A CONNECTIKIDS SUCCESS:  ASHLY STOVALL

September 2009

Ashly has been a part of ConnectiKids since 1998.  We have seen this young woman blossom from a West Middle Elementary School student to a University of Connecticut freshman.  Ashly would like to share her college experience with all of you that made it possible for her to have a successful educational career through ConnectiKids programming.  At various times througout the year we will be posting Ashly's emails from Uconn.  The following is her first update on her new college life:

Hi Everyone!

I am in the middle of fourth week here at Uconn! Luckily, I have not gotten a lot of work to do but there is a lot of reading. There are a LOT of people here. I have lecture classes that are filled with 300 people. But I learned that if you sit in the front it won't be that bad. In the program over the summer, they programmed that into our minds and now whenever I go into a class and there are SSS students, (they are everywhere) we take up all of the front rows. It is kind of funny.   

School is school. The classes I am taking are Sociology,Linguistics,Human Development Family Studies,Public Policy,and two First year experience courses. They aren't really difficult, they just require a lot of reading because there is a lot of terms. But so far, I believe I am doing okay.

My roommate (I am not so sure this is spelled right) is pretty nice. She actually did the same summer program as I did. We didn't really know each other but it just so lucked out we are roommates. I also see my roomate from the summer in class as well. I joined the leadership learning community here. It basically the whole floor I live on. The people on the floor are generally nice and the RA, she is very helpful. She always has her door open (she has a nice couch and a big tv) so we can come in and ask her whatever or just talk.

The campus is nice but you have to walk a lot. Sometimes they have little stands up where they are giving away free shirts and stuff. I like the free shirts. They also have concerts going on. They also have academic centers for people who need help on improving studying habits and things like that. I plan to make a trip there soon.

Well it is only the fourth week so there is not much else to say. I know homecoming is coming up and so that week or so should be fun.

Hope all is well with everyone and I will email you again. Probably after my exams. Can't wait to see those!!

Thanks,

Ashly Stovall

UPDATE ONTHE LIVES OF KAREN AND YASHMARIE SALGADO

September 2009

Since you last heard from us many things have changed.  I am now officially a college student!  I am attending Capital

Community College here in Hartford.  It is an incredible experience.  I am excited because I am getting many courses which will prepare me for life at my major goal:  attending a university like Uconn.  Right now I am focusing on strengthening my academic foundation so I can get scholarhsip aid to attend a major university.  I'm also excited because I might be able to work at ConnectiKids as a Program Assistant while I go to school.  They are making sure that I focus on school first but there might be an opportunity for me to help out with the after school programs.  Keep your fingers crossed for me:)

My sister Karen is now a sophomore at Hartford Public High School.  She had a great summer.  The ConnectiKids staff helped her join Upward Bound during the summer.  She had the time of her life and met new people and received great academic advise.  Hopefully, with the right guidance, Karen will be the second person in my family to go to college.

Thank you all for following our lives!!

WELCOME TO THE LIVES OF KAREN AND YASHMARIE SALGADO!!

These intelligent and beautiful young ladies have been participating in ConnectiKids programs since 1999.  They are now both students at Hartford Public High School.  They want to show you what your partnership means to them.  Every week they will take you into their world by writing a blog about not only their educational lives but their personal experiences as young women.  We hope you enjoy their stories!  Thank you for allowing us to serve these ladies through your generosity and commitment to ConnectiKids!!

                                  Karen Salgado - Freshman HPHS              Yashmarie Salgado - Senior HPHS    

Yashmarie Salgado

March 2009

This week was a pretty crazy one. CAPT testing started, it’s been a mess; a lot of people didn’t know where they belonged and some that didn’t need to take it ended up taking it again. I’m glad I’m done with all of that but I found out there are still seniors that are missing.  The list is supposed to come out next week but I hope I’m not on it.  Classes have been so mixed up and teachers don’t even give us work. 

