school days - spring 2012

A step in the right direction Henrico County Public Schools has a signifi cant gap in student academic achievement. Asian students and white students perform at higher levels on most academic measures than black students, Latino students, and students with disabil-ities. While there are individual diff erenc-es between students, this gap is especially evident when comparing overall student groups. “We are building the leaders of tomor-row and we must do all we can to make sure our educational system is fair and eq-uitable to all, regardless of a student’s race or family’s economic standing,” said HCPS Superintendent Dr. Patrick Russo. Th e Henrico County School Board has been examining student performance data by group and acknowledging this achievement gap since 2009. To close the achievement gap, the school system has implemented instructional strate-gies based on research and best practice. Despite these eff orts, standards have not been met to ensure all students are learning to their highest potential. “Th is is not a new problem,” said Dr. Chris Corollo, the executive director of organizational development, quality and innovation. “It’s a problem we’ve seen nationally for many years.” Data shows that where the gap starts to widen is in third grade. But the reasons for this gap are still unclear. Th ere is not only a gap in pass rates between black and white students on SOLs, but also on AP exam scores. “Our vision is to be the Premier school division in the United States and part of that means we want all our stu-dents achieving at high levels,” Russo said. “Identifying and closing the achievement gap is critical to the success of the students, the school division and the community.” In an eff ort to both identify the causes of this gap and discuss possible so-

WHATʼS INSIDE: Couch Potato | Pg. 4 Marching Panthers | Pg. 5Black HistoryMonth | Pg. 6

CLOSING THE GAP, Pg. 3

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2 March 2012 school days

A historic budget year brings on challenges

The planning of the 2012-13 An-nual Financial Plan has been one of the most difficult and critical

undertakings in Henrico County Public Schools history and in my 26 years as a Superintendent. This year’s budget gap of more than $26 million dollars is almost equal to what HCPS has reduced over the last two budget years. When this budget is balanced and approved, HCPS will have had to reduce nearly $55 million dollars from its budget over the last three years. This is a more than 13 percent total re-duction in resources available to our students and staff! This is a historic budget for HCPS because it is the first time that we com-mitted to use one-time funds to balance the budget. I am an ardent opponent of using one-time funds for recurring costs; however, the reason we are moving for-ward with this proposal is to ensure that no full-time staff members lose their jobs and to make sure there is mini-mal impact to instructional programs. Without the allocation of more than

$10 million dollars in one-time dollars, we would have been forced to release staff, significantly increase class sizes, and reduce instructional programs for our students. I, along with the division leadership team, could not compromise the integrity and foundation of this out-standing school division, and therefore recommend utilizing these resources for the upcoming budget year. While this budget is the most dif-ficult in Henrico County’s history, the dedication, commitment and support of our staff, parents and community will keep us on track to achieving our vision of becoming The Premier school division in the United States. I would like to thank all of our stakeholders for input you provided on-line and during community meetings throughout the year. I would also like to thank the county manager and his staff for working with our school divi-sion staff to come up with a budget that will preserve the excellence we expect in Henrico County. The relationship between the school division and county

government is one of collaboration and mutual respect. During the next couple of months, the school board and board of supervisors will work together to re-view the proposed budget and to approve a final plan that preserves our incredible school division. As hard as this has been, we have much to celebrate. The school board and division leadership team would like to thank our entire staff for your hard work and commitment to our students. Henri-co County Public Schools’ students and staff have continued to receive accolades and recognitions despite declining avail-able resources. Please visit our website at www.henrico.k12.va.us for a current list of awards and to stay up to date on the budget and information related to Hen-rico County Public Schools. Finally, we are thankful and appre-ciative of our parents, community mem-bers and partners for your continued dedication and support. Without your high expectations and commitment to excellence, HCPS would not be able to reach and maintain the level of greatness we have all come to expect.

