Writers’ Workshop Poetry Book.  ARTech students participating in the Writers’ Workshop group are compiling prose and poetry they have authored throughout the school year and are putting it into one publication, a poetry book.  Several copies of this journal will be given to the Key and area businesses who have hosted the writers during writing sessions this school year.

Latino Play Festival.  Students in the ESL (English as a Second Language) Performing Arts class at Northfield High School have spent the year writing and preparing plays.  Planned performances will be held at Carleton College and at the Northfield High School.  There will also be special performances for middle school students.  Evening performances at the Northfield High School are scheduled for May 11th and 12th.

TEAM UP Cinco de Mayo Event.  Teachers at the Northfield Middle School are planning a Cinco de Mayo celebration in conjunction with the Tattered Pages Mother’s Day sale on Thursday, May 3.  They encourage all middle school families to come to the middle school for an evening of entertainment and crafts.  A crowd favorite, Aztec dancers will perform.  The Cinco de Mayo event is free and will run from 5:00 to 7:30 p.m.

EGGPlants Field Trip to a Local Farm.  Three area St. Olaf College students have planned a field trip for two third grade classes, one from Greenvale Park Elementary School and one from St. Dominic’s School, to visit a local organic farm.  This is the capstone event of a seven week gardening and nutrition curriculum taught by the St. Olaf College students to the third grade classrooms.  The students will be going to the Simple Harvest Farm in early May.

Girls on the Run 5K.  Girls on the Run is an after-school program that uses the power of running to help prepare girls for a lifetime of self-respect and healthy living.  During the program, the girls train together, preparing to walk or run in a 5K (3.1 mile) event together.  This year, the culminating 5K takes place in Red Wing, Minnesota.  Youth go to the 5K with their Running Buddy, an adult who has helped them in training and/or supported their effort to be in the program.

ARTech Basketball Hoop.  Students at ARTech are leading an initiative to install a basketball hoop in the parking lot in back of the school.  They currently do not have a basketball hoop.  With the guidance of adults, students will research and install the hoop and its foundation.

Wisdom Retreat.  Students of the Northfield High School senior class are organizing a Wisdom Retreat for the senior class, to be led by Youth Frontiers.  Student organizers hope this time together will help seniors experience positive closure and guide them towards a meaningful transition into life beyond high school.  Youth Frontiers designs this retreat to:  increase school connectedness at a time when seniors often feel disconnected; provide seniors with an opportunity to gain a clearer perspective on their experiences; and nurture wise choices in the future.

Outdoor Stage Construction.  The Northfield Union of Youth plans to build an outdoor stage in the Key’s backyard to host concerts and other events.  This will require youth to design, plan, and eventually construct the stage, with the help of adults.  Youth at the Key hope the finished stage can be used for many community events.  This large project will give the youth an opportunity to learn skills in building and design.

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HCI offers mini-grants to projects and activities that:

• provide the opportunity for young people to develop positive intergenerational relationships with caring adults and/or
• connect Northfield youth with their communities (ex. neighborhood, school, wider Northfield)

Applications are reviewed monthly and are due by the second Monday of the month.  Visit www.northfieldhci.org/mini-grants for more information and to access the easy-to-complete application.

Funding for the HCI mini-grants comes from the Northfield Area United Way, Women In Northfield Giving Support (WINGS), and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Click HERE for information on the current postings, including contacts and the processes for applying.  Questions?  Contact HCI (507.664.3524; info@northfieldhci.org).

Positions currently accepting applications:

• AmeriCorps VISTA with Growing Up Healthy
• AmeriCorps VISTA with the HealthFinders Collaborative
• Accelerate Northfield VISTA
• VISTA with Northfield TORCH (Tackling Obstacles and Raising College Hopes)
• Reading Corps Tutor — Greenvale Park Elementary School
• Reading Corps Tutor — Sibley Elementary School
• Math Enrichment Corps Tutor — Northfield Middle School (two positions!)
• Math Enrichment Corps Tutor — Greenvale Park Elementary School
• LINKing Youth & Families VISTA
• Promise Fellows — up to six positions at school and community sites

Antonia Cristofaro-Hark, Arlo Cristofaro-Hark and John Daniels display the completed cedar strip canoe (photo supplied by John Daniels)

A Northfield man who helped a group of teenagers from the Key build a canoe is the February 2012 recipient of the Healthy Community Initiative “Making a Difference” Award.  The award celebrates those groups and individuals in the community who have a positive influence on Northfield youth.

