Emily K seniors gathered at the Center during their vacation for a waffle breakfast get-together. Staffers Ashlea Hitchcock and Girija Mahajan served up the waffles with high octane maple syrup from donor, Ralph Smitten.  College acceptances and scholarships were the major topics of discussion, followed closely by after-Christmas sales at the mall. The group agreed to ‘Just Say No’ to senioritis in the upcoming second semester. Hard work and focus will take them to graduation and on their way to college!

It was a fond farewell to 2011. Emily K Pioneer Scholars finished their last day at the Center for this year with a program fit for a king.  Or, maybe a President. John Brown and his 11 piece Jazz Orchestra conducted an educational performance for the Scholars and shared that one of their most recent gigs had been for President Obama in Hawaii.

“We are excited to be here, too,” John said, “Sometimes when we do educational performances it will be the first time the kids have ever heard jazz instruments. Who knows, the next Dizzy Gillespie might be out in that audience.”

John is the Director of the Jazz program at Duke University and the leader of the band. He and his orchestra are committed to bringing the big band sound to student groups all over North Carolina. It is a mission they believe in so strongly that they manage to fit it in around their non-volunteer professional performances.
“We introduce each of the instruments individually to the kids, and then we get them involved in the music.”

And the students did get involved. They had an opportunity to ask questions, which included asking how much some of the instruments weighed, and how long it takes before a musician is good enough to play in concerts. The students also learned that even the familiar strains of Sesame Street and the Flintstones intro music can be jazzed up by the big band sound.

Executive Director, Adam Eigenrauch commented that it’s easy to tell that you’re reaching kids with music when the air guitar, air drums, and, in this case, air horns, come out. The program ended with John promising that he and his fellow musicians would return next year and students left with toes tapping on their way to learning even more at Emily K come 2012.

Today marks another exciting milestone in the life of the Emily K Center as Communications Coordinator Michele White celebrates her birthday. Staff gathered in the Board room to share a few laughs and a “spot of tea” with the birthday girl.

When asked what she liked most about Michele, 2nd grader Arianna said, “I liked doing reading with Ms.Michele. She’s very nice and I hope she has a great birthday!”

2nd grader Kevin added his wishes too.  “Merry Christmas… I mean Happy Birthday!  I would like to give you something special - that could be something like earrings or maybe a shirt but I can’t because I don’t have a car to go get them.  I liked being your student!  You’re exciting!”

Happy Birthday to a very special member of our Emily K Center Team!

***Michele White is the author of 99% of our blog posts so we decided that on her birthday she should get to enjoy a break from writing and instead be the “star” of a post!  She enjoyed it and we hope you do too!***

Students and Staff at the Emily K Center would like to recognize our amazing volunteers today, December 5th, International Volunteer Day.  Designated by the United Nations in 1985 as a day of international observance, we too celebrate the contribution volunteers make to society.

At Emily K our volunteers are a wonderfully diverse group. They are university students, having come from (depending on their semester and their schedule) Duke, UNC, NCCU and NC State. They are community members, some who have lived in Durham all their lives and view their work at EKC as a continued investment of time and commitment to their city and their neighbor families. Others have just moved to the area and hear that great work is being done at the Center. They want to put down roots and we are a great place to do just that.

Some of our volunteers work with the students every single week. Others helps with our events or our administrative endeavors. Still others offer their expertise in a particular skill area such as theater, technology, drama or sport.

Over the past five years we have had more than 700 volunteers gift us with their time at the Center. It is wonderful that a particular day has been set aside for recongititon, but at the Emily K Center, we don’t need to be reminded of how integral our volunteers are to our effort. We celebrate you each and every day. Thank you. The Emily K Students and Staff.

Firsts are always exciting and this week Emily K celebrated another first.

A few of our students in high school are serving as translators for parent meetings, which take place at the Center after students receive their first report card every fall.  Spanish speaking scholars have generously offered to donate their time to facilitate conferences with some of our families.  They volunteered to take part in an orientation and then began offering their help for the meetings of younger students.

It’s a win/win. They are glad to be of service at their own Emily K Center. And we are proud of their abilities and their generosity.