It is fun in a way you get to do what ever you want.  In class some seniors just sit down and play games all day; they bring their electronics and just hang out all day.  Next week is going to be the same way.  I’m going to miss it when CAPT ends.  School is going to be back in session, but in a way I’m happy that they let us know that senior week is coming soon as well as prom.  I can’t wait, a few months left and then I’m out.  I can’t wait to graduate.  It is going to be goodbye high school and hello to college.

February 2009

This week was pretty normal I just went to school.  Most of the afternoon I spent in the pool helping my friends and doing my class work.  My classes are pretty boring.  This semester just sucks.  I wish I had the same classes from last semester.  They were pretty cool teachers as well as the students.  My math class this semester has a lot of sophomores.  They’re so immature.  I’m happy they’re in a higher level of math but it seems like they’re more worried about having fun and act very immature.  It really sucks because if they do something wrong the whole class has to pay for it.  At least in my old math class most of the students were seniors and some were juniors.  The point was, they all knew how to act, and sophomores don’t.  Unfortunately, I have to deal with it, because I can’t change classes.  I can’t wait to graduate.  No more underclassmen.

February 2009

Hi.  I hope you had as much fun as me this week.  Valentine’s Day just passed.  The school was pretty normal about it.  It was a bummer not to have a dress down day but it was all good. 

One of my friends manages the swim team, today they opened the pool and we were one of the first girls to see it.  My friends Gloria, Ashley, Nathaska, my sister Karen, and me were the only ones allowed on the bottom deck were practice was taking place.  Gloria introduced us to the coach.  He is a pretty cool coach and funny too.  That day we helped him out with practice.  It was the funniest thing I’ve ever seen.  The swimmers faces were so happy that they finally got their own pool.  The coach told us they had practice on Saturday and that if we were interested we could go swimming.  I was so happy that my back wasn’t hurting and I could go, so we said yes.  This week I helped in a basketball game and at swimming team practice, but the most fun of all was we were the first girls to go swimming in the new Hartford high pool.  This week rocked.  It was so much fun!

January 2009

This week has been the hardest of all.  I have been doing the exercise the doctors gave me for my back and going to school.  It’s been weird not having a job, but my friends are there for me.  We are having a sleep over this weekend; hopefully my back will be better so I can attend.  There is a basketball game today and my friend begged me to go so I went and it was a fun game.  I got to meet some of the players as well as the coach.  The coach told me he needed some help with the team and asked if I can help him out, I said of course. It is a chance to do something new and forget about losing my job.  The next game is in two weeks and I can’t wait.  My friend showed me what I needed to do and made me memorize all the players’ names.  That was hard but fun.  The sleep over got cancelled, but we ended having a movie day in my house.  It was fun, we all got together, just bought a lot of junk food and watched movies, until everyone’s parents picked them up. 

This week was pretty good and I wasn’t mad about losing my old job.  This was a good week, except for my back pains.

January 2009

This week I got fired from my job.  I now it’s not the best way to end my first job but in a way I felt like it wasn’t my fault.  The reason I got fired was for excessive absences.  My excuse was that for the last week I had severe back pain and wasn’t able to bend over, at one point (because of the pain) I couldn’t even walk.  When I called out one of the days, my manager told me that was my last and if I had an excuse to bring it the following Monday.  I told her my appointment wasn’t until Tuesday she said “Ok” so when I called her Tuesday to ask if I can fax the doctor’s note, she told me I was late and that the excuses would not cover the absences because the manager had made a final decision.  I couldn’t believe it.  My back had a muscle strain from stopping myself from falling on ice.  The excuse covered all three days I called out but it wasn’t enough.  I beat myself for not showing up to work, because then I think I wouldn’t have gotten fired, but I don’t know.

I feel like I let a lot of people down, especially ConnectiKids they were the ones who helped me get the job and I messed it up.  It was a nice experience though and I wouldn’t change it for the world; it’s just a bummer things ended the way they did, but it made me stronger.

