Story and photos courtesy of the Inhulsen Family.

Cary, NC – A seventh grader in Cary decided to see how much food he could collect for charity by clipping coupons. Over the course of three months, he spent less than $20 and collected over 1,400 pounds of food.

The Seventh Grader Who Could

Lori Towner, a CaryCitizen reader, sent us this note and pictures of her son Chris Inhulsen’s coupon quest to fight hunger:

Cary seventh grader Chris Inhulsen has been involved in food donation drives in the past but nothing like this one!

Last fall armed with coupons and food drive supplies from ConAgra’s “Schools Fighting Hunger Project,” he and his family approached a number of groups at his middle school but none wanted to take on this food drive. “We can’t just recycle all those coupons,” Chris told his mom. That’s when Chris and his dad started clipping coupons and his mom started scouring grocery store ads.

The family decided to see how much they could donate and how little money they could spend just by using coupons and following sales to make their donation purchases.

On February 4th, the family donated 1,474.5 pounds of food to the Western Wake Crisis Ministry  in Apex, NC. The total money spent by the family was $19.80 for this donation.

On the way home from dropping off the donation, Chris asked, “When are we starting to collect for the next food drive, Mom?”  The family plans on starting another food drive in the fall.

CaryCitizen emailed Lori Towner to double-check those facts and figures. How was it possible to collect 1,474 pounds of food for an expenditure of less than $20?

“Don’t you watch those coupon shows?,” Lori wrote back.  ”It’s all about COUPONS!  Double coupons and sales where we were able to purchase the products and not pay a thing was what made it happen,” she said. “It would have been free but for those 20 boxes of popcorn at .99 each that we purchased.”

We love this kind of story, illustrating one of our community’s signature virtues – giving back. Congratulations to Chris and the entire Inhulsen family on a job well done!

If Chris cranks it up again in the autumn, we’ll be sure to let Cary citizens know how they can help.

Story by Lindsey Chester, photos by Brooke Meyer from last year’s Cross Currents Festival

Cary, NC – Last summer’s Cary Cross Currents Music Festival brought more than a week of chamber music to Downtown Cary and kicked off the opening of the Cary Arts Center. A key ingredient of the festival was the “Side By Side” instruction given to select area music students.  This year, director Carrie Knowles is expanding the program and the time for students to apply is now.

Cary Cross Currents Music Festival

The Festival will once again take place at the Cary Arts Center. July 29 is the kick off and the Festival will take place over 2 full weeks. The Brussels Chamber Orchestra is once again the featured group. New this year is the Lipkind Quartet (strings), and  jazz performer Will Scruggs.

Playing Side By Side with the Pros

Last year’s festival (story) included the opportunity for area students to audition and play “side by side” with the Brussels Chamber Orchestra professional musicians. The “Side by Side” program will expand this year to include string quartets and jazz students.

Applications for Side-By-Sidespots are available now. Visit the application page or email CCFsidebyside@gmail.com.

Student Experiences

A few of last year’s students were happy to tell us about their experiences.

Enloe student Gen Palmer explained how she missed getting into the Governor’s School last summer and chose to audition for this program.

“I’m really glad I didn’t get into Governor’s School.

I learned different ways to practice. Mainly how to distribute time equally between focusing on technique and fundamentals as well as actually practicing music. And if anything, playing with those guys seriously trained my ear. I don’t think that my viola has ever been more in tune.”

I asked students how they had heard about the program last year (it was brand new) and Nadia Drabick told me she had heard about the opportunity through her private violin teacher (not CaryCitizen?!!)

“Last summer working with the BCO was hands down the most enriching and eye opening experience I have had, not only in music, but probably my entire life. Being able to work with such down to earth and accomplished musicians was such a blessing to me… The bond and intimate relationship throughout the chamber orchestra was so inviting and made me want to push myself to become a better musician.”

Nadia has even formed a chamber orchestra with some of her fellow students at Heritage High School.

Not Just Chamber Music

With the addition of Jazz this summer, Carrie Knowles hopes to attract an even broader range of music enthusiasts and teach another fine group of Triangle students.

Jazz instruments will include guitar, saxophone, flute, bass, drums and piano. The string quartets must audition as existing groups to be included in the Side By Side experience. After being admitted, students pay a fee of $400 each for the week long, full day training. About 14 chamber music students, 10-15 jazz and a couple string quartets will make the cut this summer.

What To Expect

A typical day will include morning one-on-one practice from 9:30-1, a lunch break and free time to attend the professionals’ rehearsals. Afternoons the students head back in the studio from 3:30-5pm with their groups to rehearse.

One of the major benefits of the student experience is the culmination of a week of practice with a ticketed concert performance beside the professionals in the Cary Arts Center auditorium. A rare opportunity indeed.

