Wishing You a Joyous Holiday Season!
On behalf of the Barbara Neu Memorial Scholarship, I wish you and yours a joyous holiday season.
Children Talking to Little Women in Boxes
This article in the Wall Street Journal on the early childhood development impacts of digital personal assistants and smart speakers made me think of Mrs Neu. If she were early in her career at this point, she would have certainly developed a learned opinion on this topic.
Here is the article lead:
“Parents, your child may have a new secret friend: your smart speaker.
Drawn by the devices’ voice-activated interfaces and warm, playful tone, children as young as 1 are interacting with Amazon’s Alexa, Google’s Assistant or Apple’s Siri long before they can type or swipe, new research shows.
This is new territory for families. For the first time, children who are too young to distinguish fantasy from reality are engaging with devices powered by artificial intelligence. Many see smart speakers as magical, imbue them with human traits and boss them around like a Marine drill sergeant, accord-ing to several new studies in the past year.”
Apart from picking up rude habits, which is the article title’s concern, will children growing up with these devices pick up totally unexpected habits and see other skill-sets degraded? Kids growing up with smartphones don’t often have good phone conversation skills, for example, but they can text, post, and watch on a level those of us who did not grow up with them can’t match. What will kids growing up with ever smarter versions of Alexa, Siri and Hey Google be losing and gaining? What might they tell them? And since children are also listening, what will they learn from what these little women say?
Congratulations to Ryan Everitt!
Congratulations to Ryan Everitt, the second recipient of the Barbara Neu Memorial Scholarship. He will be officially honored at Senior Awards Night on Tuesday, May 29 (6:00pm in Davis Senior High School’s Richard Brunelle Performance Hall).
Ryan attended Fairfield from 2006-2009, having Mrs Neu for his first two years and Mrs Ryan for his second two. After graduating from Davis Senior High School this year, Ryan plans to study film, television production and theater arts at Boston University. He dreams of performing on Broadway.
Linda Book helped Ryan learn that he loved to sing while at Fairfield and Mrs Neu helped him overcome being embarrassed to sing around others.
“Initially, I was too shy to even move around. I had my fists clenched in fright, jaw locked shut, and my eyes wide. I scanned the crowd and spotted Mrs Neu. We made eye contact, and she could see how petrified I was to be in front of an audience. She gave me a warm smile that melted my fears. ‘The Hummingbird Song’ began to play, and I could not possibly resist the urge to rock out about the hummingbird stuck in someone’s nose. As ridiculous as it was, I felt comfortable to just enjoy sharing the stage with other people that I cared about and who cared about me. ”
Click here if you don't know the Hummingbird Song.
Judging from the clip below, Ryan has definitely overcome his fear of singing on stage.
Ryan Everitt performing "Donny Novitski" from the musical, "Bandstand", composed by Richard Oberacker. This is a clip of him performing in the Davis Senior High School Jazz Choir Annual Cabaret Dinner.
We wish Ryan all the best with making his dream come true.
Crying Over Standardized Tests
Mrs Neu was not a fan of standardized tests. This was especially true when it came to testing younger children whose brains may not be yet fully wired to make all the connections needed to succeed in taking what they'd been taught by a teacher and answering a standardized question on the test.
She once wrote:
“A teacher cried today. She stepped out of her classroom where her third graders had their heads bent over the State’s standardized test and tried to compose herself. She saw me and shook her head. “I tried so hard, I did everything I could to prepare them” she said. “But they are just not making the connections, they are just not ready to do this. It’s cruel to keep on with it every day—seven and half-hours of testing in a week? I can’t stand it.” A new teacher? One of those withoutcredentials? No, one of the best teachers in the state. This teacher has years of experience and has advanced training in reading and math. She works long hours to meet the educational needs of her diverse group. She does everything possible to help herstudents learn.I guess she will have to be fired (if she doesn’t quit in despair) because her test scores will be down. Her students don’t have the development and maturity to pull together what they have been taught. They haven’t yet made the connections to learn what is needed to get high scores on the test. They will be failures even though they have made much progress.I cry too.”
Five Applications are In!
Julie Clayton at Davis Senior High School tells us: "I’m happy to report that I received five applications on Friday for the scholarship!" Scholarship applications typically come in on deadline day, we are told.
Now the fun of deciding begins. Stay tuned.
Happy Easter!
Happy Easter! Don’t forget the scholarship application deadline is Friday, April 6.
It’s 2 Years Ago Today
Missing you. RIP.
Tell us how a teacher has made a difference in your life
One of the requirements for the Barbara Neu Memorial Scholarship application is submitting one or more paragraphs on how a teacher made a difference in your life (remember the application deadline is April 6, look here for more info).
Many people take the time to recognize teachers that made an impact on them. For example, here is an excerpt from a blog post by Bill Gates:
“When I first met Mrs. Caffiere, she was the elegant and engaging school librarian at Seattle’s View Ridge Elementary, and I was a timid fourth grader. I was desperately trying to go unnoticed, because I had some big deficits, like atrocious handwriting (experts now call it dysgraphia) and a comically messy desk. And I was trying to hide the fact that I liked to read—something that was cool for girls but not for boys.
