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| | | | | Ánimo Justice Students Display Their Art at the MOCA
Ánimo Justice students showed off their artistic talents recently at not one but two art centers: L.A.'s Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) and the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy in downtown L.A.
The exhibits  were a first for the students.
"I've never done anything like this," says 15-year-old Myra Islas. I was really proud."
The students' exhibit at the MOCA was part of the museum's "Teens with MOCA" program. Ánimo students worked on anime and studied the work of Japanese artist Takashi Murakami whose collection was recently exhibited at the MOCA. 
"The kids really got into Murakami's work with anime," explains Melissa Berrios, Ánimo Justice's art instructor. "Their backpacks are completely decorated with anime work."
The teens also studied the work of Emory Douglas, an African-American artist, well known for his linocut posters of the Black Panthers. "It was really powerful for the kids to see Douglas' work," says Berrios. "Most of them didn't know or understand anything about the Black Panthers until seeing this."
The students focused their linocut art on issues in the U.S. that they would like to see changed. For many boys it was ending violence among their peers. For several girls it was changing how society defines beauty.
| | | | Green Dot Schools Perform Among Best of Schools With High Minority Populations In a recent study by Just for the Kids, an affiliate of the National Center for Educational Accountability, Green Dot's Latino students ranked among the highest in performance on the state Algebra I test in schools with 50% or more Latino students.
The study, published earlier this month, examines performance specifically among schools with minority enrollments of 50% or more. In this case, it looked at how Latino students performed on Algebra I statewide standards.
Five Green Dot schools were among the top-100 scoring schools in the state-Ánimo Pat Brown, Ánimo Inglewood, Oscar De La Hoya Ánimo, Ánimo South L.A., and Ánimo Venice.
Ánimo Pat Brown tied for first in the state, with 47% of Latino students ranked proficient in Algebra I. This score is especially remarkable considering that over 96% of Latino students at the school were tested, as compared to only 11.2% of Latinos tested at the other first-ranked school. This is also based on data from Ánimo Pat Brown's first year of operation!!!
Ánimo Inglewood and Oscar De La Hoya Ánimo both ranked fourth, with 42% of Latino students at each of the schools ranked proficient. Ánimo South LA was 20th with 27% of its Latino students scoring proficient. Ánimo Venice had 14% proficiency among its Latino students.
| | Battle of the Ánimos Playoff Game Draws Huge Crowd and Shows off Students' School Spirit
More than 1,000 cheering Ánimo students, teachers, parents, and fans crowded USC's Galen Center last month to w atch the Ánimo Venice Pirates take on the Oscar De La Hoya Ánimo (ODLHA) Boxers in a basketball playoff game that is one for the record books.
Athletic directors from both schools created the playoff game to capitalize on a good-spirited rivalry that has been growing for the past year.
Held in late January, the game was the sporting (and school spirit) event of the season for the two Ánimo schools. Tickets, sold more than a week in advance, nearly sold out. Both schools held pep rallies and tailgate parties. Cheerleaders practiced their routines for weeks. And the players were pumped.
"This was a sensational game," says Devin Holveck, Ánimo  Venice's athletic director. "We had such an enthusiastic, raucous crowd. It was neat to see the kids really develop a sense of pride for their schools."
Students donned t-shirts bragging about their respective team's skills. A few devoted fans painted letters on their chests to show off school pride.
"The kids were really fired up for this game," recalls John Sanchez, athletic director for ODLHA. "The crowd, the game, the entire experience shows the progress our sports programs have made and how much the students really love their  schools."
Holveck and Sanchez even bought a huge basketball trophy, named the "Ánimo Golden Basketball". The trophy has the names of both schools, but only one has the engraved title of "winner" for each year a game is played. This year Ánimo Venice claimed that title with a 55-37 victory over ODLHA.
"Win or lose, this game was really about the kids feeling great about their school," Holveck notes. "We definitely accomplished that."
| | Green Dot Profile: Ánimo Leadership's Julio Murcia
Living the Green Dot Model
Julio Murcia has faced a host of barriers in his life, but he has never let one of them stop him from achieving his goals. "I lived the Green Dot philosophy before we had Green Dot schools," Murcia says.
Coming to America
Murcia immigrated to the U.S. from Colombia at age 11 with his parents and two siblings. He learned English in school here while battling dyslexia.
As a student in Santa Monica High School, he wanted to attend a fou r-year college, but the only advice he got from his high school guidance counselor was that he shouldn't set his sights beyond community college and that was only if he did well. "She was completely discouraging," Murcia recalls. "She instilled despair, not hope or aspirations."
Murcia went on to attend Santa Monica Community College and then Cal State Northridge.
Heading Down the Administrative Track
While tutoring students during college Murcia found his calling in teaching. He planned on being an elementary school teacher. His mentor, Robert Adams, then a dean at Santa Monica College, had other plans.
Adams introduced Murcia to the head of counseling at Loyola Marymount University who instantly enrolled Murcia in the university's counseling program, where he received his master's degree.
Murcia then spent the next decade working in various administrative positions: a guidance counselor at Santa Monica High, establishing a Latino center for the Clark County community college system in Las Vegas, assistant principal at Santa Monica High, a guidance counselor and bilingual coordinator at Daniel Webster Middle School, and starting a series of small learning communities as assistant principal at Locke High School. It was while at Locke that Murcia learned about Green Dot, and the principal position at Ánimo Leadership. He tossed his hat in the ring and emerged the victor.
Ánimo Leadership's "Walking Principal"
The transition to lead Ánimo Leadership wasn't easy. The staff was very self-reliant, Murcia recalls. "I really had to establish relationships and norms with teachers with a gentle touch," he says. "It was a long, but helpful process of building relationships."
Now, in his third year at the helm, Murcia is seeing amazing successes at the school. It has sent its graduates to some top-notch schools and was recently featured in U.S. News & World Report's issue of America's Best High Schools.
"This has been a wonderful journey," Murcia says of his experience in education. "I absolutely love what I'm doing."
Students, teachers, and parents at Ánimo Leadership refer to Murcia as the "walking principal." He is either walking the halls, poking his head into a classroom just to check out what's going on, or visiting students' homes to check in with families.
For Murcia, everything he does is about building relationships and making educational experiences better for all students.
"None of the students at this school will experience what I did with my high school guidance counselor," Murcia says. "They will be pushed to excel. They will believe in the best of themselves. This is what I can give to them, what I was meant to bring to them."
| | News to Know
Ánimo Schools Receive Accreditation Ánimo Jackie Robinson and Ánimo Pat Brown recently received initial accreditation with the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). WASC is one of six regional associations that accredit public and private schools, colleges, and universities in the U.S.
The accreditation establishes a level of credibility for the two high schools because it means they have met various criteria that show they are viable educational institutions, says George Bronson, associate executive director of operations for WASC.
The initial accreditation is a major step toward gaining full accreditation, a process that involves multi-day visits from education experts. To prepare for a full accreditation visit, the schools have three years to compile a report documenting their philosophies, goals, student performance, delivery of curriculum and instruction, and more.
Three Ánimo schools have received full accreditation by WASC: Oscar de la Hoya Ánimo, Ánimo Leadership, and Ánimo Inglewood. | | Green Dot in the News Green Dot Public Schools received a "Rising Star" mention as part of Fast Company magazine's 2008 Social Capitalist awards. To read more about the Social Capitalist awards just click here.
For more news stories about Green Dot, visit our website.
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