The festival will include a wide variety of concerts and art collaborations.

Apply to Play with the Pros

Students can apply to play in any of the side-by-side programs:

• Chamber Orchestra Side-by-Side
• Jazz Side-by-Side
• Lipkind Quartet Side-by-Side

For more information, visit the Cary Cross Currents Festival application Page.

Story from staff reports. Photo by Sarita.

Cary, NC – Our friends at Carolina Parent run a great Summer Camp & Educational Fair. This year, the fair is on Sunday, February 19, 2012 right here in Cary.

One-Stop Shopping for Camp

Clearly, the best thing about the Summer Camp & Educational Fair is that you can gather a whole lot of info in one afternoon.

Last year, 65 camps and education sumer programs had booths at the fair.

How Would You Like $1000?

We love Carolina Parent – positive news, good information, an asset to the community.

They also run very good events.

At the Sumer Camp fair, you can enter a raffle to win $1000 toward camps and education programs offered at the fair.

They will be other games and prizes as well. Great Outdoor Provision Company will bring a backpack and a variety of camping items. Everyone who attends the fair can take a guess at how much would the full backpack weighs. Closest guess wins the backpack and its contents.

Event Details

Carolina Parent Summer Camp & Educational Fair

Sunday February 19, 2012
Noon – 4:00 PM

Cary Academy
1500 N. Harrison Ave.
Cary, NC

Cost: Free

For more details, visit Carolina Parent.

Story by Matt Young. Photo illustration by Hal Goodtree.

Cary, NC - Allen Yang is a senior at the Cary Academy. He is also one of 10 students nationwide selected to compete for $10,000 in the 2012 national Who Wants to Be a Mathematician contest on Jan. 6, 2012 (9:30-11:00 a.m at Hynes Convention Center, Boston, MA).

Yang won first place in the individual competition at the 2009-10 Duke Math Meet. He plays the piano and the French horn, and enjoys competitive Pokemon.

Yang was selected for the national Who Wants to Be a Mathematician based on his score on a qualifying test with questions on algebra, trigonometry, probability, and math history, which was administered by high school math teachers nationwide.

Fun to the Nth Power!

This is the third year for the national Who Wants to Be a Mathematician contest. In the contest’s history, nearly 600 students have won over $250,000 in cash and prizes and have been cheered on by approximately 20,000 classmates.

Who Wants to Be a Mathematician is part of the annual Joint Mathematics Meetings in Boston, attended by more than 6,000 mathematicians. The top prize is $5,000 for the winner and $,5000 for the math department of the winner’s school. The contest is sponsored by Texas Instruments, Maplesoft, John Wiley & Sons, and the AMS.

Amazing! Congrats Allen!

Story and photo of Cary Elementary by Hal Goodtree.

Cary, NC – Lost in the hoopla of the holidays was this bright note: North Carolina won a $69.9 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

Race to the Top – Early Learning Challenge

The grant awarded to NC is called Race to the Top – Early Learning Challenge, or RTT-ELC.  From the U.S. Dept of Education:

Awards in Race to the Top will go to States that are leading the way with ambitious yet achievable plans for implementing coherent, compelling, and comprehensive early learning education reform. – Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge

35 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico submitted applications. Only 9 applicants received awards. And only Ohio won a larger grant than North Carolina (by about $2000).

North Carolina will use the Race to the Top money to increase training for early-education workers, expand health care for young children whose families may be doing without, focus improvement efforts in impoverished northeastern North Carolina counties and better integrate the state’s early-learning services. – Associated Press

Let the Games Begin

The grant is a great boon to North Carolina, but it falls squarely in the middle of a fight between Governor Bev Perdue and the NC General Assembly over funding for Pre-K education.

The Governor says the grant cannot be used to pay for services the state is legally obligated to pay. It can only be used in addition to such obligations. Superior Court Judge Howard Manning agrees. The General Assembly does not.

State attorneys are busy filing briefs and it’s still too early to tell what kind of impact the RTT-ELC grant will have in North Carolina. But the award is a good win for the state.

Cary, NC – Molly Paul is an accomplished 12-year old. She founded and manages a turtle adoption organization, is a junior curator at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences and has created a line of turtle-shaped soaps for sale at Hemlock Bluffs. They make great stocking stuffers for kids and grownups who are into science and wildlife and want their cash to go to a good cause.

Proceeds Donated

All proceeds support native NC turtles and their habitat.

Available fragrances: Lavender, Rosemary/Olive Oil/Oatmeal, Natural Goats Milk and, specially for Christmas, Orange.

Molly’s turtle soaps are $4.00 each.

Available at Hemlock Bluffs

There’s still plenty of time to pick up an assortment of Molly’s turtle soaps for your nature-loving kids.