Sincerely,

The Helping Hand Volunteer of the Month Award recognizes volun-teers who make a difference in our

schools. One winner is recognized each month for commitment, helpfulness, and maintaining good relationships. Jaela Moore from Varina HS won for the month of December and Kristen Vithoulkas of Skipwith ES won for the month of January. The ABCD award is presented to various Henrico County Schools support personnel who have made significant contributions that improved job efficien-cy, quality of services, safety, or conserved resources; performed a humanitarian or heroic act; or who responded proactively by anticipating needs and solving prob-lems without specific direction. These people have gone Above and Beyond the Call of Duty.

The Henrico Edu-cation Foundation in partnership with the Henrico Federal Credit Union joins us in recognizing these individuals by providing a check to each recipient.

The winners for December were: Steve Hedgepath of Construction and Maintenance, and Melissa Temple of Arthur Ashe ES. The winners for January were: Cor-nellius Whitehead of Fairfield MS, Edwina Bulls of the Adult Education Center and Brent Snead of Holman MS.

Notes from the Board -A regular feature in School Days highlighting discussion and action at the Henrico County School Board’s monthly meetings and work sessions.

October 13, 2011, Work Session: • TheSchoolBoardapprovedtheaward of a construction contract to Ev-ans Construction, Inc., in the amount of $4,774,382, for the Pinchbeck El-ementary School renovation project. October 27, 2011, Monthly Meeting: • The School Board recognizedCrestview Elementary School for being selected as the Children’s Engineering Program of the Year award winner for the Commonwealth of Virginia. • The School Board accepted, inpartnership with the Virginia Tech Computer Science Department, the National Science Foundation’s Com-puting Education for the 21st Century (CE21) grant award of $199,998 for the project entitled, “Planning Grant: Inte-grating Computational Thinking Into Middle School Curriculum.”

December 8, 2011, Monthly Meeting: • The School Board recognizedHenrico County Public Schools’ Art Department for awards received at the annual Virginia Art Education Asso-ciation (VAEA) Conference.

January 12, 2012, Work Session: • Diana Winston was electedchairman of the school board and Bev-erly L. Cocke was elected vice chair-man by fellow board members. • The School Board accepted theProject Graduation 2011-2012 Aca-demic Year Grant in the amount of $26,028 from the Virginia Department of Education.

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Monthly meeting6:30 p.m.New Bridge

Helping Hands Volunteer of the Monthand

ABCD Awards

December winners (L to R) Melissa Temple and Steve Hedgepath.

January winners (L to R) Edwina Bulls, Brent Snead and Cornellius Whitehead.

Moore

Vithoulkas

Dr. PatrickRussoSuperintendent of Schools

school days March 2012 3

lutions, HCPS held two community meetings this past January. More than 400 members of the community took part in sharing their thoughts and ideas, and the fi rst step—with many more to come—was taken to address and fi x this gap. At the fi rst part of each meeting, data was presented that showed the disparities between black and white students. Th en, breakout sessions were led by members of the NAACP, the Coalition for Justice for Civil Rights, and the HCPS Division Lead-ership Team. During these sessions, members of the community, including parents, teachers, and students discussed and wrote down “Barriers to Success,” as well as “Possible Solutions.” At the end of the breakout sessions, each group presented to everyone what

they discussed at their table. Th en, each person who attended the meet-ing was asked to vote on which three barriers to success and which three solutions were the most critical to them. Th e data was then tabulated and put on the HCPS website. As a continuation of the eff ort to close the achievement gap, the feed-back from the meetings as well as any input HCPS has received on the web-site will be used as discussion points and part of the focus at the Commu-nity Priorities Workshop in May. “Th is achievement gap is not something that is going to be fi xed overnight,” Russo said. “But it is some-thing we will continue to aggressively work on and research until all of our students are achieving at the highest level possible.”