January 2009

Happy Holidays to all and Happy New Year.  I hope your holidays were as good and happy as mine.  I had a blast, I really didn’t get a lot of presents but I really didn’t care.  To me what really made my holiday was seeing my sister, brother, grandmother, grandfather and especially my mom open up their presents.  There was a lot of gift shopping and for a lot of people (well at least to me it was).  That was my first big shopping list of any year.  But I got it done and all by myself.  A few months before Christmas, I enrolled in a four week workshop for four Saturdays.  It was called the Birch Engineering Challenge.  In that program I learned about myself and my personality.  I learned how to handle myself in a learning, job, and group environment that is opposite to mine and how to complete a given task.  At the end of those four weeks our advantage was learning how to behave in different environments including college.  On top of that we got a check for $300.00 which was pretty sweet.  That’s how I bought all those gifts.  I felt so happy because I found out what people mean when they say giving is better than receiving.

December 2008

Happy Holidays!!  We’re still in our winter recess break.  It’s been a bit boring since school ended and Christmas has passed.  I’ve been working every other day and when I don’t work I go out with my friends.  I have the coolest and most caring friends in this whole wide world.  Their names are Ashley, Gloria, Nathaska, and Brooke.  We’re all seniors except for Brooke, she’s a junior.  Lately we’ve been meeting up and doing fun things.  A few days ago we had a movie day/sleep over.  We had a blast and we got to bond more.  It’s fun having someone to trust and have there when they need you or you need them.  To me that’s what friends and friendship is all about.  New Years is coming soon and I can’t wait.  It’s going to be the best year ever!!  It will be a new beginning and a fresh start in my life in general.  Secondly its going to be a new semester with new teachers and hopefully more freedom in our school.  Finally, it is the year I graduate and turn eighteen!!!!  I can’t wait!!!!!!  A year full of achievements, friends, family and surprises awaits us.  I have a feeling that 2009 is going to be wonderful year, don’t you?

Hugs and kisses Yashmarie Salgado.

November 24, 2008

School has been crazy for the last few weeks.  Our academy has been on a never-ending battle about everything.  The division of our academies has separated our senior class and brining them together is not working well.  It’s like the division has declared a silent battle between the academies.  For example, I joined the senior committee.  The senior committee consists of all of the academies.  We focus our time on raising funds for our senior budget and putting together pep rallies for the school.  The last few weeks we’ve been working on our homecoming dance and our yearly pep rally for the football team, the Owls (we have a pep rally before our yearly turkey game with our rivals the Weaver Beavers).  The main goal is to get the banners done and get the emcee for the rally.  All this week we’ve been arguing about who should be the emcee.  Today we had the biggest argument and after a screaming competition we agreed that the advisors would agree on who would be the emcees.  I’m happy that we’re one but sad that it takes so much to agree.  Especially this early in the year.  Hopefully, the class of 09’ can go out with a bang and happy with our ending.  All in all school has been good.  My Spanish teacher left for Florida and we got a new teacher.  She’s different but in a good way.  COLLEGE UPDATE – College applications are not a walk in the park.  It has been a very stressful part of my senior year but I am glad I have ConnectiKids to help me.  Without them I would be lost.  Ricardo, John and Patty have been like angels falling from heaven.  To tell you the truth, I do not know what I would do without them or ConnectiKids programs.  I probably would have been out of school now working a part time job and regretting that decision.   ConnectiKids has influenced me to stay in school and apply to college.  ConnectiKids has been a big part of my life as well as my family’s life.  It will always have a special place in my heart.

