News & Events: Case Grant Winners

Pictured from Left to Right: Jessica Hunter, Jana Allen, Kenny Collie, Headmaster Brandon Smith,  Shakeeriona Hodge, Ashleigh Bilodeau, Crystal Cockrell, and Perry Barnhill

EAST WAKE ACADEMY ANNOUNCES:

~ The Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Partnership Foundation ~

CASE GRANT WINNER!

Kenny Collie, a junior at East Wake Academy, is the first high school student

in the nation to win and be awarded the 2009 Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Partnership Foundation CASE (Carter Academic Service Entrepreneur) Pilot Program Grant.  This award supports outstanding service programs that incorporate academic learning and community engagement. 

          Little River Restoration project by Collie, receives $1,000 from the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Partnership Foundation (JRCPF) www.ServiceBook.org Collie will accept this prestigious recognition and Certificate of Merit bearing the signatures of President Jimmy Carter and Mrs. Rosalynn Carter.  In addition, he will receive a $500 scholarship upon the completion of his project final report. 

          Collie’s project, brings the high school biology curriculum to life with the partnership of Wake County Soil and Water Conservation staff and NC Big Sweep, a statewide environmental nonprofit.  They will join students at EWA to restore and improve the Little River Park in Zebulon with educational stations and improved recreational facilities.  This project seeks to establish a North Carolina-specific watershed education component within East Wake Academy’s biology curriculum.  The renewed park and curriculum will be combined as a resource for environmental research, school events, field trips, and technology training for high school students throughout the area.   

          Academic Citizenship is one of our core targets at the Academy, seeking to develop this target through its students and academic-service learning in the community.  We honor Mr. Collie with this high achievement and recognize him with our “Above and Beyond” award for his success in this proposed project.

Honorable Mentions for the CASE Grant:

          Ashleigh Bilodeau, a rising sophomore at East Wake Academy is awarded for her outstanding example of impacting the senior citizen with ‘Growing Hope’, a project that partners with East Wake Total Life Center pairing patients with a volunteer who brings a plant to nurture. East Wake Academy students will recruit community adults and other students as volunteers. By growing a plant, the patient will witness not only the beauty of life, but feel a restoration of hope as they care for another living organism and build a friendship with a community volunteer. Data will be collected to track biological outcomes for plants and surveys will track psychological outcomes for patients and volunteers. Bilodeau also receives the Certificate of Merit from the Carter Foundation bearing the signatures of President Jimmy Carter and Mrs. Rosalynn Carter.

          Mr. Chad Ray, a judge for the CASE Selection Panel discerned the importance of Bilodeau’s community service and chose to sponsor her with a $500 scholarship to help fuel her project in the community.  This inspiring act spurned the other Selection Panelists to partner with her in physical support of the project as well.  

          Jessica Hunter, freshman and Perry Barnhill, sophomore are also to be commended for their efforts in helping elementary students in the community succeed in academics and preparation for beginning school.  Back for Buddies, Hunter’s project proposal seeks to help assist low-socio-economic preschool students with backpacks filled with school and personal hygiene supplies.  The purpose of providing these supplies is to ensure their preparedness to attend Kindergarten and have a solid educational beginning.  The focus group would be children in the local Telamon Knightdale Head Start program who will be attending Kindergarten in the upcoming school year. Miss Barnhill’s, ‘K.I.S.S.’ project proposes to help support the struggles that 3^rd-5^th graders who do not qualify for the extra help may need to understand math and reading skills with a summer day camp.  This summer-time camp would incorporate fun through games, stories, and competitions while reinforcing the importance of math and reading.  Her community partner for the project, East Wake Education Foundation, would work with Barnhill to build her camp with the help of volunteers and curriculum support.  Both students will receive a Certificate of Merit from the Jimmy and Rosalynn Foundation CASE Program for successfully completing the grant application. 

          Shakeeriona Hodge, a senior at East Wake Academy, participated in the CASE Grant competition and is truly admired for her project proposal, Beads of Hope.  Her project focus of citizenship brings hope and awareness to those that suffer from the effects of cancer.  Partnering with Hope Community, a support group for the Cancer Centers of Raleigh, will band together to make bracelets that symbolize, love, peace and hope for those patients that struggle with this disease and the survivors of cancer.  

          The JRCPF ServiceBook competition is open to college students in the United States, United Kingdom and India.  The East Wake Academy CASE pilot program competition is a partnership between JRCPF and East Wake Academy.  The Academy is the first institution in secondary education and in the nation to host a campus CASE competition sponsored by JRCPF.

          East Wake Academy believes that all students will soar to success as they continue to reach out in academic-service to others, using their unique talents and knowledge to improve the community in which they live.