Parents
The Parent Alliance for Diversity (PAD) seeks to cultivate a deeper understanding and awareness of the social effects of issues like ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, social class and disability. It is designed to give parents an opportunity to explore some of the same issues their children examine in class. Starting in October, meetings for the parent-run organization are held every other month during the school year to discuss topics such as: The Subtleties of Racism; Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Issues; Homelessness in Los Angeles; The Joys and Stresses of Adoptive Parenting... and more.
Student Profiles/Highlights:
Posse Scholars:
Normally awarded to public school students, Posse Scholarships have been granted to six New Roads High School graduates over the past three years in recognition of their substantial achievements and of the unique demographic of our school.
The Posse Foundation grants its Scholar awards to high school students with extraordinary academic and leadership potential who may be overlooked by traditional college selection processes. Posse extends to these students the opportunity to pursue personal and academic excellence by placing them in supportive, multicultural teams — posses —of 10 students at various partner colleges and universities across the country. Posse Scholars receive four-year, full-tuition scholarships.
New Roads winners include:
Nelson Gil (2007) – Claremont McKenna
Gina Physic (2007) – Grinnell
Erin Whalen (2008) – Grinnell
Philip Casal (2008) – Dickinson
Antonia Johnson (2009) – Dickinson
Devin Reynolds (2009) – Tulane
This year, again, we have several semi-finalists in the running and are wishing them every success.
Lending a Hand; Finding a Passion:
Currently a senior and always an enthusiastic thespian, Amanda Fleg shares her dramatic flair with students enrolled in our Spectrum Program Performing Arts class, and in so doing has discovered a new outlet for her talent and a direction for her college studies. Spectrum Program Performing Arts is an after-school program serving students at New Roads and from the broader community who are diagnosed with social-cognitive learning disabilities such as Asperger’s Syndrome and high-functioning autism.Amanda signed on to assist with a performance several years ago and she embraced the experience with gusto. In addition to her intent to pursue psychology in college, Amanda is now involved in an Independent Study project with Spectrum Program teachers focusing on social-communication disorders.
Faculty Profile/Highlight:
Spanish teacher, Sofia Vergara, had always had a personal aide to assist her at school until she came to New Roads in the middle of her sophomore year of high school. Sofia, who has cerebral palsy, needed help with note-taking, physical tasks, and mobility. After having been teased, bullied, and injured at her previous school, Sofia was amazed to find that at New Roads she could navigate and succeed without an assistant because help came naturally from her teachers and peers. “I never imagined this could even happen,” Sofia says, “It was a huge relief. No one was turned off by the fact that I did things differently. That was true when I was a student; it is true now that I am a teacher.”
Sofia refers to herself descriptively, as “a person in a chair”; rather than as “disabled” or “differently-abled”. Over the years she found that people mistakenly equated physical limitations with mental incapacity, despite the fact that she was a tremendously capable student. She credits her parents and New Roads with giving her the tools to make the critical distinction, appreciate her own potential, and enable her to start thinking about going to college and living independently. After five years at UC Berkeley, Sofia returned to New Roads where, in addition to Spanish, Sofia co-teaches with science teacher Kimberley Austen, a Workshop on stigmas related to physical and mental disabilities.