Contact: Ashley Northington
DENOR Brands & Public Relations
504.345.8831 or 615.928.1909
info@denorbrands.com
FRIENDSHIP CAPITOL HIGH SCHOOL TO TAKE PART IN PRESTIGIOUS, NATIONAL PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
Friendship Capitol High School is set to roll out several initiatives this year. Among several initiatives, the school has established a leadership development program through its partnership with nationally renowned organization, Leading Educators. In addition to this partnership, the school will also launch a lacrosse team and provide its ninth and tenth grade students with take-home laptop computers.
BATON ROUGE (January 24, 2016) – Friendship Capitol High School is introducing several new measures this year. Chiefly among them is the school’s unique partnership with Leading Educators. The school is the first in the region to provide leadership development and training to its entire instructional leadership team. Leading Educators is designed to equip top teacher leaders with skills necessary to lead others and support academic achievement. In addition to this, the school is also set to supply its ninth and tenth grade students with take home laptop computers on Thursday.
Leading Educators partners with schools and districts to help highly effective teachers develop the leadership skills they need to successfully transition from leading students to leading their peers. The goal of the program is to extend the impact, methods, and best practices of top teachers to improve student outcomes. At Friendship Capitol, the organization will work with all content area leads as well as both the school’s principals.
“Everything we do is about developing our scholars so that they become successful,” said Friendship Capitol High Associate Executive Director Justin Blanchard said. “While Leading Educators is focused on developing skills of our leaders, the ultimate goal of our partnership is tied to our mission at Capitol, and that is to provide a world-class education that motivates students to achieve high academic success and actively contribute to the communities.”
Additionally, the school is launching a new lacrosse team. Friendship Capitol received an in-kind donation equipment worth nearly $10,000 from USA Lacrosse, the national governing body of the sport. First played by Native Americans, lacrosse is America’s oldest and fastest-growing team sport in the country with participation tripling in the past decade. Decorated lacrosse coach, Michael Wilson, will lead Capitol’s new lacrosse team – an anomaly in urban school settings.
“We’re focused on restoring a legacy and creating a high-quality, school of excellence at Capitol,” Friendship Education Foundation Executive Director Brian Beck said. “In many cases, we’re providing our scholars with academic, athletic, and artistic opportunities and outlets they might not receive elsewhere. From our sport offerings to the partnership with Leading Educators, we will continue to pursue innovative initiatives and resources that will enhance the experience of our scholars and allow us to compete with the top performing schools in the state and nation.”
The new lacrosse team and Leading Educators partnership are not the only ways the school is positioning itself to become among the best. The school has wholeheartedly embraced technology and committed to a 1:1 technology ratio for all students. During a parent session on Thursday, the school is issuing its ninth and tenth grade students with take home laptop computers.
Already the school has embraced Google for Education. More than 70 of the top 100 universities in the U.S. have shifted to the Google platform, including seven of the eight Ivy League schools.
“The adoption of the Google suite will simultaneously support our teachers and prepare our scholars for what they will see in when they step foot on college campuses,” said Takeisha Russell, an English teacher at Capitol.
Teachers and students use Google drive and other platforms to enhance the learning experience. For example, teachers now have the capability to implement flipped learning practices by creating screencasts that are recorded, archived, and available to scholars around the clock. All teachers are certified Level 1 Google instructors. All students have their own personal G-mail accounts.
Beck said the adaption of Google and the take-home computers will only enhance the students’ overall learning experience.
The media and public are invited to attend the school’s parent meeting on Thursday. For more information, please contact DENOR Brands & Public Relations at 504.345.8831 or 615.928.1909 or info@denorbrands.com. You may also contact Justin Blanchard at jblanchard@friendshipla.org.
Who: Friendship Capitol High School
What: 9th & 10th Grade Parent Meeting
When: 6 p.m. on Thursday, January 26
Where: Friendship Capitol High School Gymnasium, located at 1000 N. 23rd Street
Why: Learning about new initiatives, providing students with take-home laptop computers
DENOR Brands + Public Relations is a public relations, marketing and brand strategy firm in Tennessee, Louisiana and beyond. The agency specializes in developing communication strategies that influence public policy, programs, and partnerships in the education, nonprofit, and small business sectors.
