The Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce, the Partners in Education Foundation and Carlsbad Education Foundation have announced the finalists for the Outstanding Educational Program, an annual awards ceremony in which the business community celebrates the best and brigthest academic programs in Carlsbad schools.
The ceremony, titled "Toast a Teacher," will be held at 6 p.m. on Friday, May 4 at the La Costa Resort and Spa.
Awards are given out in four categories: The Arts, Entrepreneurial Program, Innovative Program and Science Program.
For more information about the awards, visit www.carlsbad.org
The 2012 Outstanding Educational Program Awards finalists are:
THE ARTS
• Carlsbad High, Orchestra Program
Lead teacher: Marina Hall
• Hope Elementary, Coloring Community
Connections
Lead teacher: Ann Lovick
ENTREPRENEURIAL PROGRAM
• Jefferson Elementary, JR Business Expo
Lead teachers: Rae Merritt, Robin Knox, Eileen Peer,
Michele Ward and Norma Rathgaber
• La Costa Heights Elementary, Leadership & Company
Lead teacher: Wendy Bram and Susie Pastor
• Mission Estancia Elementary, Super Tutor
Lead Teacher: Nancy Jones and Debbie Sauer
INNOVATIVE PROGRAM
• Aviara Oaks Elementary & Aviara Oaks Middle School,
Thursday with Fernando
Lead teacher: Angelika Arganda
• Buena Vista Elementary, Living Library
Lead teacher: Syndi Lyon
• Jefferson Elementary, Lifelong Leaders
Lead teachers: Estella Doncouse and Jill McManigal
SCIENCE PROGRAM
• El Camino Creek Elementary , Eco-Lution
Lead teacher: Jodi Greenberger
• Kelly Elementary , Like a Bridge over Rippling
Waters
Lead Teacher: Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Bray, Lorelei Kelleher,
Tracy Marks, Cindy Nichols, Jana Scott and Debby Stone
• La Costa Heights Elementary, What a Waste
Lead teachers: Sue Andrew, Ann Swan and Lucretia Woolf
Sponsorship opportunities are stil available. For more information, turn to page 15.
The ceremony, titled "Toast a Teacher," will be held at 6 p.m. on Friday, May 4 at the La Costa Resort and Spa.
Awards are given out in four categories: The Arts, Entrepreneurial Program, Innovative Program and Science Program.
For more information about the awards, visit www.carlsbad.org
The 2012 Outstanding Educational Program Awards finalists are:
THE ARTS
• Carlsbad High, Orchestra Program
Lead teacher: Marina Hall
• Hope Elementary, Coloring Community
Connections
Lead teacher: Ann Lovick
ENTREPRENEURIAL PROGRAM
• Jefferson Elementary, JR Business Expo
Lead teachers: Rae Merritt, Robin Knox, Eileen Peer,
Michele Ward and Norma Rathgaber
• La Costa Heights Elementary, Leadership & Company
Lead teacher: Wendy Bram and Susie Pastor
• Mission Estancia Elementary, Super Tutor
Lead Teacher: Nancy Jones and Debbie Sauer
INNOVATIVE PROGRAM
• Aviara Oaks Elementary & Aviara Oaks Middle School,
Thursday with Fernando
Lead teacher: Angelika Arganda
• Buena Vista Elementary, Living Library
Lead teacher: Syndi Lyon
• Jefferson Elementary, Lifelong Leaders
Lead teachers: Estella Doncouse and Jill McManigal
SCIENCE PROGRAM
• El Camino Creek Elementary , Eco-Lution
Lead teacher: Jodi Greenberger
• Kelly Elementary , Like a Bridge over Rippling
Waters
Lead Teacher: Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Bray, Lorelei Kelleher,
Tracy Marks, Cindy Nichols, Jana Scott and Debby Stone
• La Costa Heights Elementary, What a Waste
Lead teachers: Sue Andrew, Ann Swan and Lucretia Woolf
Sponsorship opportunities are stil available. For more information, turn to page 15.
How do you measure hope?
At Project Walk, it's often measured in small movements, the kind most people take for granted, wiggling a toe, pedaling a bike or standing up, unassisted, for a few seconds.
These milestones, colorfully chalked on a wall-sized blackboard near the entrance of Project Walk's headquarters in Carlsbad, detail the odd-defying accomplishments of people who were told they might never be able to do those things again following spinal cord injuries.