John Daniels spent nine months guiding the teenagers through the 200-hour process of building a cedar strip canoe, which will be used for a fundraiser.  It was his fifth canoe project, but the first one involving youth.

“I was really impressed,” he said.  “I didn’t know how that would go because it takes a great deal of patience.  It’s a really slow process, for one thing – you have to be willing to work for a couple of hours at a time.  The kids were fine with that; they learned really quickly.  I would show them something once and turn them loose.”

The youth started the project in late March 2011, took most of the summer off, and completed the canoe in December.  Those involved were Danny Dobrow, Arlo Cristofaro-Hark, Helen Forsythe and Antonia Cristofaro-Hark.

Daniels said he was initially reluctant to assist in the project because he knew it was a big time commitment.  But he said it helped knowing the work could be drawn out over several months.

“I’m really glad I did it because it was well worth it for me.  I got a lot out of it.  It was fun and rewarding to get to know these kids,” he said. “Mentoring is a good thing; it has rewards, and they go both ways.”

- Story by Joy Riggs, HCI Board member and freelance writer

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The Healthy Community Initiative and the Northfield News present the Making a Difference Award cooperatively. If you know an individual or group that you would like to nominate for this award, click HERE for nomination guidelines and the easy-to-complete application or find HCI on Facebook.  Applications are accepted on an ongoing basis and are selected by a review team of HCI board members and local youth.

Funded projects included:

• Transition program for 8th grade low-income, minority, or first-generation college-bound students as they transition to the high school.  This project focuses on a series of events aimed at increasing the comfort of students as they enter high school and will help them develop the skills necessary for a successful freshman year.  Sessions will cover career exploration, academic course offerings, graduation and college entrance requirements, the importance of Grade Point Average (GPA), and related testing.  This project, run by the Tackling Obstacles and Raising College Hopes (TORCH) program, will also include a family event to acquaint parents with the possible access routes to education and the support that is available.

• High School students in the Tackling Obstacles and Raising College Hopes (TORCH) program will attend summer sessions on college campuses.  This program will introduce students who are at risk of not continuing their education to an experience that makes the goal of a college education a true possibility.  Participating students will spend between 1 and 8 weeks on a college campus this summer.

• College campus visits to Dakota County Technical College and to the University of Wisconsin – River Falls.  Approximately 35-40 8th grade students from the Northfield Middle School English as a Second Language class and middle school ALC program will make the field trip to both college campuses.  These campus visits will expose students to two different types of post-secondary programs as a starting point for discussion about the cost and types of training/educational opportunities available.  Most students selected for the campus visits are potential first-generation college students who have had limited or no exposure to the steps and processes that are a part of going to college or visiting college campuses.  These campus visits will stress the importance of graduation from high school and will highlight how additional education and training can improve employment opportunities.

• Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) Experience.  Students from the Northfield Area Learning Center are planning and preparing for a trip to the BWCAW.  Students will use asset- and character-building skills and potentially earn additional school credit for the experience.

• Support for programming of the Northfield Union of Youth (NUY), located at the Key in Northfield.  The Key provides free, quality programming to Northfield youth during at-risk times of the day (after school to curfew).  Students develop and maintain relationships with positive, caring adults during their time at the Key.  Youth involved in Key programming have a history of increased school attendance.  The Key currently has seven weekly programs, including Book Club, Physical Activities Club, Writing Workshop, Family Game Night, Art Night, Movie Night, and Cooking Class.

Clink HERE to check out the PSAs — you may even see a local face from the Northfield TORCH program in them!

•Evening of the Arts hosted by Greenvale Park Elementary School on April 3rd.  This annual event celebrates each student’s accomplishments in a variety of art forms, including visual, musical and/or performing arts.  All students and their families are encouraged to attend.  Greenvale Park students will have artwork on display, and older students will be performing musical pieces or reciting poetry or a dramatic reading in the Bistro Café.

•Beyond Words, an annual event for Sibley Elementary School.  Beyond Words brings students and their families together to view artwork and create art.  Families will be reading together, making books and bookmarks, and listening to students read poetry.  Beyond Words will take place at Sibley Elementary on the evening of April 12th.

