PACERS – News and Events

News and Events

NEWS-Celebrating Appalachian Communities
Community Celebration workshops. With generous support from the Appalachian Regional Commission and assistance from PACERS, Section and Camp Hill communities and Section High School have begun work on Celebrating Appalachian Communities, a project through which young people and adults will document and celebrate their towns.

The project officially began in April, 2011 with the formation of planning teams in Section and Camp Hill. The teams include young people, teachers, community members, and elected officials. In collaboration with PACERS staff and professional resource persons, the teams are defining local project goals and planning for workshops to be held in Camp Hill August 19-21 and Section August 22-23.

The workshops will train young people and aduls to document their communities through the arts: including music, photography, videography, and history. Workshops will also include sessions on festival/celebration publicity and organizational requirements. Workshop leaders will include Dr. Jay Lamar, Director of the Center for Arts and Humanities, Auburn University; Larry Long, creator of Elders Wisdom Childrens Song (www.commyunitycelebration.org); Andrew Goetz, nationally recognized photographer (www.goetzphoto.com); Fred Fluker, award winning graphic designer, and Dr. Jennifer Adams, Director of the Journalism Program at Auburn University.

Local teachers, musicians, and historians will also participate in the workshops and in school settings. From August 2011 through the spring of 2012, planning for the summer 2012 celebrations will continue and young people and adults, with ongoing assistance from project resource persons, will create artifacts central to the celebrations including songs, videos, oral histories, graphic designs, and photographic images.

To: Participants in the PACERS Community/School Garden Program From: Jack Shelton Re: Project Notes/Developments The community/school gardening program is growing rapidly. Conversations about the project began in Packer’s Bend and Camp Hill in December, 2009. Both of those communities and schools have made great strides with the program. And this spring they are being joined by Section, Pintlala, Beatrice, Steele, Akron, Red Level and possibly Loachapoka. There is already a school garden at Huxford so I have included them in this mailing. Several other schools/communities have expressed interest and may join this spring. Project agreements are in the mail to Section, Pintlala, and Steele. There are several important things to be considering about the project. (Click to read more)

Entrepreneurship/Getting Down to Business
Funding Opportunities for 2010-11
(Click here to download application)

Seeking to develop student-operated entrepreneurial programs, PACERS will make available four venture capital grants of a maximum of $1,000.00 during 2010-11. The grants are intended to support student-operated entrepreneurial activities — preferably based on existing PACERS programs including newspapers, community documentation and rural science (solar, aquaculture, greenhouse, gardening). PACERS will assist participants in funded projects to prepare a brief business plan. For more information contact Jack Shelton (admin@pacersinc.org), or to apply complete the following application and submit it to (admin@pacersinc.org).

Project Title
Community/School
Project Sponsor/s (teacher and community member)
Student Participants
Project Summary (2 paragraphs defining the project and explaining its purpose, benefits, and rationale for success)

Connection (if any) to Existing PACERS Projects Budget

Section Opens Feed and Seed Business (Pictorial)

PACERS Steele Chapter Creates Website The Steele PACERS Chapter has developed a chapter website. Local PACERS members can now keep current with all school and community issues. Jayson England, Steele science teacher and PACERS member, created and maintains the website. Mr. England will be discussing the development of the Steele website at the 2010 PACERS Conference. If you are interested in learning more about developing your own chapter website, please attend the "Chapter Business" breakout session at 10 a.m.

Community Garden Project Underway Packer's Bend (Monroe Intermediate) and Camp Hill (Edward Bell HS) have begun planning for community gardens that will serve community members and the schools. Plots have been identified and a schedule prepared to start the projects this spring.

Section and Community Documentation Section has created a Community Documentation project that documents and archives the lives of elders in their community. Twenty six students are currently involved in the project. Videography, still photography, and journalism are three of the skills being utilized in this project.

PACERS Developing On-Line Tutorials
Jayson England, Steele science teacher and PACERS chapter member, and Andy Goetz, professional photographer, and PACERS Director of Membership, are developing on-line video tutorials for Photoshop and QuarkXPress. These two applications are the industry standard for newspaper design, photography, and publishing.
The tutorials will be made available to all PACERS Schools and Chapters in April.

PACERS newsletters

The PACERS Newsletter is a bi-monthly publication. Please email any information that you would like to share about your PACERS Chapter, i.e., project updates, chapter business, editorial articles, etc.

All information/submissions should be sent to: agoetz@pacersinc.org

Click links to view PACERS Newsletters

• Vol. 1, Number 8 (Nov. 9, 2010)

• Vol. 1, Number 7 (June 28, 2010)

• Vol. 1, Number 6 (June 7, 2010)

• Vol. 1, Number 5 (May 7, 2010)

• Vol. 1, Number 4 (March 31, 2010)

• Vol. 1, Number 3 (March 10, 2010)

• Vol. 1, Number 2 (February 16, 2010)

• Vol. 1, Number 1 (February 1, 2010)

news archives

PACERS Solar Science Workshop - January, 2008
(Click to read the article)

PACERS Community Newspaper Workshop - January, 2008
(Click to read the article)

PACERS Goes International — Again - November, 2007
(Click to read the article)

Aquaculture Update - October, 2007
(Click to read the article)

PACERS Rural Science for Life: Solar Project Report - September, 2007
(Click to read the article)

PACERS Newspaper Workshop - July 27, 2007
(Click to read the article)

PACERS Community Newspaper Project (PCNP) - May 11, 2007
(Click to read the article)

PACERS Rural Science for Life Solar Project - April 20, 2007
(Click to read the article)