November 6, 2008

     I cannot believe this academy.  It’s like a prison.  They make a new rule everyday.  Now you need a pass just to go to the water fountain.  To use the bathroom the teacher needs to call an escort and the escort has to walk you to the bathroom, waits for you and walks you back to class. When you go to the library during your lunch break you need to go to the office and ask for permission.  Do you understand what I’m saying and no I’m not joking.  These are real rules that are in school.  It’s like we are getting punished for our past mistakes.  This academy is just a mess. The seniors, juniors, and sophomores are following the rules but there is hesitation.  We tuck in our shirts, put away our electronics, follow the rules in class and the principals are still not happy with that.  The other academies are not like that.  They're getting benefits like dress down day, parties, field trips, etc.  We are not getting anything.  I’m just mad and my senior class is disappointed.  It supposed to be a good and enjoyable last yearof high school; not prison.  Our principle doesn’t even take control.  The dean of students acts more like the academy principal than the dean of students.  The dean of students teaches a science health class. This academy is a disappointment to me and I know that now it’s going to get worse.  People could only take so much before they push back.

Talk to you later...hopefully a bit happier:)

October 9, 2008

     I’ve had my eyes open up for a new hidden passion.  British literature rocks.  In my English class our teacher Mrs. Wilmont has been teaching us about the Anglo-Saxons period.  We just ended a big project on Beowulf.  We didn’t do the entire poetry book but we skimmed the story.  Well the most important parts anyways.  Beowulf taught me a lot.  It showed me that jousting started during the middle ages. I learned about their belief of after life (their after life was built by their heroic deeds) and how they used to celebrate in the mead halls (dinning rooms today).  What caught my attention the most were the Gods and Goddesses.  I learned about most of them, like Zeus.  Now we are learning about the Canterbury tales. I can’t wait to start and learn.  It seems very interesting to me. Hopefully I can continue reading about things like Chaucher because if not English would be so boring.

September 30, 2008

     School, work (at OLD NAVY through our Alumni Program partnership), and college applications are the three most important things on my mind right know.  I don’t know where to end one and start the other.  Maintaining the balance is very stressful right now.  It’s funny because when I was a freshman I really didn’t care too much about my senior year.  Now that my sister is a freshman in high school, I see the same traits as myself when I was a freshman.  I know I’m ending on a positive note and I know that she will too. Work has been the most stressful.  Work is work.  Sometimes you hate it and sometimes you love it.  It’s hard but I have to manage it and now that Christmas is near I need it even more.  “College”, that word just scares me.  I know it’s a hard and stressful process and its going to work out in the long run.  "When I get accepted to college" that thought just scares me.  You know it’s the beginning of a new chapter and the end of high school.  In a way I’m scared but in the other end I’m happy and I can’t wait.  It’s all in one.  I hope I can make it through this storm and see the sunshine soon.

August 2008 – First Day of School Under New Model

     I was up all night thinking of every possible way the school might be.  They usually mailed a schedule to your house, so you’ll know what classes you are taking.  When I stepped inside the school everything was a mess.  Everyone was everywhere and the freshmen looked lost like always.  I walked my sister to the stairs because like last year the upper classmen couldn’t pass to the freshman territory.  I walked her there and wished her the best of luck.  I felt confident because she is a strong person and smart and she was on her way to a new start.  After I left her I went to my academy.  Mr. Boutiler, the dean of students, stopped me.  He told me to tuck in my shirt or I couldn’t get my schedule.  I couldn’t believe he said that.  I looked at him dumbfounded thinking it was a joke and laughed.  Here I was a senior and I never thought they would enforce the rules like getting threatend as a freshman.  Since my freshman year we could do anything we wanted.  I tucked in my shirt without wining and went to my first period class, Mrs. Wilmont (British Literature class) explained to us about our new academy.  Instead of our regular seven classes we were going to get four periods of ninety minute blocks.  We had to wear uniforms and there were no excuses.  I was confused and I expected everything but uniforms.  In a way I wanted to scream but I knew that I couldn’t resolve anything.  I knew change was coming and I had to eat it no matter what.  I stopped wining and decided to focus on my grades and the college enrollment process.  It’s my last year at Hartford High and there is no need for me to fight it.  I will follow the rules and enjoy my last year.  I repeated in my mind that everything will be okay.  I think.