•Autism Awareness “Steps of Hope Walk” Fundraiser.  The Girls Improving Friendships Together (G.I.F.T.) group is a support circle for girls on the Autism Spectrum.  These students are planning a bake sale where all money earned will be donated to the Autism Society of Minnesota, thus allowing the girls to participate in the “Steps of Hope Walk” taking place in early March.  The bake sale/fundraiser will take place at Northfield High School during the Varsity Boys’ basketball games on February 21 and February 24.

•The Senior Class Lock-in will be held on May 25th, the last day of classes for seniors at Northfield High School.  Seniors will come to school at 10:00 p.m. on Friday night and will be “locked-in” until 5:00 a.m. the next morning.  A wide variety of games and activities are planned.  This is a safe, chemical-free event for the 300+ students in the senior class.

•The Story of Anne Frank play at St. Paul Park Square Theater.  Eighth grade students in the English as a Second Language (ESL) class at Northfield Middle School are currently reading the book, The Story of Anne Frank.  These students, also part of the Tackling Obstacles and Raising College Hopes (TORCH) program, will attend The Story of Anne Frank play being performed at the St. Paul Park Square Theater in April.

•Day of Silence.  Students of the Gay-Straight Alliance at Northfield High School will participate in Day of Silence, a national event organized by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), where students remain silent for an entire day.  This event is designed to bring awareness to and protest the bullying and harassment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students.

•Cyberbullying Presentation.  The Northfield Middle School will offer a specific cyberbullying presentation to the 6th grade class.  A specialist in this field, Mr. David Eisenmann will speak to students about appropriate internet, Facebook, and cell phone texting use.  The Middle School hopes to make students aware of the types of bullying techniques used in the cyber world and the potential consequences of cyberbullying.

•ARTech’s Society for Skeptical Inquiry.  Students at the Northfield School of Arts and Technology (ARTech) are forming a group to promote critical thinking skills and academic integrity among students.  The ARTech students plan to bring speakers in to present at their meetings, starting in March.  They have already identified a first speaker to talk about the importance of critical thinking and how to utilize this skill to avoid scams and frauds.

•Colleen Riley Artist in Residency.  Karna Hauck, art teacher at Sibley Elementary School, will welcome ceramic artist Colleen Riley as a guest teacher for the 3rd grade art classes.  The artist will help the students create ceramic/clay garden ornaments.  The students’ art projects will be displayed at Sibley’s Beyond Words event in April.

•Library Beach Party!  Teens active with the Northfield Public Library’s Teen Advisory Board (TAB) will create and host a nine-hole mini-golf experience (with “driving range”) set up throughout the Northfield Library on Sunday, March 4th.  This has become a popular annual event for the library.  In addition to mini-golf, TAB members plan to offer laser tag and beach party-themed games for event participants.  Everyone is welcome to attend this event.

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HCI offers mini-grants to projects and activities that:

• provide the opportunity for young people to develop positive intergenerational relationships with caring adults and/or
• connect Northfield youth with their communities (ex. neighborhood, school, wider Northfield)

Applications are reviewed monthly and are due by the second Monday of the month.  Visit www.northfieldhci.org/mini-grants for more information and to access the easy-to-complete application.

Funding for the HCI mini-grants comes from the Northfield Area United Way, Women In Northfield Giving Support (WINGS), and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

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• “Northfield school board praises efforts of HCI” (February 15, 2012)

• “Invisible helping hand: Funding needed to support youth development” (February 18, 2012)

• “HCI wrestles with sustainability questions,” column by Scott Richardson (HCI Board member) from February 8, 2012

Students Jasmine Barksdale, Olivia Upham and Jon Fried are surprised with the Making a Difference Award at the December benefit concert. Not pictured is Gabby Frenstad. Photo by Helen Forsythe.

Four teenagers who organized a benefit concert for a family who lost their home in a fire are the December 2011/January 2012 recipients of the Healthy Community Initiative’s  “Making a Difference” Award.  The award celebrates those groups and individuals in the community who have a positive influence on Northfield youth.

Within hours of learning of the Thanksgiving Eve fire that destroyed the home of the Haslett-Marroquin family, ARTech students Gabby Frenstad and Olivia Upham and Northfield High School students Jasmine Barksdale and Jon Fried rallied support for the family through a Facebook page and organized a concert and bake sale.  Their efforts have raised more than $6,500.

