Updates from the Learning trail
March, 2020
Welcome to the Learning Trail’s second newsletter. We are more than half way through our year and want to bring you up to date on our activities.
Here are the headlines:
Many thanks for all the donations that made our preschoolers’ Christmas a very happy one.
We have a new logo (see above) that we feel better represents the Learning Trail story.
Welcome to 14 new tutors who have joined our ranks this year, allowing us to expand.
A new Board member, Karon Falaq Johnson, brings much valuable experience to the table.
Parenting Classes continue at the Learning Trail, facilitated by the Exchange Family Center.
Donors are finding new and meaningful ways to support our work.
There were many happy preschoolers (and parents) this Christmas who received books, puzzles, educational games, hats and gloves, along with a play refrigerator and sand for the sandbox.
Now in our 2nd year with professional Early Childhood Specialist, Meghan Friday, we continue to enhance the preschool space and learning materials serving ten 3- and 4-year-olds. Volunteer Don Darmer shares his musical talents with the group regularly.
We have a new logo that we feel better represents The Learning Trail story.
The new logo shows two figures, one large and one small, representing our tutors and our students, and in particular the one-on-one relationships that they share. They are shown above a book, representing our academic activities and mission. The arc above the figures represents the Nature Trail community that we serve, as it is our home as well as theirs.
We are thrilled to welcome 14 new tutors to the Learning Trail team.
As some of our tutors relocate or move on to other activities, we are always looking for new tutors to join us. This year, with the influx of 14 new tutors, we were able to expand our program to serve more Nature Trail students. They are: Barbara Salamy, Barbara Robertson, Mary Wrighton, Bob McMillan; Kim Kitchens, Pat Luce, Lucy Leuchtenburg, Carol Madison, Kathy White, Sandy Bazley, Udo Koopman, Eric Kaplan, and Ellie Taylor, and Sammuel Dummer.
Shown here are three of our new tutors:
Pat Luce, Lucy Leuchtenburg, and Kathy White. All three are working with the 2nd graders at The Learning Trail.
Karon Falaq Johnson is a valuable addition to The Learning Trail Board of Directors.
Karon comes with a wealth of experience serving the Latino community through the Arc of Durham, El Futuro, and as an outpatient therapist, crisis manager, and social worker. She is also a faculty member of UNC School of Social Work in the field education office. She is fully bilingual and has a passion for serving the Spanish-speaking community. She is particularly interested in facilitating parent engagement in the Nature Trail and the creation of a Parent Advisory Council.
Our parenting classes continue once per month at The Learning Trail. Led by Amy Armstrong with the Exchange Family Center, these sessions provide an opportunity for parents to share the challenges of raising young children, hearing of different parenting strategies, and learning new ways to support their children’s education.
Many thanks to those who remember the Learning Trail when designating options for charitable gifts.
We appreciate our supporters who have celebrated birthdays, book groups, and memorials by suggesting donations to The Learning Trail in lieu of gifts or other gestures. This means so much to us and is a beautiful way to share our good fortune and concern for others, especially for children living so near to us.