They are celebrated by everyone at Project Walk, said 30-year-old Chris Massey of Huntington Beach, who has been a client of the nonprofit organization since last September.
"When someone accomplishes a milestone, it gives us hope," says Massey. "If they can do it, so can I."
LIFE CHANGED IN AN INSTANT
The instant that changed Massey's life happened in February 2011. After fixing his stepson's bicycle, he jumped on his motorcycle and went to get a burrito for lunch. A black Dodge Magnum slammed into him, sending him over the handlebars landing head-first into a concrete planter. The driver fled the scene and was later arrested. Massey suffered a spinal cord injury, and was forced to start life anew.
"I didn't black out," Massey knew. "I knew immediately that I was paralyzed."
Doctors didn’t tell him he would never be able to walk again, but they didn't offer much hope that he would. The physical therapy he underwent afterward was designed to get Massey accustomed to living the rest of his life in a wheelchair.
Amy Genelle, a friend of his fianc?e and fellow Pop Warner Football coach, was familiar with Project Walk and suggested it to Massey. After looking into it, Massey said he knew he had to give it a try.
A PIONEERING NONPROFIT
Massey attends Project Walk once a week. Through their exercise regimen, he's gotten stronger. He can stand up and now is able to move his arms, which shortly after his accident were pinned to his chest.
Like most of the nonprofit's clients, Massey's road to recovery is slow and tough, the workouts grueling. At each session, a recovery specialist spends about an hour massaging and stretching him to get his body ready for the one-hour workout that follows. With the help of one or more trainers, he then goes through a series of exercises, all of them without his wheelchair, designed to help him increase function, bone density, muscle mass, sensation and circulation.
Since it was founded by sports trainers Ted and Tammy Dardzinski and Eric Harness in 1999, Project Walk has helped thousands of people with spinal cord injuries improve their lives, in some cases allowing them to stand, walk and take steps through their exercise-based recovery method, named thet Dardzinski Method.
The majority of Project Walk's clients are able to improve their condition, or "improve their function below their injury level", and live a better quality of life.
"When we started back in 1999, all therapy for spinal cord injury was focused on compensation, and on teaching you how to live your life in a wheelchair," said Harness, who is also Project Walk's director of research and development. "There was no focus whatsoever on recovery below the level of injury, and that's where our focus is."
In broad terms, the exercises clients perform at Project Walk allow their bodies to reorganize the nervous system around the injury site , and the undamaged portions take over the functions of the damaged portions, said Harness.
The philosophy Project Walk started has spread, Harness said, noting that several hospitals have now launched similar programs aimed at helping people in wheelchairs regain some level of independence. Not all of its clients will walk, said Harness, and no promises are made except that the staff will work as hard as their clients to help them recover as much function as possible.
"For me, if a client goes from using a power wheelchair to using a manual wheelchair, that's a huge success," Harness said. "If they go from a manual wheelchair to standing up, even if they can't walk, it's a huge change in their independence level."
Since it was founded, Project Walk has treated thousands of clients from 46 states, 20 countries and 6 continents. Each year, clients log about 26,000 hours at the nonprofit's Spinal Cord Recovery Center, which last October was relocated to 5850 El Camino Real, a new headquarters that added 9,000 square feet of space.
Project Walk is also looking to expand its operations throughout the world. It's created a certification program that allows 12 licensed facilities throughout the United States and five countries offer the same type of services offered in Carlsbad.
In addition, the center has a "train your trainer" program that allows clients to have their loved ones or caretakers learn the exercises, so that they can help them perform some of the exercises at home.
INDIVIDUAL GAINS
During a recent workout, Massey was hooked up to a body weight support system, a specially designed treadmill that features a crane-like arm that helps support his weight and stand up straight, while two trainers helped him move his feet. Then he moved on to a weight machine, where he worked on standing up and keeping his body straight.
Massey said that while his ultimate goal is leaving his wheelchair, he knows he has to work hard at every visit and keep a positive attitude. However, the hope that he has now has only been increased with his work at the center.
His friend, Genelle, said that along with Massey's physical progress, there's been an emotional one too.
"He just appears to be so much happier now," she said.
Massey confirmed the observation.
"This is the one thing that I look forward to every week," he said.
At Project Walk, it's often measured in small movements, the kind most people take for granted, wiggling a toe, pedaling a bike or standing up, unassisted, for a few seconds.
