“The bees are dying. We need to help them,” Jack said.

He has with the help of beekeepers, his mom, his friends and the staff at the Robert C. Parker School where he is a sixth-grader.

The Parker School is now home to 10,000 Carniolan honey bees. In two weeks, the busy bees have been so productive that the school’s new Bee Club has doubled the size of the hive.

“The bees are growing so fast,” Jack said.

Bees buzzed into Jack’s life after he saw the documentary, “Queen of the Sun: What are the bees telling us?” last year at WAMC’s The Linda in Albany. Worried by the collapse of hives globally, Jack acted.

“This is critical to the food supply,” Jack said.

His mom, Lisa Ross, successfully wrote grants to obtain $900 from Dreyer Corp. and $100 from Gardener’s Supply. The $1,000 is underwriting the supplies and equipment for the school’s bee program.

“He just ran with it,” said Meg Taylor, head of the Parker School, which has 115 students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade.

With 77 acres off Route 43, the school runs its Parker Planet to take advantage of the rural setting to provide an interactive environmental science program for its students. The school began the program in 2009.

“We empower students to make a difference,” Taylor said.

Jack’s honey bees are changing the school.

“This is a great catalyst for us to be learning about bees,” said Jamie Crouse, the Parker Planet coordinator and adviser to the new Bee Club’s fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade members.

The apiary also has been incorporated into the science curriculum. Students are learning about the role that bees play in the environment.

Jack, of Stuyvesant Falls, joined the Southern Adirondack Beekeepers Association. He picked up a mentor in Rodney Dow, a master beekeeper, who provided the nucleus of the Parker School hive. Tony Antonucci, an East Greenbush beekeeper, also volunteered to help the school with its hives.

Jack and his fellow club members are learning how to handle the bees. Jack can handle the special tool designed to make taking the boxes housing the hive apart while the bees surround him.

“Obviously, I’m not a trained beekeeper,” he said.

Holding up the frame and looking at the honey bees, Jack said, “This is our hive.”

http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Bees-find-a-sixth-grade-advocate-1402184.php

Tips & Tactics from Experts, Innovators, and Educators at Robert C. Parker School

North Greenbush, NY – The Robert C. Parker School (www.parkerschool.org) will gather a national panel of experts to talk about how parent’s can help their children bloom by encouraging creativity, through innovative and collaborative teaching, rather than by stressing out about test scores and college entrance exams.

The panel discussion, which is free and open to the public, will take place Wednesday March 23, at 7 p.m. on the Robert C. Parker campus (4254 Route 43, North Greenbush, NY). On-site childcare is available by calling 518-286-3449.

Susan Engle, New York Times contributor, and nationally recognized child development expert will headline the panel. Engle’s critically acclaimed new book, Red Flags or Red Herrings, Predicting Who Your Child Will Become (Simon & Schuster, 2011), was recently featured on ABC’s Good Morning America.

Engle, a professor of education and psychology at Williams College, who embraces a more holistic way of nurturing a child’s intelligence, wrote in a New York Times Op-Ed that:

“Our current educational approach — and the testing that is driving it — is completely at odds with what scientists understand about how children develop during the elementary school years and has led to a curriculum that is strangling children and teachers alike.”

To read an excerpt from Engel’s book, go to http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/book-excerpt-red-flags-red-herrings-predicting-child/story?id=12874392. She will be signing books after the event.

The panel, moderated by Karen Hitchcock, former President of the University at Albany and Queens College and host of WAMC’s “The Best of Our Knowledge” will feature:

Innovation guru Boris Pluskowski; Trudy Hall, head of The Emma Willard School and girls’ education futurist; and gaming trailblazer Dan Wallace of Vicarious Visions.

Together, they will share breakthrough thinking and insights on how to educate children for today that will equip them for a successful tomorrow.  Engel says:

“Our success depends on embracing a curriculum focused on essential skills like reading, writing, computation, pattern detection, conversation and collaboration — a curriculum designed to raise children, rather than test scores.”

About Robert C. Parker School

Robert C. Parker School is a preschool through eighth grade independent co-educational school on 77 acres in North Greenbush, 10 minutes from downtown Albany.  A Parker education embraces an integrated, project-based approach to learning that leverages students’ natural tendencies and instills independence, critical thinking, perseverance and integrity.