Mrs. Caffiere took me under her wing and helped make it okay for me to be a messy, nerdy boy who was reading lots of books.
She pulled me out of my shell by sharing her love of books. She started by asking questions like, “What do you like to read?” and “What are you interested in?” Then she found me a lot of books—ones that were more complex and challenging than the Tom Swift Jr. science fiction books I was reading at the time. For example, she gave me great biographies she had read. Once I’d read them, she would make the time to discuss them with me. “Did you like it?” she would ask. “Why? What did you learn?” She genuinely listened to what I had to say. Through those book conversations in the library and in the classroom we became good friends.
Teachers generally don’t want to burden their students with extra reading beyond the homework they’ve assigned. But I learned from Mrs. Caffiere that my teachers had so much more knowledge to share. I just needed to ask. Up through high school and beyond, I would often ask my teachers about the books they liked, read those books when I had some free time, and offer my thoughts.
Looking back on it now, there’s no question that my time with Mrs. Caffiere helped spark my interest in libraries (Melinda’s and my first large-scale effort in philanthropy) and my focus on helping every child in America get the benefit of great teachers. I often trace the beginning of our foundation to an article about children in poor countries dying from diseases eliminated long ago in the U.S. But I should give some credit as well to the dedicated librarian and teacher who helped me find my strengths when I was nine years old. It’s remarkable how much power one good person can have in shaping the life of a child. ”
If I think about my own situation, there are many teachers that have had an impact. The one that stands out most for me growing up is Don Hartman, who was my sixth-grade teacher at Pioneer Elementary School. Mr. Hartman had a number of traditions that are forever etched in my mind.
The first being his reading books to the class. He could have had a career in audiobooks if he wanted to because I can still hear him reading passages from The Cay and The White Mountains in my head to this day.
There was also this green-light, red-light system that signified when you could talk to friends (we often played Hearts) and move about the class (green light) and when it was time for quiet and work (red light)
Another impactful thing was his love of technical things and mechanical drawings. Buiding and launching model rockets is something that he introduced me to, plus he would produce technical drawings on command of things like fighter jets and railroad locomotives (this, during green-light time) using pencil and paper. It was through this that I learned he liked to make model railroad locomotives, which resulted in having him create a replica of the one my grandfather (Mrs Neu's father) drove on his last run for the Western Pacific before he retired as a railroad engineer (see below).
Don Hartman's replica of my grandfather's last-run locomotive before he retired.
Finally, and in retrospect, the most impactful thing Mr. Hartman taught me was to strive for excellence. It was the stickers. He had this system of rewarding the quality of work on assignments with a hierarchy of stickers, which included things like state flags, but with the ultimate prize of receiving a president sticker. Those were very rare and extremely coveted. He may have given us grades, too, I don't remember, but I do remember striving for a president sticker and the feeling of accomplishment when finally receiving one. Doing well in school was a never topped after that, and I wish I still had one of those stickers to show for my effort, or, better still, I wish I had the opportunity to earn another one. Thanks, Mr. Hartman.
If you are not applying for the Barbara Neu Memorial Scholarship this year, and you still want to tell us about a teacher who made a difference in your life, please do so in the comments below.
A Memorial Tea
My sister is holding a tea today in memory of our Mom (Mrs Neu) with some of my Mom's friends .
As she notes:
“My Mom would host a Tea each month for friends and her students’ parents to gather together. She had such an amazing ability to connect people and create community. ❤️”
It's the little things that can be big when they connect people. And this one is a way for people now gone to remain connected with us. Thanks, Jenny, have fun.
Mrs Neu would have been 78 today.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
This one’s for Mom.
Learning as a Core Value
One of the selection criteria for the Barbara Neu Memorial Scholarship is the value the applicant places on education as a means for personal development.
Education is broadly defined and might be seen as a commitment to continual learning—and not just in school or what might be considered formal education.
Mrs Neu taught a love for learning. Learning is a core value that everyone should share. There are so many opportunities to learn; and the more you look for them, the more you will find.
Most Went to Grade School with Siblings
This quick Facebook poll confirms that most people went to the same grade school as their sibling(s): 86%.
So there is a bit of what makes Faifield special In the childhood experience of most of us.
Fund Passes the $60,000 Level
We are happy to report that the Barbara Neu Memorial Scholarship Fund has exceeded the $60k threshold with a fund balance of $60,707. We have received donations since the fund's inception of $55,116.
Photo by kemalbas/iStock / Getty Images
Thank you to all who have contributed!
Siblings and the Fairfield Experience
One of the questions on the Barbara Neu Memorial Scholarship application is "Did any of your siblings also attend Fairfield School?" This is for good reason since siblings tend to be a big part of the Fairfield experience.
Many families enjoy the Fairfield experience so much, or siblings want so much to have the same experience as an older brother or sister, that it becomes a shared family one.