These milestones, colorfully chalked on a wall-sized blackboard near the entrance of Project Walk's headquarters in Carlsbad, detail the odd-defying accomplishments of people who were told they might never be able to do those things again following spinal cord injuries.
They are celebrated by everyone at Project Walk, said 30-year-old Chris Massey of Huntington Beach, who has been a client of the nonprofit organization since last September.
"When someone accomplishes a milestone, it gives us hope," says Massey. "If they can do it, so can I."
LIFE CHANGED IN AN INSTANT
The instant that changed Massey's life happened in February 2011. After fixing his stepson's bicycle, he jumped on his motorcycle and went to get a burrito for lunch. A black Dodge Magnum slammed into him, sending him over the handlebars landing head-first into a concrete planter. The driver fled the scene and was later arrested. Massey suffered a spinal cord injury, and was forced to start life anew.
"I didn't black out," Massey knew. "I knew immediately that I was paralyzed."
Doctors didn’t tell him he would never be able to walk again, but they didn't offer much hope that he would. The physical therapy he underwent afterward was designed to get Massey accustomed to living the rest of his life in a wheelchair.
Amy Genelle, a friend of his fianc?e and fellow Pop Warner Football coach, was familiar with Project Walk and suggested it to Massey. After looking into it, Massey said he knew he had to give it a try.
A PIONEERING NONPROFIT
Massey attends Project Walk once a week. Through their exercise regimen, he's gotten stronger. He can stand up and now is able to move his arms, which shortly after his accident were pinned to his chest.
Like most of the nonprofit's clients, Massey's road to recovery is slow and tough, the workouts grueling. At each session, a recovery specialist spends about an hour massaging and stretching him to get his body ready for the one-hour workout that follows. With the help of one or more trainers, he then goes through a series of exercises, all of them without his wheelchair, designed to help him increase function, bone density, muscle mass, sensation and circulation.
Since it was founded by sports trainers Ted and Tammy Dardzinski and Eric Harness in 1999, Project Walk has helped thousands of people with spinal cord injuries improve their lives, in some cases allowing them to stand, walk and take steps through their exercise-based recovery method, named thet Dardzinski Method.
The majority of Project Walk's clients are able to improve their condition, or "improve their function below their injury level", and live a better quality of life.
"When we started back in 1999, all therapy for spinal cord injury was focused on compensation, and on teaching you how to live your life in a wheelchair," said Harness, who is also Project Walk's director of research and development. "There was no focus whatsoever on recovery below the level of injury, and that's where our focus is."
In broad terms, the exercises clients perform at Project Walk allow their bodies to reorganize the nervous system around the injury site , and the undamaged portions take over the functions of the damaged portions, said Harness.
The philosophy Project Walk started has spread, Harness said, noting that several hospitals have now launched similar programs aimed at helping people in wheelchairs regain some level of independence. Not all of its clients will walk, said Harness, and no promises are made except that the staff will work as hard as their clients to help them recover as much function as possible.
"For me, if a client goes from using a power wheelchair to using a manual wheelchair, that's a huge success," Harness said. "If they go from a manual wheelchair to standing up, even if they can't walk, it's a huge change in their independence level."
Since it was founded, Project Walk has treated thousands of clients from 46 states, 20 countries and 6 continents. Each year, clients log about 26,000 hours at the nonprofit's Spinal Cord Recovery Center, which last October was relocated to 5850 El Camino Real, a new headquarters that added 9,000 square feet of space.
Project Walk is also looking to expand its operations throughout the world. It's created a certification program that allows 12 licensed facilities throughout the United States and five countries offer the same type of services offered in Carlsbad.
In addition, the center has a "train your trainer" program that allows clients to have their loved ones or caretakers learn the exercises, so that they can help them perform some of the exercises at home.
INDIVIDUAL GAINS
During a recent workout, Massey was hooked up to a body weight support system, a specially designed treadmill that features a crane-like arm that helps support his weight and stand up straight, while two trainers helped him move his feet. Then he moved on to a weight machine, where he worked on standing up and keeping his body straight.
Massey said that while his ultimate goal is leaving his wheelchair, he knows he has to work hard at every visit and keep a positive attitude. However, the hope that he has now has only been increased with his work at the center.
His friend, Genelle, said that along with Massey's physical progress, there's been an emotional one too.
"He just appears to be so much happier now," she said.
Massey confirmed the observation.
"This is the one thing that I look forward to every week," he said.