Karen Salgado

January 2009

Merry Christmas and happy New Year!  My holidays went well and I hope yours did too.  Back to school and back to the craziness.  Today at Hartford High my geography teacher told us we have to debate a topic, the great lakes.  I was felling sick by the time it was my groups turn because it was two girls versus five boys and I really thought we were going to lose.  But as soon as the boy group gave there opening statement I knew my group was going to hit a home run and win the game.  At the end of the five minutes, we gave are closing statement and the teacher said our group won.  I felt happy.  Then my group and I had a little debate with the boys about how girls are better than boys, and we also won.  Though this is only the first day back to school after our break, I feel like I’m coming back for a high school reunion after ten long years.

December 2008

So today is the day I have been really waiting for.  Today is ConnectiKids’ big Christmas party that my sister and I have been helping get ready for all week.  It is going to be fun seeing all the kids faces when they open there gifts.  The other funny part is that my sister is dressing up as Santa Claus.  None of the kids know but me, Patty, John, and Ricardo.  So right after we came out of school my sister and I went to ConnectiKids.  We helped put the tables together and place red and green table cloth on all of them.  After that, we blew up balloons and set them up all around the room.  Then it was time to rock-n-roll.  The party started and we had great healthy food and a great magic show.  When the kids opened their presents it was great to see how much they loved their gifts.  It was great!  I’ll do it again just to see those happy faces.

December 1, 2008

Another day of school.  How wonderful Thanksgiving is over and it’s already December 1st, which means there are only 24 days until Christmas.  I went back to school on Tuesday to find a brand new schedule.  Now I’m lost in a long hallway with many students trying to find my classes.  It felt like the first day of school all over again.  I was lost and trapped between a huge student.  I get to class and the teacher tells me we have clubs again.  I rush and pass all of the students in the hallway down the steps into the library.  (Finally a place I could go to and lose track of time and the world)  I walk towards the shelf and look for a book to read.  I finally found a book that caught my attention, Kissing Vampires.  I took the book, sat down and read the first chapter, then the second, third, fourth, fifth and totally lost track of time.  It was time for me to return to math class.  I did but it was hard for me to pay attention because I was still reading my book.  Next thing you know it was the end of the school day and I had finished the book.  In the past few days I read books one, two and three of the series but in the library they do not have the final books so I unfortunately have to read something else. 

November 21, 2008

Thanksgiving is right around the corner and I can’t wait.  I can take some days off from waking up early and sometimes dragging myself to school.  Flash forward - today was a normal day of school.  I woke up, got ready, and left.  When I got to school I felt weird.  I walked to my English class and I noticed everyone was looking at me.  I looked at everyone, said hi and sat in my seat.  Here I am in my seat brainstorming what could be possibly wrong with me.  I remembered that the night before I was too tired to take of my makeup and my black eye liner was all over my face.  The thing that got me all mad is that all this time I was walking with my sister and she didn’t tell me anything, NADA.  So I asked the teacher if I could go to the bathroom to clean off my eye liner (and if you’re a girl that is something you hope will never happen, especially in your first year of high school).  After that, people asked why makeup was messy.  I lied and said it was my sister‘s way of having fun with me.

November 10, 2008

I never thought that being in high school would cause people to look at you differently.   Different in a good way, not in a bad way.  Older people speak to me like I’m an adult and not a child and it feels great.  New thought - in school the students need to pick a club to go to every Friday.  So I thought it was a good idea to try out for yearbook.  So after two weeks the list came in and actually signed up for the book club.  I thought that I should make the best of it since I like to read.  When we had our club meeting it wasn’t that bad.  We could read as many books as we want and we could use the library computers as much as we want.  If you are a big reader like I am, you’ll understand that the library is like Disney world.  So the book club turned out to be a good opportunity for me.