CLOSING THE GAP

What members of the HCPS community had to sayabout the issue at hand

“Th ere is obviously a problem in schools and I’m interested in fi nding a solution. It did surprise me how wide the gap was. Our children need to go out in the world and be successful so this problem needs to be addressed so they can do that.” — Sarah Melton, Special Education teacher at Varina High School

“We think it’s critically important that teachers have high expectations of all of their students. Because when they don’t then the students don’t excel. Children have a tendency to live up or down to our expectations.” — Dr. Charles McLeod, Parent of two students who graduated from HCPS

“One of the most important things we talked about was providing ourelementary school kids with that strong educational foundation…historyshows that if students don’t have a strong foundation then they tend to lag behind in their academic career.” — Kenneth Ragland, Director of Henrico Police Athletic League

“As students we need as much help as we can get, the best thing we can do is to add more diverse programs …at certain schools they have internships and seminars, they travel, they see the world and we need to have that at our schools. In a lot of the regular classes, you go into a classroom and the teacher just does not care, they don’t care at all. When you see them, they just say do the work and hand you a sheet of paper and they can’t wait for you to get out of their classroom. Th at’s just how it is.” “I think the main problem is economic, it’s just a lack of funding, alack of money.” — Aubrey Temple, Senior at Highland Springs High School

“I would like to know how to bridge the gap, and the reputation here isunacceptable. Black kids, we’re capable of learning.” “One of my main concerns was behavior in the students. I think profession-als need to be accountable for those children; the parents need to be accountable. I think it’s OK if the parents have to leave work and check up on their child…you can clearly see some of the kids who aren’t serious about school, and it’s unfortu-nate for the kids who are there to learn…I tell my children all the time, black isn’t bad. Black is smart, black is beautiful, black goes to gymnastics, black knows how to read, we do everything everyone else can do so therefore, we can make good grades too. And I preach that to my children and my students.” — Ginger Banks Johnson, Teacher at Chamberlayne Elementary and HCPS parent

Breakout Session Top 5 Barriers to Success:1. Lack of rigor—41 2. Lack of parent involvement—40 3. Pupil -teacher ratio/ large class sizes—40 4. Limited communication and/or opportunities available for all students (ie: tutoring, foreign languages, electives, AP courses)—38 5. Low expectations for students—36

Top 5 Possible Solutions:1. Hire quality teachers at hard-to-sta� schools—62 2. Lower pupil-teacher ratio (ie: building new schools, school improvements)—61 3. Higher expectations for students and sta� —39 4. Professional Development (ie: cultural awareness classes)—29 5. Increased communication between parents and teachers—22

Key slides from the achievement gap PowerPointpresentation

More than 400 community members participated in two community meetings that discussed the achievement gap. Attendees were organized into groups of 10 and asked to generate lists of barriers and solutions on chart paper that they would then share with the entire group. Th e above is an example of one of these charts. Following the group sharing, each participant was given six dots and asked to identify three barriers and three solutions that he/she felt were the most important to consider.


As an athlete and physical edu-cation teacher at Rivers Edge Elementary School, Rhett Rutman started to realize

there weren’t many books that promoted exercise within the classroom, so with an R.E.B. Award grant he won in 2009, Rhett and his wife, Meredyth, created a chil-dren’s book about two subjects close to their hearts…exercise and children. “It was something we always wanted to do,” said Rhett. “It was just a matter of how we wanted to do it.” Th e Couch Potato Classroom begins with a teacher, Mrs. Goodall, who wakes up and realizes that aft er years of perpetual bad habits, she is a couch potato. Unhappy with her-self, she walks into her classroom only to fi nd that her students are exhibiting the same behaviors that got her where she is now. Th roughout the book the teacher and her students learn exciting ways to “uncouch” themselves with simple, fun exercises that everyone can participate in. Th e book strives to present an important message for children while still being cute

and relatable. Th ough targeted at younger students, it shows kids of all ages, not to mention teachers and parents, how easy and fun it is to begin an active lifestyle.