Since most students attend by choice, via an application process, siblings attending Fairfield is a bit different than when they attend the same elementary school based on where they live.
Also, as a small, two-classroom school, you are generally in much closer proximity to your brother or sister than at most other schools (should you be close enough in age to attend at the same time).
And, finally, the teacher connection to siblings because of the small, two-classroom environment is almost guaranteed.
All of this is part of why Mrs Neu loved Fairfield.
Time for the Second Scholarship
The Barbara Neu Memorial Scholarship Fund is accepting applications for its second award grant ($1,250). We are pleased to be working again with Julie Clayton at the David Senior High School Career to award this year's scholarship. Applications are being accepted through April 6.
We've been able to raise this year's scholarship grant to $1,250 (keep the donations coming so we can keep giving more)!
To apply, you can download the application by clicking on the image below or visit Julie Clayton at the Davis Senior High School Career Center, 315 W 14th St, Davis, CA 95616. If you need to contact her dial 530-757-5400, ext. 140.
In order to ensure your application is received for processing, Julie suggests that you bring it to her in person by the deadline: April 6, 2018.
Click on the image above to download the pdf.
Eligibility
To be eligible for consideration to receive a Barbara Neu Memorial Scholarship, you must:
- Have attended Fairfield Elementary School in Davis, California (part of the DJUSD) and be able to provide evidence of such attendance satisfactory to the fund’s Selection Committee;
- Complete and sign the Barbara Neu Memorial Scholarship Fund Application Form and submit it together with a recent transcript and at least one letter of recommendation the fund’s Selection Committee before the applicable annual submission date, as provided on the application form; and
- Agree to use any Barbara Neu Memorial Scholarship Fund scholarship award solely for tuition and/or fees, books and supplies at a valid educational institution for the educational purpose identified in the application form.
Given the Davis Senior High School Career Center's administration of the 2018 award, recipients will be limited to high school seniors at Davis Senior High or Leonardo da Vinci High School in Davis, CA.
The scholarship award selection will be made in mid-April and the recipient will be notified thereafter, or by the end of April. Official recognition will occur at the Davis Senior High School Senior Awards Night on May 29, 2018.
We look forward to meeting this year's winner!
An Update From Liam
We recently received an update from Liam Schroth, the first Barbara Neu Memorial Scholarship recipient, and he’s given us permission to share it.
“Dear Neu Family,
As I’m about to start my second semester at Sonoma State, I thought I’d take some time to update all of you on how I’ve been putting the scholarship to use.
I’ve become as involved as I possibly can in my major. When the semester started, I hurried to finish all the curriculum available to me in the one computer science class I was in as soon as I could. After that, I showed my professor what I’d done and asked what more there was I could do for the rest of the semester. He then introduced me to a research project he’s been working on for a few years, and offered for me to help him produce documentation and examples of his work, which I would then be able to present at a cybersecurity conference later in the year. I then spent the rest of the semester doing just that, and at this point, I’m essentially prepared to create a poster board with everything I worked on and travel to new places to show it off alongside other students from CSU schools. I’ll be attending both the IEEE Security and Privacy Conference in San Francisco as well as the Consortium for Computing Science in College at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont.
I’m really excited to share what I’ve produced/learned and I hope this story can encourage you to continue this scholarship program to enable more people like me to research what we’re passionate about. I want to thank you once again for the opportunity that the Neu Scholarship has helped provide me. I carry all that Mrs. Neu taught me every step of the way.
Sincerely,
Liam Schroth”
Keep up the good work, Liam.
Remembering Jo Jo White
A friend posted a picture of Jo Jo White on his Facebook feed recently as a memorial marking his recent passing.
Growing up in California, it’s funny that my father made we into a Boston Celtics fan. We would go see them play the Warriors when I was a kid. And it was fittting that Jo Jo White, the Celtics point guard and for a time my favorite player (what Joe wouldn’t wish they could pull off being a Jo Jo), spent more than a season toward the end of his career with the Golden State Warriors.
The Celtics fandom of my childhood made it as an antedote in Mrs Neu’s, aka Lucy Robertson’s column. There’s no mention of Jo Jo, but I watched him a lot on that new color TV. May they both Rest In Peace.
Thinking about Sand Pond
For some reason, Sand Pond entered my head. Sand Pond is in the Sierras near where Mrs Neu grew up. She is pictured below in a special spot on the pond. Sand Pond faces the Sierra Buttes, which is a nice hike in the summer (put it on your 2018 places to go list). It is also a beautiful scene in the winter. If the roads are good, this is a detour to think about on your next trip to Tahoe (bring some snowshoes, or think about skis).
Chance for a Change
Happy New Year! With each new year there is a chance for a change. Take it from Lucy Robertson (aka Mrs Neu) and rearrange the furniture.
From Surviving Parenthood, by Lucy Robertson
“And I’d mutter to myself that ‘change is good for us—it keeps us out of a rut and flexible enough to face what the future might bring.’”