Hemlock Bluffs Gift Shop
2616 Kildaire Farm Rd.
Cary, NC
919-387-5980

Also available at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences Gift Shop. For more info, contact Lara (Molly’s Mom) at rpaul3@nc.rr.com.

Molly’s Turtle Adoption Program

Molly started Raleigh Aquatic Turtle Adoption (RATA) after adopting two turtles in 2006. From the RATA website

RATA helps individuals re-home their freshwater, pet turtles. We accomplish this by either adopting the turtle ourselves or (more commonly) linking owners needing to relinquish their pets with families or classrooms seeking a pet turtle. As we are not a rescue organization, our primary work is facilitating turtle adoptions. Even though we are based in North Carolina’s Piedmont region, we have worked with families and schools from California to Chicago to New York.

Great info about turtles as home pets on RATA.

About STEM Education

STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.

Many educators, community members and business leaders believe STEM education is key to the success of the next generation of American workers.

Molly Paul started a STEM Summer Camp this past year. Her work with turtles, Hemlock Bluffs and the Museum highlight a story of student leadership in STEM education.

Go buy some turtle soaps and support a kid who is making a difference.

Story and photo by Hal Goodtree.

Cary, NC – Wake County Superintendent of Schools Tony Tata talked to a crowd of more than 100 at the Cary Chamber Eye Opener Breakfast this week.

Eye Opener

Every month, the Cary Chamber hosts an Eye Opener breakfast at Prestonwood County Club. It’s $10 for members and $15 for non-members. It’s a great breakfast and the speakers are always stellar.

This month, the speaker was Tony Tata (pronounced like “data”), Superintendent of Wake County Public Schools. Superintendent Tata was introduced by Cary resident and Board of Ed member Debra Goldman.

Debra characterized Tony Tata as a man with “a quiet strength,” a guy who carries two cell phones and a leader who came to Wake County and “diffused a volatile situation.”

Tata comes to WCPSS after 28 years in the military. School kids may want to check out his resume before cutting up in class:

Anthony J. Tata graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1981 and retired after 28 years of uniformed service on June 1, 2009 as a Brigadier General in the U.S. Army. Among his many assignments, Tony commanded a paratrooper battalion in the 82nd Airborne Division and an air assault brigade in the 101st Airborne Division. In 2006-07 he served as the Deputy Commanding General of the 10th Mountain Division and Combined/Joint Task Force-76 in Afghanistan. BG Tata deployed on combat missions and operations in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bosnia, Panama and the Phillippines. He was awarded the Combat Action Badge and Bronze Star, served as a Master Parachutist and graduated from the U.S. Army’s Ranger School. – from WCPSS.net

General Tata also served as a National Security Fellow at Harvard University’s JFK School of Government and is the author of three fiction novels (Sudden Threat, Rogue Threat and Hidden Threat).

No Powerpoint

I had never had the chance to personally hear Tony Tata speak. First couple of things you learn about him: he’s very down-to-earth. He is utterly in control of the facts.

General Tata began his remarks by explaining that he hadn’t brought along a Powerpoint presentation. The crowd applauded gratefully. It did not appear as if he had any notes. It all came flowing out of his head, and his heart. Tata is very passionate about Wake County schools.

137 School Visits

Just one year ago, Tata interviewed for the job. Since coming to Wake County schools, he has visited 137 out of 165 schools.

Headquarters in Cary

This year, Wake County Schools central office, with more than 750 employees, moved to Cary. Tata said it has been a great fit for the employees and puts the central office right in the heart of the county’s population.

Looking toward the future, school population grow will be most pronounced in the western and southern rim of the county, making the new location in Cary advantageous. Tata predicted our school system will grow from 147,000 students currently to 200,000 within 10 years.

Picking Principals

Superintendent Tata mentioned early in his remarks the importance of good principals in the schools. “The #1 thing I do is pick principals.”

Tata changed the process of picking principals so he could personally interview the top two or three candidates for every opening.

School Assignment

School assignment has been the hot topic in education for residents of Wake County. Superintendent Tata spent considerable time explaining how he saw the situation.

“The number one thing I heard from parents was a desire for stability,” Tata told the crowd. With lots of new initiatives in the works, the bottom line for parents is “if you’re happy where you are, you can stay.”

Holding Bureaucracy Accountable

One of the most riveting parts of the address was a discussion on reforming bureaucracy. Tata said a lot of parents and community groups wanted to help out in education, but the bureaucracy makes it unnaturally difficult. He said WCPSS needed “an Easy Button.” Tata said he has a “chief of community engagement” and a “chief of transformation” personnel in place.