“A lot of kids are not as in-clined to go out and exercise,” said Meredyth. “Th is is a fun way to get kids up and mov-ing.” Being a mother and a fi rst-grade teacher at Greenwood Elementary, Me r e d y t h knows fi rst

hand the positive eff ects of promoting physical fi tness in the class-room. Observing that children are less likely to misbehave and are more likely to pay attention when given a break to exercise, Rhett and Meredyth also strive to show teachers it is possible to engage their students. Rhett’s fourth-grade teacher, Jill Wiebe-King, who coincidentally helped

Rhett to realize his passion for sports and athleticism, is the book’s illustrator. “Jill was very fi tness focused when she taught me, which made her illus-trating the book a little more personal,” Rhett said. At a pinnacle point in the book, Mrs. Goodall says, “We all have to remember that it’s just as important to exercise our

bodies as it is to exercise our minds!” So whether it’s a daily bonding ex-perience between a parent and child, or an aft ernoon too cold for recess, Th e Couch Potato Classroom is a book sure to provide interactive fi tness fun for growing children.

Fitness-centered children’s book gets studentsup and moving

Olivia and Abbi Fisher walked into the library at Seven Pines to work on what they thought was a “joint class project.”

Th e two sisters, who are in kindergarten and third grade, helped each other write cards to U.S. troops overseas without ob-serving much about their surroundings. As they sat and decorated a piece of construction paper with snowfl akes, their teacher, Miss Johnson made an an-nouncement, “Class we have a very spe-cial visitor today, this is Abbi and Olivia’s dad, Mr. Fisher.”

Miss Johnson had no sooner than fi nished her sentence when the girls jumped out of their seats and dashed toward their father who wore his cam-oufl age fatigues. Abbi jumped up into her dad’s arms, buried her head into his shoulder and started to sob. Fisher knelt down and grabbed onto Olivia who had not been far behind her sister and the three hugged for a long time. “Are you happy to see me?” Fisher asked as he wiped Abbi’s tears and got her a tissue. Abbi nodded her head in earnest as Olivia just looked up at him admiringly and smiled. “I’ve missed those girls,” Fisher said. “Th ey bring a smile to my face, and they are a big part of what helps you get through a deployment. Th e whole time I’ve been gone and the whole time I’ve been home I just keep thinking I can’t wait to see the girls.” A similar story unfolded at Sandston

Two soldiers bring theirdaughters surprises and joy

Elementary School a little later in the year when Air Force Staff Sgt. Jordan Jones surprised his daughter, Mckenzie by returning from Afghanistan just in time for her birthday party. Th e two had made it a habit to talk on the phone dur-ing her lunch period, so Mckenzie went to the offi ce when she got a call from her dad just like any other day. Little did she know, her dad was calling her from his cell phone right outside the building. As McKenzie walked back to class, her dad was waiting for her on the audi-torium stage. “Daddy!” McKenzie yelled as she ran up the steps and into his arms, an immediate smile forming on her face. She was speechless aft er being scooped up into Jones’ arms, which is apparently something no one who knows her is used to. “She is never this quiet,” her grand-mother said. “She must really be sur-prised.”

“She’s gotten really tall since I’ve been gone,” Jones said. “I’m just glad to see her, and glad to be home.” Aft er the exciting reunion, the two walked hand in hand down the steps of Sandston Elementary so they could go get lunch together and catch up on all the time theymissed.

there weren’t many books that promoted

wanted to do,” said Rhett. “It was just a matter of how we wanted to

Th e Couch Potato Classroom begins with a teacher, Mrs. Goodall, who wakes up and realizes that aft er years of perpetual bad habits, she is a couch potato. Unhappy with her-

“A lot of kids are not as in-clined to go out and exercise,” said Meredyth. “Th is is a fun way to get kids up and mov-ing.” Being a mother and a fi rst-grade teacher at Greenwood Elementary, Me r e d y t h knows fi rst

hand the positive eff ects

From left , Meredyth and Rhett Rutman


Nicholas Christensen, an IB student at Moody Middle, and his dad, Jamie, got about eight shots each and stocked

