First
Lady, Laura Bush visited Atlanta, GA last week during
the Communities In Schools National Conference which celebrated
30 years of service to children. The conference also featured
experts on national policy and education issues affecting
at-risk youth.
First Lady Bush spoke at a downtown luncheon hosted by
CIS, one of the nation’s largest dropout prevention
groups. “In schools across our country, you’re
working to address one of the most challenging issues
in education, our dropout crisis”, she said in a
scripted, 17 minute speech that took careful note of two
White House initiatives that Mrs. Bush said complemented
the group’s mission. One of those initiatives is
Helping America’s Youth, launched by President Bush
in 2005 to get adults more involved in the loves of youth.
The other is the No Child Left Behind Act, the federal
education law that penalizes schools that fail to perform
to federal standards.
About 1,000 people including CIS of Carteret County, executive
director Sandy Giacobbi attended the first lady’s
speech at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. The visit marks a return
to the issues that have been the former librarian and
teacher’s top priorities; literacy and education.
First Lady Bush’s appearance was just one of the
highlights of the five-day Communities In Schools conference;
others were presentations from the Atlanta Boys Choir,
the Benjamin E. Mays High School Marching Raider Band,
the Audi and the Mezcolanza Dancers. Keynote speakers
from across the country, such as Wintley Phipps, founder
of the U.S. Dream Academy, Inc. and well known vocal artist,
education activist and motivational speaker, (you can
hear his rendition of “Amazing Grace” on YouTube.com).
According to Ms. Giacobbi, “the conference was a
wonderful opportunity to meet Communities In Schools colleagues
from across the country, networking and exploring the
possibilities of additional resources to further develop
CIS of Carteret County”.
November is national non-profit month, if you would like
more information about how you can be apart of the nation’s
leading dropout prevention organization, call 252-726-1952
or e-mail CIS of Carteret County at cisocc@earthlink.net