“How do you hold a bureaucracy accountable,” Tata asked the crowd. “How do you keep it from becoming like a self-licking ice-cream cone?” The Chamber members seemed to appreciate the metaphor.

Tata said he has a simple rubric:

Core Beliefs –> Focus Area –> Metrics

What that means: Core Beliefs are our goals for the school system. What do we want to achieve for our children? Focus Area is how you “operationalize” those beliefs – a plan of action. And Metrics measure the results.

Changes to the Board of Education

During the Q&A, someone asked General Tata how changes to the Board of Education in the recent election would effect his job. “Stay focussed on the mission,” Tata said. He related the situation to his time in the military, when Presidents and Congress might change, but soldiers still had the mission.

2 Bells?

Tata briefly discussed a study to consider whether Wake County could switch from a three bell system to two bells. This refers to the start time of different schools, generally organized around bus schedules.

Tata said all the buses go out every morning and make three trips, and another three in the afternoon. Staff at WCPSS is considering whether it may be possibler to condense start times to just two bells, saving a third of the bus trips. “We could save 8 figures,” Tata said. That’s tens of millions of dollars.

Tata said it’s just a theory for now, but he’s waiting for the dissertation.

Be Responsive, Be a Leader

Superintendent Tata touched on many other topics. He talked about a new high school for West Apex, renovations at Cary High and a new school called Scotch Ridge.

Bottom line on being Superintendent of Wake County Public Schools” “Be responsive. Be a leader.”

Story by Cindy Sinkez. Photo from Mills Park Middle 6th Grade Blog.

Cary, NC – Mills Park Middle School delivered 2276 pound of food to the Food Bank of Central and Eastern NC last week.

Mills Park Middle School is in its second year of existence and has a tradition of giving back to the community.  MPMS hosts food drives, collects recyclables, supports the troops, raised money for Juvenile diabetes and collects pet food and supplies for a local animal shelter.   Last year, the 6th grade Lions team began the tradition of a food drive.  December of 2010, Mills Park MS delivered one pound of food for every student in the school. This was enough to provide 999 meals.  This year MPMS set a goal to deliver 2000 pounds of food to the food bank of NC and exceeded that goal.  We delivered 1.73 pounds of food per student for a total of 2276 pounds of food.

The Food bank of Central and Eastern NC hosts Students Against Hunger food drive.  Over 75 schools have registered to help fight hunger in our area. Colleges and universities are also involved this year.  They have already collected nearly 25,000 pounds of food. The Food Bank of CENC will help over 180,000 children who are at risk of hunger.  The Students Against Hunger drive will continue through Dec. 3. If your school is interested in participating visit www.foodbankcenc,org/SAH   Schools that choose to compete to collect the most food and funds and will be honored during the annual Heart of Carolina food drive! Competing schools must deliver their food and funds to the warehouse by noon on December 3, 2011.

Every donation makes a difference in someone’s life and Mills Park Middle School is Leopard proud to make a difference in the hunger problem in North Carolina.

Cary, NC – A recent study by American City Business Journals (ABCJ), parent of Triangle Business Journal, studied brainpower in cities with more than 100,000 people. Guess who’s #1 in North Carolina?

Smartest City in the State

From TBJ:

Cary is the smartest city in North Carolina and the seventh smartest community in the country, according to a new ranking from American City Business Journals.

ABCJ used Census data and a complicated formula to array cities by smarts. ABCJ called it an “analysis of educational attainment.”

Cary ranked first in the state followed by Raleigh, Durham and then Charlotte.

Nationally, Cary ranked seventh. The leaders in the U.S. were Ann Arbor, Cambridge and Berkeley.

Story by Nancy Caggia and photos by Kevin LaWall. Above, Green Hope Band Director Brian Meyers leading band onto the field at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Cary, NC- Several area high school marching bands traveled to Indianapolis over the long weekend to compete in what has become an annual rite of passage. Cary High School advanced this weekend to the finals.

Bands of America Championship

The marching bands of Green Hope and Cary High schools competed at Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the NFL Colts, on Friday 11/11/11 in the Bands of America Grand National Championships. Bands of America is recognized as the premier marching band event in the nation. More than 90 bands from across America participate, including some of the finest, most progressive bands in the activity today.

The 2011 field competition featured 92 bands in preliminary competition.  Green Hope and Cary High competed at 9:15 a.m. and 6 p.m. respectively.

Cary High Advances to Saturday Morning

From the field of 92, thirty-six advance to play again on Saturday morning. Cary High was among them.

From these thirty-six, only twelve advance to play AGAIN on Saturday evening in the finals. None of our area high schools made it to this stage. Stiff competition from  Midwestern bands Broken Arrow High School in Oklahoma and Avon High School from Indianapolis placed these two 1st and 2nd.

Final results are posted on the Grand Nationals website