up on bug spray before their trip to Ethiopia. Then, the two got up at 4 a.m., drove to D.C. and took a 13-hour flight to Addis Abada. The two took part in this trip to see Nicholas’ grandmother’s World Vision “sponsor children.” World Vision is a humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice. World Vision starts by focusing on water sanitation and hygiene and then moves on to aiding with education. While they were there, Nicholas and his dad got to hear the life-changing effects of something as simple as installing a well in order to get clean water. According to Nicholas’ dad, 90 per-cent of the people in Ethiopia spend a good part of the day walking water back and forth in jugs. Sometimes the trip is about four or five miles long, and the water isn’t even necessarily clean. “The impact was very big because a lot of them wouldn’t have to worry about water borne diseases or dying of thirst because of lack of water in the dry sea-son,” Nicholas said.

According to Nicholas, visiting Ethiopia “lets you understand the value of the things you have like smooth roads and hot water.” Most people live in huts that are about 150 square feet. In these huts, it is typical to find about six or seven-person families as well as their livestock. Oftentimes children are the ones charged with the task of getting water, which means they couldn’t attend school. With the implementation of wells, school-ing is now not such an afterthought. With the help of World Vision, children are now going to school on a regular basis, and class sizes have been cut in half. “I feel like everything here is mun-dane compared with what they have to deal with,” Nicholas said. “When I hear people talking about their…problems, it’s like well, it’s not life-threatening. It definitely puts things in perspective.” “I think another cool thing about this trip for Nick is how supportive Moody has been,” said Nicholas’ dad. “Which is different than other schools would have been…that says something about the IB program here.”

IB student immersed in Ethiopian culture

The Hermitage High School March-ing Panthers have a long road ahead of them. Not only in the nearly 6,000 miles to Hawaii, but in raising the

funds to get there. After their stunning performance at USSBA National Championships in Annapolis Mary-land, the Panthers were one of 10 bands invited to play at the 2012 Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade. This parade will be both honoring veterans and celebrating the 50th anniversary of the dedication

of the Arizona Memorial. “I feel so honored,” said Alexandra Pannell, a member of the Marching Panthers. “We are the only high school

from Virginia…and a lot of people from band come from an armed services back-ground. I have an Air Force background so I

thought it was a great opportunity to go there and show how important our armed services

are to America.” The band is hoping to raise about $100,000, which will cover the airfare to Hawaii. “It’s going to be a major undertaking…we anticipate about 70 students,” said Direc-tor of Bands John Sarvay. “This will take a tremendous effort to put together but I have a tremendous team of parents, students, faculty and administrators that I know will make this a success.” The group plans on partnering up with veteran’s associations from around Virginia and hopes to raise money by playing small ensemble concerts. “I am very excited for the Marching Pan-thers for having received such an invitation

Panthers march their way into Hawaii

Journal entry 8, from the personal journalof Nicholas Christensen.

t

MARCHING PANTHERS, Pg. 8


Nicole Ekstein of Tucker High School

drew this likeness of Martin Luther King

Jr. in honor of Black History Month.

Highland Springs High Principal Michael

Wright and Elko Middle School students

smile during Henrico Education Foun-dation’s “Go for the Goal” luncheon, which celebrates Black History Month.

Varina Elementary celebrated Black History Month with a program honoring famous African Americans through the ages.

Sharon Martin, Shakori Wallace, and Katriel Weisburg of Henrico High School paint in the style of famous African-American painter Aaron Douglas.





Highland Springs High Principal Michael smile during Henrico Education Foun-


smile during Henrico Education Foun-

Wright and Elko Middle School students dation’s “Go for the Goal” luncheon,

smile during Henrico Education Foun-dation’s “Go for the Goal” luncheon,

smile during Henrico Education Foun-which celebrates Black History Month.

Michael Grossman of Godwin High

School painted “Blu

ebama” in honor

of Black History Month.










Month with a program honoring famous African Americans through the ages.

Freeman High’s Charlie Bonner penciled

this

sketch that hung in HCPS’s central

offi ce in

celebration of Black

History Month.