October

     It’s been the first month of school and I’m starting to feel like I’ve been in school all year long.  The work is getting harder and the tests are coming faster and faster.  For me everything is new.  Last year in my old school things were already hard but not this hard.  I made new friends this year and they like me for the person that I am.  One of my new friend's name is Kassandra.  Kassandra and I sit together in every class.  People are already mixing up our names, which I think is silly.  I have another friend by the name of Alisha.  Alisha is a punk girl.  She is into rock music, which is cool because we can talk about what bands are the best and which ones are not.  This is what keeps me looking forward to going to school.  

September

       I’m in class by 7:41 a.m. and I was sent out to "see the Dean of students".  These were the words my first period class teacher used after the first week of school.  There I was in a lonely hallway walking towards the Dean’s office.  I finely get there to see new faces I have never seen in my life.  So far my day has not gone well.  I got to school late, my first period class teacher sent me out, and now I’m stuck in an office with people I don’t even know.  Ten minutes went by, fifth-teen minutes, and it finally was twenty minutes.  Finally I hear my name and he tells me I’m late again and I’ll have to do a detention. I’m not looking forward to that.  I finally got to my third period class and every thing was going ok so far.  It was lunch time and I was so happy to see my new friends and looking forward to eating lunch because I was hungry.  There I was in the lunch room with a navy-blue shirt and khaki pants just like other students were wearing. Out of nowhere students started a fight.  Other people were too busy jumping up and down getting in the fight while my friends and I were sitting down and forgot all about the fight.  We had teachers that approached our group and stated how mature we were for sitting down and not getting into the fight.  After that they let us exit the lunch room and go back to our last period class.  After my last period class it was time to go home.  Though, my day of school didn’t go so well, I didn’t let that get to me.  I just kept on moving with a smile on my face no matter what.

August 25, 2008

     On the first day of school I was very nervous, feeling like a train wreck.  These are feelings I had on August 25, 2008.  For other people it may seem like a regular ordinary day but for me it was the first day of school.  Then the most things I feared the most happened.  There I was walking up to Hartford Public High school.  After one hour of school I started feeling a little more calm.  Everything was new to me: new people, new teachers, new classes, and most importantly new rules.  I missed three classes due to these reasons.  I didn’t have any idea where my classes were.  For example I felt like a blind chicken.  Then finally I found the first period class.  I needed to go to my fourth or fifth period class.  I only sat down for at least an hour when my teacher said it's time for lunch.  Then I walked into the lunch room and I felt nervous all over again.  Seeing all of the other students sitting down and being loud, pointing out to people they already knew.  I felt out of place.  I was sitting down at the lunch table counting the minutes for the lunch wave to end. Finally lunch was over.  I was in the seventh or eighth period class and it was my Spanish class.  We learned each others names, where we were from, and we had to share something about ourselves that other students didn’t know.  The teacher let us talk amongst ourselves.  Some of the students were funny, shy, and loud.  Finally it was 2:09 p.m. which meant that it was time to go home.  I left my first day of high school in one piece with new friends and also looking forward to the next day.

ConnectiKids Welcomes its United Way Day of Caring Volunteers          

On Friday September 5, 2008 the staff of ConnectiKids was privileged to welcome a dedicated group of volunteers from The Travelers for this year's United Way Day of Caring campaign. Before getting started the group took a tour of the Asylum Hill Congregational Church and ConnectiKids offices, followed by a video on the history and growth of the ConnectiKids program. Our seven committed volunteers worked on several important projects for the upcoming tutor program year. 

FOX 61 NEWS HIGHLIGHTS TRINITY COLLEGE PARTNERSHIP

Please click on the following link to see the video: (NOTE:  ConnectiKids footage begins at minute 8:14)

The piece is called Fox Focus Trinity - 2/08

http://fox61.trb.com/news/wtic-foxfocus,0,4734284.storygallery?track=news_na