For more information go to: parkerschool.org.

A Panel Discussion

on

Educating for 21^st Century Success

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

7 – 8:30 PM

at

Robert C. Parker School

4254 NY State Highway 43

North Greenbush, NY 12198

Karen Hitchcock, Former UAlbany President, Moderator

Panelists:

Susan Engel, Williams College professor and author

Boris Pluskowski, creator of The Complete Innovator

Trudy Hall, Head of Emma Willard School

Dan Wallace, Senior Producer at Vicarious Visions/Activision for Guitar Hero

Reservations and Child Care

518 286-3449 or info@parkerschool.org

Panelist Bios

Karen Hitchcock, is currently Special Advisor for Park Strategies, specializing in developing strategic relationships between educational institutions and commercial enterprises.  Hitchcock was Principal of Queen’s University, Canada from 2004 to 2008, and President of University at Albany, State University of New York from 1996 to 2004. She received her B.S. in biology from St. Lawrence University and her Ph. D. in anatomy from the University of Rochester, School of Medicine and Dentistry. As a Postdoctoral Fellow, she did work in pulmonary cell biology.  Hitchcock has also held posts at University of Illinois at Chicago, Texas Tech Health Sciences Center, Tufts University, and Sackler Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.

Susan Engel is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology and the Director of the Program in Teaching at Williams College. She is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and earned her Ph.D. in developmental psychology from CUNY Graduate Center. Engel has taught all ages from preschool through graduate school, most recently at Williams, Smith and Bennington Colleges.  She is a co-founder and educational advisor to the Hayground School.  Engel is the author of The Stories Children Tell (WH Freeman 1994), Context is Everything: The Nature of Memory (WH Freeman 1999), Real Kids: Creating Meaning in Everyday Life (Harvard University Press 2005) and Red Flags or Red Herrings: Predicting Who Your Child Will Become, (Simon and Schuster, 2011)

Boris Pluskowski was born a British citizen in Portugal and educated both in the US and in the UK.  He has a BS from Imperial College, London, and an MBA from the Cass School of Business in London.  Currently Pluskowski is Senior VP of Innovation Strategy at E2.0 Innovation Software company, Spigit, and is an acknowledged thought leader in corporate Innovation Management, Social Media/Technology and Collaboration.  He has authored articles and research reports on innovation, collaboration and social media practices, and is the author of the widely read blog, “The Complete Innovator.”

Trudy Hall has been Head of School at The Emma Willard School in Troy, NY, since December 1999.  Trudy received an M.A.L.S. from Duke University, an M.Ed. in counseling and consulting psychology from Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a B.S. in psychology and sociology from St. Lawrence University. Her positions of leadership in independent schools include Associate Head of the Hutchison School, Head of Miss Hall’s School, Dean of the Culver Girls Academy, Dean of Faculty of the Culver Academies, and Dean of Students at Stoneleigh-Burnham School.

Trudy is vice president of the Board of Trustees for the National Coalition of Girls’ Schools and secretary of the Board of Trustees of the New York State Association of Independent Schools.  She also led the initial conceptualization for the Global Forum for Girls’ Education initiative.

Dan Wallace is a Senior Producer at Vicarious Visions/Activision, in charge of the product development of Guitar Hero.  He supervises a team if 120 people consisting of artists, designers, programmers and musicians.  Vicarious Visions is a creator of video and computer games with its home office in Albany, New York making games based on innovation and creativity.  They work with leading game publishers to reach broad audiences with their content and technology and succeed because of teamwork throughout the company. Before coming to Albany Dan managed a team of developers

Robert C. Parker School

4254 Route 43,  North Greenbush
Saturday, April 2, 2011

5K TRAIL RUN

10am Start Time
$15 by 3/28 or $20 Day of Race
Technical Tees to the first 100 registered

Registration link

KIDS ¼ MILE FUN RUN
11am Start Time
Free; small prizes to participants
Day of Race Registration Only

Childcare is only available to registered runners.
Technical T-Shirts for the first 100 runners
Post-Race Refreshments and Awards
Free Online Registration
www.albanyrunningexchange.org

Located just 5 minutes from Exit 8 off I-90
For directions and additional information please visit parkerschool.org