Fairfi eld Middle School’s Do Some-thing Club worked hard to raise awareness in the Henrico com-munity about youth homeless-

ness and the physical, emotional, social, and academic impact of homelessness by supporting a local youth shelter. Th e Do Something Club once again partnered with Aeropostale for the national “TEENS FOR JEANS” drive. Th e club collected nearly 1300 pairs of jeans that were any size and color and then donated them to a local homeless shelter. Every person that made a jeans donation received a 25 percent discount on a new pair of jeans at Aeropostale. “For me, the reward is seeing my students become empowered through giving back…through their eff orts to make a change, these students fi nd their voice and learn what it truly means to be a part of a community,” said Amanda Hall, a club sponsor and teacher at Fair-fi eld.

As a part of the drive, the Do Some-thing Club also hosted a fashion show that showcased styles from the 70s all the way up to the fashion of the future. Members of the club strutted their stuff down the runway in a creative eff ort to give back to the community. “Th ey begin to realize that civic responsibility includes ‘for the common good’ and that they are not too young to take a stand and make a diff erence,” Hall said. “I have seen this in action…and it never ceases to amaze me how powerful and positive the youth voice can be.”

Fairfi eld Middle was Haute to Trot… for Charity

Fairfi eld middle-schoolers Alexis Evans (right), Kori Jones (top left ) and Troy Bryant (bottom left ) strut their stuff for charity at the Teens for Jeans Fashion Show.

Well-wishes for JamesWilder Middle School students

learned of a 12-year-old boy named James Dobson in

Fredericksburg, Virginia, who is suff er-ing from an inoperable brain tumor. Th e biggest wish he had on his birthday was to receive cards from well-wishers. All of the students and teachers at Wilder got straight to work and made him more than 900 belated birthday cards and encouraging letters. “Th e students here have been com-ing together to make these cards, and it

really makes us feel like we know him, and it makes us feel compassion for him,” said Zane Lewis, a student at Wilder. According to Linda Hill, a teacher at Wilder, the amount of caring and com-passion that Wilder students showed was remarkable. “All of us coming together to do this one thing shows that we are, in fact, a Wilder family,” said Wilder student Stephanie Jones.

An A+ SpellerAft er a nail-biting 19 rounds of spelling word aft er word, Aditya Kannoth, a sixth-grader at Moody Middle School won fi rst place in the HCPS District-Wide Spelling Bee for the fourth year in a row.


Henrico County School Board Contact Us Awards & Credits

Diana D. WinstonChairThree Chopt District

Lamont BagbyFairfi eld District

John W. Montgomery Jr.Varina District

Beverly L. CockeVice ChairBrookland District

Lisa A. MarshallTuckahoe District

Dr. Patrick RussoSuperintendent

P.O. Box 231203820 Nine Mile RoadHenrico, VA 23223-0420804.652.3600www.henrico.k12.va.us

School Days is an award-winning publication produced quarterly by the Department of Communications & Community Outreach of HCPS. If you have questions or concerns about this publication, call 804.652.3724 or send an email to [email protected].

Natalie Allen - EditorChristie Harman - Production Manager

piva

The ESL Welcome Center was cre-ated as a way to help families whose fi rst language is not Eng-

lish navigate the registration and enroll-ment process. Parents receive assistance completing standard forms required by all schools. In addition to completing forms, parents and students discuss the Henrico County Code of Conduct, bus safety, report cards, the school calendar and other pertinent information. It also enables HCPS to screen stu-dents based on their English language profi ciency.

Fun Facts:• Th ere are 85 diff erent languages spo-ken by students enrolled in Henrico County Public Schools.• Students enrolled in Henrico County Public Schools come from 103 diff erent countries.• Th e top fi ve languages of Henrico’s LEP population are: Spanish, Arabic, Vietnamese, Nepali, Chinese, and Telugu.

Parent Resources:• Parents as Educational Partners (PEP)—PEP is designed to empower language minority parents to become decision makers and advocates for their children’s education. It targets parents of ESL students grades k-12 of any lan-guage or cultural background. It is free for all ESL parents and is off ered in the fall at multiple locations for a period of six to eight weeks. Information is avail-able through the Welcome Center.• Th e ESL Welcome Center provides information relating to adult ESL courses off ered through HCPS and the commu-nity as well as information relating to healthcare, childcare, social services, and citizenship.

