phillips, Larry Jackson, Susan Skirvin, Suzan Ping, Jennifer Emery, Glenda Gardner, and Kay Schillo– all the pancakes got served to the breakfast guests and the fundraiser was a huge success.

The CPA covers all facets of the Police Department’s activities from administration to tactical operations. Citizens are given an opportunity to not only learn about Police Department functions, but also afforded a chance to participate in activities such as: police vehicle operations, firearms instruction, self-defense techniques, and use of force decision-making exercises.

The class is free of charge and applications are available online at www.clarksvillepd.org by scrolling down to Citizen Police Academy application and returning it to the address listed on the application or you can stop by Police Headquarters at 135 Commerce street to pick up an application. Applications will be accepted through September 3rd.

If you have any questions, please contact Officer Heather Vanatta at 931-648-0656, ext 2127 or via email at heather..

Chandler received the $700.00 academic award, supported by the Tennessee Lobbyists Association. She graduated with a degree in political science in May 2010.

A member of the 2010 Legislative Intern Class, she served as an intern for District 22 Sen. Tim Barnes, D-Adams, during the most recent Tennessee General Assembly. She will attend law school at the University of Memphis in the fall.

For more information about the scholarship or the Tennessee Legislative Internship Program, call Dr. David Kanervo, professor of political science and sociology at APSU, at 931-221-7581 or e-mail to .

Those receiving five-year service recognition were Leida Alicea, Pamela Allen, Lori Amor, Allen Barger, Denise Berry, Karen Bieck, Lantz Biles, Mark Davidson, Crystal Emmons, Carl Ford, Patricia Fries, Martin Golson, Melissa Gomez, Roxanne Grachanin, Joseph Harvey, Lindsay Jackson, Kirk Kayden, Mayra Lopez Gonzalez, Donna Lucas, Douglas Molnar, Patricia Mulkeen, Scott Parker, Lisa Phelps, Sra Robson, Melody Smith, Jarad Sneed, Charles Struckel, Luana Suiter, Robert Towner, Damaso Vega, Jeffrey Walton, Cherylle Ward and Mike Wilson.

Employees who have been with APSU for 10 years are Daniel Botula, Mary Burkhart, Cody Bush, Charlotte Carlin, Patrice Cheatham, Ivan Colon, Kenneth Copeland, Angela Deppeler, Loretia Duncan, Lisa Hall, Rhonda Johnson, Kenneth Kirk, Marsha Lyle-Gonga, Cecelia Mandrell, Romeo Rosales, Tammy Silva, Carl Sinkler, Linda Sitton, Richard Wolf and Raymond Wright.

Individuals with 15 years of employment are Henry Campbell, Sharon Conner, Darlene Dunbar, Cindy Jackson, John Johnson, Ed Nushardt and Kimberly Scott.

Those recognized for 20 years were Judy Blain, Timothy Hardy, Joan Lindsey, Diane Meyer, Arthur Neal, Beulah Oldham, Sonja Stewart and Kim Traylor.

Employees with 25 years are Donna Johansen, Billy King and Sharon Silva.

Those recognized with 30 years of service were Rita Austin, Ruthie Nolin, Robert Rogers and Norma Jean Smith.

Phyllis Whittaker was honored for her 40 years of service to APSU.

The first thing I would wish for them is that each and every child would have a good breakfast every morning (and adequate food for the entire day, of course!). According to the Child Nutrition Fact Sheet, missing breakfast and experiencing hunger can impair a child’s ability to learn. Quite a number of studies have linked hunger with lessened recall and poor math skills. Regardless of any studies, it just makes common sense that a child who is hungry is not as focused on learning.

Many years ago I taught English in seventh and ninth grades in Chiefland, Florida. During a series of lessons on learning table manners (much needed at the middle school level, sad to say!), I fed a breakfast meal to one of my classes. One of the little boys said, “I’m so glad we get to eat because I’m really hungry. I haven’t had anything to eat all day.” The “breakfast” was being served after 10:30am. It hurt me to know that any child would not have enough food.

Our school system feeds every child who takes TCAP breakfast on those testing days. That in itself is evidence that breakfast is important. For parents who can afford to feed their children in the morning, it is essential that they have something nutritious to eat. For others, free and reduced breakfast and lunch are available. Children must be fed.

Another wish I have for children is that some limit to the number of tests they are given each year is established. As of now, in addition to weekly tests in every academic subject plus physical fitness tests, our students receive frequent standardized testing (like ThinkLink), county-wide assessments in reading and math skills, practice testing for the TCAP Writing Assessment, practice tests for TCAP, the real TCAP Writing Assessment and TCAP tests, etc. Some of these tests last four or five school days.

Our teachers are stretched to the max just to find time to teach the subject matter. Our kids are being tested so frequently that it is amazing that they have time for learning the material they need to know!

What’s the result of our measuring their progress? By the time many students reach fifth grade, I hear them making comments like “Oh, we’re having another test today but I don’t care whether I pass or not.”

For students who struggle, they get the message that they are not hitting the mark so often that they begin to believe they are incapable of learning. That’s a sad state of affairs.

For other students who learn easily and are experts at test taking, they get the idea that they don’t have to work at school. If they are being measured in a system where the lowest grade a student can make is 50 or 60, the more accomplished students think that they know as much as they need to know. When they reach college and get into a class where they have to study hard to pass, they may not have the skills they need—and thus we are having tremendous numbers of scholarship students who either lose their scholarships after the first year or even flunk out of college.

I know that children have to learn how to take tests. Our school systems are more and more based on statistics and “teaching excellence,” but children need to have time to assimilate information also.

Kids are pressured by schools testing them constantly, parents pushing them into sports and other extra curricular activities, and society expecting them to confront sex, drugs and other adult behaviors before they have time to “just be a child.”

What I truly wish for children is that they can experience the joys of childhood while they are children. We can see too many adults in our society who are behaving in child-like ways because they skipped that era of their lives.

Some of the lyrics of an old song called “Inchworm” are “Inchworm, Inchworm, measuring the marigolds. Seems to me you’d stop to see how beautiful they are.”

Let’s let kids have time to stop and enjoy their childhood before it’s too late. We know that a baby’s world revolves about itself. When children have no time to grow out of that illusion, they grow up to be the “Me and Me Only” generation that we’re seeing now.