News Briefs

Winthrop Art Association

“ART@Crest Ave. Park in the Highlands on Crest Avenue will be held on  Saturdays June 22, July 13, 27, August 10 and 24 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Come and enjoy the Winthrop Art Association member arts and crafts. For information contact Dawn at 617-846-2644.

Temple Tifereth Israel Presents a Discussion on the Holocaust

Temple Tifereth Israel will present “The Holocaust:  Its Origin, Planning, and Execution Author Talk & Discussion at  Temple Tifereth Israel, 93 Veterans Road, on Tuesday, June 25 from 6:30 – 8 p.m. 

The Holocaust, carried out by Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany during World War II, was the most heinous organized crime of the 20th century, if not all of human history.  If we wish to prevent such horrors from ever happening again, we must first educate ourselves on how and why it happened.  

The goal of this discussion is to contribute to our community’s knowledge of the history of the Holocaust and to help ensure that that history – or any similar series of events and deeds – does not repeat itself.  

A significant portion of the session will be devoted to the personal experiences of survivors, their families and neighbors from the city of Vilna, Poland (now Vilnius, Lithuania.)  Also the discussion will focus on the origins and growth of anti-Semitism that made the Holocaust possible; how the Nazis organized and carried out their “Final Solution;” and why America and the rest of the world were slow to act on evidence of atrocities.  

The speaker will be Thomas Burke, who grew up in Winthrop, attended BC High School and Boston College.  He is a freelance writer, writing tutor and history enthusiast whose first book was a co-authored “History of Boston College Hockey.”

He has developed a personal interest in the Holocaust and is assisting a Holocaust survivor in writing her life story.  He has conducted extensive research over the past four years and has developed and delivered courses on The Holocaust for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Dartmouth College and UMass-Boston.   

Information email:   templetiferethisrael@gmail.com.

BHCC Awarded $140,000 Grant to Support Early College Programs

 Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC) was among eight public colleges and 13 high schools that were awarded new early college designations giving high school students the opportunity to study college-level courses and obtain credits before graduating high school. On June 13, BHCC and Madison Park Technical Vocational High School’s Roxbury Massachusetts Advanced Post-Secondary Pathways Program (RoxMAPP) partnership was awarded a $140,000 grant to expand their early college program.

Gov. Charlie Baker and Education Secretary James Peyser made the announcement at BHCC during an event recognizing the high schools and colleges that launched early college programs this school year. With the new designations, 35 high schools and 18 colleges will offer opportunities for students that are low-income, minority or potentially first-generation college students to take traditional high school classes with college courses at a local college/university. The goal of this program is to create a continuous path for these students to move from high school to college and careers.

“We believe early college has such an impact on student success,” Governor Baker said. “Our administration proposed making it part of a school district’s state aid calculations so that more districts can provide students with these opportunities.”

 The RoxMAPP Early College High School partnership with BHCC has been engaged in curriculum alignment in math and English to develop greater connections between high school and college instructors and to assist greater numbers of students to be college ready in these key subject areas. A “Bridge to Success” curriculum was developed by the partners to provide college exploration and readiness that complements the robust vocational curriculum already offered to Madison Park students. Most early college students take up to two courses per semester at BHCC and select courses in business and marketing, health science, technology, general education and more.

 â€œI’m so proud to see the students, teachers, staff and administrators of Madison Park being recognized for years of hard work and dedication,” said Nuri Chandler-Smith, Dean of Academic Support and College Pathway Programs at BHCC. “A hallmark of the RoxMAPP Early College High School partnership with BHCC is that it enables students to earn both an industry recognized credential and significant number of college credits by the time they graduate high school. Madison Park students have demonstrated that they are capable of excellence and deserve the best of our resources.”

“Early college leverages academics, advising and career literacy,” said BHCC President Pam Eddinger. “In this initiative all students, not just the top 1-percent, can excel when given the right support and the right environment. I believe this is the practice of equity in our college work, when we stop seeing our students as ‘at-risk’, but at-promise.”

In 2018, the Richard and Susan Smith Family Foundation awarded $2.4 million to BHCC to establish early college at BHCC. The funding covers a three-year project horizon and will allow BHCC to consolidate its early college efforts into a core model that anticipates growth in scale and performance. Through partnerships with area high schools and community-based organizations, nearly 500 students participate in BHCC’s early college program annually. For more information on BHCC’s early college programs visit bhcc.edu/hspartnerships/earlycollege.