For more information, contact the ESL Welcome Center directly at 804-527-4604.

Spotlight On:

ESL Welcome Center

To Learn More

to this historic celebration,” said Omega Wilson, the principal at Hermitage High School. “I applaud and commend them on a job well done. Th e Panthers will repre-sent Hermitage, Henrico County, our state and nation with pride!”

Donations Can Be Sent to:

Marching Panthers 8301 Hungary Spring Road Henrico, VA 23228

Hermitage Band and Auxiliary Boosters PO Box 9618 Henrico, VA 23228

MARCHING PANTHERS

•

•

Photos of the Marching Panthers courtesy of Hermitage High School.

Sydney Shavers sat reading an article about her great great great grandmother Elvira Abernathy. Th e piece of paper had been

passed down from family member to family member for years. It called Elvira a respected woman and said she was very keen, had good sight, and could remember things others couldn’t.

As a part of her Middle Years Program personal project, Shavers had decided to research her ancestry and make a documentary, but when she came across Elvira’s story, Shavers knew that this lady was the right family member to pursue.

“I had found this big inspirational fi gure, so I decided to narrow (in) and focus on her,” Shavers said.

Th e article was written in the late 1930s. Elvira had been a slave on three diff erent plantations but settled on the Abernathy plantation. She had a hus-band named Henry, and six children. When slavery was abolished, Elvira was 28 years old. Th e family worked on the farm as sharecroppers to earn money. Elvira lived to be 106, which meant she was the oldest living resident of Catawba County, North Carolina. Th is was the reason the article was written.

“Th at wasn’t a time when African-Americans were really even appreciated, so just to have someone write about her like that was saying something,” Shavers said.

Th ese little bits and pieces of infor-mation about Elvira prompted Shavers’ desire to fi nd out more. During summer vacation, Shavers and her family went down to Catawba County to do research.

“When I started off , I really didn’t know what the fi lm was going to look like. I didn’t know if I was going to make the fi lm about her life or what she expe-rienced, but I decided to make it about

the journey of me learning about her,” Shavers said. “Doing this project has giv-en me so much self confi dence because I can see where I’m from and I know

where I’m from. It’s not this missing part of me.”

Shavers said that looking at

Elvira’s life has made her re-alize she can get through a n y t h i n g . Since mak-ing the

fi lm, Shavers has received

critical acclaim nationwide. Th e

documentary, titled “Elvira’s Eyes” was in the

Black History Museum of Virginia’s “Pearls of Wisdom Exhibit.” Because of the fi lm, theroot.com named Shavers one of the 25 Young Futurists of 2012, and Style Weekly named her one of the “top 16 under 16.”

“Knowing her strength to persevere through slavery, one of the most diffi -cult times in our history inspires me to persevere through any little thing I go through,” Shavers said. “It’s given me the confi dence to inspire other people and to talk about it. It has made me willing to open up.”

Shavers gives her parents credit for an immense amount of support. “Even when I was like ‘Oh my gosh this is so tiring,’ they kept pushing me to keep going and complete this project,” she said. “My parents feel so proud and my mom tells me that all the time. But it is an ongoing process. I can’t stop be-cause I really enjoy telling this story and inspiring other people… I like to inspire youth about how to use history and make it relevant today.”

family member for years. It called Elvira a respected woman and said she was very keen, had good sight, and could remember things others

story, Shavers knew that this lady was the right family member

“I had found this big inspirational

missing part of me.”Shavers said

that looking at Elvira’s life has

made her re-alize she can get through a n y t h i n g . Since mak-ing the

fi lm, Shavers has received

critical acclaim nationwide. Th e

documentary, titled “Elvira’s Eyes” was in the

Shavers

school days - spring 2012

Documents

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achievement gap

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