Olivia Drake#THISISWHY In this Q&A meet Alicia Gansley from the Class of 2015. (Story by Rosy Capron '14, civic engagement fellow at Wesleyan’s Allbritton Center.) Q: Alicia, what are you majoring in? A: I'm majoring in computer science and I'm also completing the economics minor and Civic Engagement Certificate. Q: Last fall, you brought your programming knowledge to COMP 342: Software Engineering, a service-learning course where groups of computer science majors develop special projects for local organizations. Tell us more about your project. A: My group made a web application for Green Street Teaching and Learning Center to use to sign students up for one of…
In January, two Green Street Teaching and Learning Center programs received grants. Pratt & Whitney awarded Green Street with a $5,000 award to support its Discovery AfterSchool Program, which serves 80 Middletown students in Grades 1-8 each year. The program offers a range of classes in the arts, math, and sciences and helps children to build self-esteem and problem-solving skills. Also, the Connecticut Mathematics and Science Partnership Program presented a $168,437 award to the Project to Increase Mastery of Mathematics and Science (PIMMS) to support a continuation of PIMMS' Intel Math Institute. The institute gets K-8 teachers excited about math, prepared for Common Core, and equipped with a toolkit of…
The Green Street Arts Center, also home to Wesleyan's Project to Increase Mastery of Mathematics and Science, is now named the Green Street Teaching and Learning Center, or Green Street TLC. "This structure better represents the work we do in the community and also allows us to grow our programs in the arts, math, and sciences for kids, teachers, and our broader community," said Director Sara MacSorley. Green Street TLC will continue its Discovery AfterSchool Program, which serves 80 Middletown students in Grades 1-8 each year; a Private Lessons Program, and a Green Street-to-Go Residency Program that brings teaching artists…
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The Liberty Bank Foundation awarded the Green Street Arts Center with a $5,000 grant to support the center's Discovery AfterSchool Program. The funds help provide scholarships for students who need financial assistance to attend the program. The Discovery AfterSchool Program offers a range of classes in the arts, math, and sciences for children in Grades 1-8. The program brings those things together in a safe space for children to build self-esteem and problem-solving skills. The AfterSchool team is made up of core education staff, professional instructors and Wesleyan students who serve as teaching assistants and homework tutors.
On Nov. 3, Brian Northrop, assistant professor of chemistry, spoke to students at the Green Street Arts Center about polymers. As part of the hands-on workshop, Northrop taught the participants how to make their own silicone polymer putty with glue, water, Borax and food coloring. Similar putty was accidentally invented during World War II when an American scientist working for General Electric in New Haven, Conn. was trying to create synthetic rubber using silicone oil and boric acid. The result produced a "solid-liquid" goo that had a high melting temperature, could bounce when dropped, and stretch. The product is most commonly known as Silly Putty, a trademark…
Lauren Rubenstein
Kate CarlisleThe mysterious disappearance of millions of honeybees - known as colony collapse disorder - has frustrated and worried scientists around the world for more than seven years. The visiting scholar at Wesleyan's College of the Environment explores this mystery in a new exhibit at the Green Street Arts Center that opened Sept. 4. Joseph Smolinski, a noted artist who has exhibited in many venues ranging from MASS MoCA in North Adams, Mass. to the Cleveland Institute of Art , uses 3-D printing, video and other media to show the scale of the honeybee crisis - and note that environmental stressors (more…)
Wesleyan staff and the Green Street Arts Center are helping to make a dream come true for a Middletown girl with a life-threatening illness. Hannah Vecchitto, 14, is passionate about photography and received a brand new camera for Christmas. Her dream, which she shared with Make-a-Wish Connecticut, was for the opportunity to learn the camera and the art of photography, as well as have the technology to work on her own photography as a true artist. Make-a-Wish Connecticut grants wishes for children between 2-1/2 and 18 years old who are suffering from life-threatening medical conditions. This year, the Connecticut chapter,…
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