“I was incredibly surprised by how amazing the response was,” said Fried.  “Right from when we started organizing, we knew there would be a lot of people involved, and we knew that the event would probably have a good turnout, but it wasn’t until we got a call from the Star Tribune the evening of concert that the impact of what we were doing really hit me.”

Barksdale said her favorite memory of the concert was seeing all the people streaming in through the doors, after worrying that no one would show up.  “I definitely did not expect that many people to be willing to devote their time and money to people who they didn’t really know.  I think it says a lot about the community we live in,” she said.

“What these young people did for our family and for this community’s spirit after our house fire is beyond what we had imagined,” said Reginaldo and Amy Haslett-Marroquin.  “Together with the immense generosity and accompaniment from so many others, they have made our journey bearable and manageable.  The English language does not have a word that would properly express the depth of our gratitude.  What the youth gifted us with was so much more than funds – it was hope, and with hope anything is possible.”

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The Healthy Community Initiative and the Northfield News present the Making a Difference Award cooperatively. If you know an individual or group that you would like to nominate for this award, visit  www.northfieldhci.org for nomination guidelines and the easy-to-complete application — or find HCI on Facebook.  Applications are accepted on an ongoing basis and are selected by a review team of HCI board members and local youth.

Article written by Joy Riggs, HCI Board member and freelance writer

The following Sunday, February 5, 2012, St. John’s Forum will include a panel presentation at 9:45 a.m. in St. John’s Hall.   Greg Kneser, Dean of Students at St. Olaf College; Joel Leer, Principal at Northfield High School; John Sand, Athletic Trainer and Health Educator at Northfield High School; and Joan Janusz, Member of the Northfield Mayor’s Task Force on Youth Alcohol & Drug Use, will be the panelists discussing addiction and substance use in Northfield.

The events are free and all are welcome to attend.  St. John’s Church is located at 500 3rd Street West in Northfield.

For more information, please call Barb Knaak at 507-664-0444.

•The Northfield High School for the 10th Grade Career Fair.  The high school will host a career fair for all 10th grade students, giving them an opportunity to explore career interests and make connections with adult community members.  At the career fair, community members will speak to students about their careers and answer any questions that the students may have.  Juniors and seniors from the high school will be involved with the planning and implementation of the career fair.  The event follows a “Career Opportunities” lesson taught in all 10th grade classrooms.

•Northfield Area Learning Center students for the BWCAW Experience.  A group of students at the Northfield Area Learning Center (ALC) is planning a trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.  They are working to raise the money needed to outfit themselves and two chaperones for the experience, which is planned for mid-June.  The trip offers outdoor experiences for youth who have never had them before and provides a place to talk about the life choices and challenges each student faces.

•Northfield Middle School TORCH for Celebrate Success.  The middle school TORCH (Tackling Obstacles and Raising College Hopes) program is planning a celebratory gathering for all middle school TORCH students who make the honor roll (earn a 2.6 GPA or greater) at the end of each of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th quarters.  Each event would be held at the Northfield Middle School, where qualifying TORCH students will enjoy a pizza party and a movie.  Middle school administrators will be invited to these events.

•Vayu Maini Rekdal, freshman at Carleton College.  Rekdal and fellow members of the Carleton cooking club, FireBellies, will be giving cooking lessons to students of the Northfield Middle School Youth Center.  Carleton students will teach basic cooking skills, sustainability, and nutrition, while promoting an understanding of different cultures and cuisines.

•Jennifer Lompart, teacher at Northfield High School.  Ms. Lompart will host a celebratory gathering for all English as Second Language (ESL) students who have achieved good grades in all of their classes at the end of each of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th quarters.  At each event, students and their parents will gather to eat, visit, and watch a movie.

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HCI offers mini-grants to projects and activities that:

• provide the opportunity for young people to develop positive intergenerational relationships with caring adults and/or
• connect Northfield youth with their communities (ex. neighborhood, school, wider Northfield)

Applications are reviewed monthly and are due by the second Monday of the month.  Visit www.northfieldhci.org/mini-grants for more information and to access the easy-to-complete application.

Funding for the HCI mini-grants comes from the Northfield Area United Way, Women In Northfield Giving Support (WINGS), and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

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