This is the fifth issue of HEC Happenings. For earlier issues, go here

NSRF Director Selected to Sit on Leadership Taskforce

Steven Strull and Gene Thompson-Grove talk during a break at the NSRF Winter Meeting

Steven Strull, director of Harmony’s NSRF, has been selected to be one of twelve members of the MetLife Task Force on “Teach Leadership in High Schools” at the Institute for Educational Leadership.

This group is tasked with answering the question, “How will we lead America’s high schools?”

It will collect a variety of data to discover model practices from across a wide range of schools, communities, and situations in which teacher leadership is expected, practiced, and supported by principals, superintendents, and school board members.

Their report is due for release in late 2007. You can e-mail your request for a copy of the final report to Sarah Manes at maness@iel.org.

The Institute for Educational Leadership, located in Washington D.C., is focused on achieving better results for all children and youth. The MetLife Foundation supports programs that increase opportunities for young people to succeed, to give students and teachers a voice in improving education, to create connections between schools and communities, and to develop leadership.

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Rhino’s Hosts the Chocolate Prom

Volunteer Thom Atkinson, above, and Rhino’s Director Brad Wilhelm both enjoyed themselves.

Rhino’s Youth Center held its first Chocolate Prom on Friday, February 2, 2007.

It was a culminating event of Bloomington’s Week of Chocolate, a collaborative series of festivities hosted by a handful of nonprofit agencies.

Volunteers decorated Rhino’s in the spirit of the traditional high school proms that have been held in gymnasiums and armories for decades.

Music was provided by two of Rhino’s most popular bands: Busman’s Holiday and The Romance.
A professional photographer was available. Pictures can be perused at www.twice-cooked.com. “Portraits from Rhino’s Youth Center Chocolate Prom” are near the bottom of the home page.

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Harmony’s Media Arts Program

Harmony Education Center has developed a comprehensive Media Arts Program involving Harmony High School and Rhino’s Youth Center.

Our Media Arts Program teaches students skills in journalism, the interpretation of news and current events, interviewing, feature-writing, and news reporting, as well as web design, the technical side of broadcast news, video production, and desktop publishing. Students create a radio news service (The Teen News Network), a school newspaper (In Harmony), and an online magazine (The Zeen www.the-zeen.com).

At Rhino’s Youth Center, youth organize musical concerts, a five-hour radio program, a half-hour television program, art murals, and their journal, the Antagonist.

We hope to expand the Youth Media Programs to become a Youth Media Network including Harmony School/Rhino’s Youth Center; Connections High School in Hilo, Hawaii; and the High School for the Recording Arts in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Harmony recently received a $2,500 Best Buy Teach Award to enhance technology in school curricula. The funds will be used for an Apple-MacBook with a 15.4” display.

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