Wednesday, November 24, 2010

A Beacon Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!  Grand Street Settlement's Thanksgiving Performance and Dinner went off yesterday, with acts from LESP, UNHS, and Beacon taking over the stage at Marta Valle High School.  Mr. Keating and Senior student Bibi Chowdhury hosted the event, which was visited by New York State Senator Daniel Squadron, who extended his appreciation to Grand Street Settlement for its work empowering youth in the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

The event showcased a myriad of talented youth involved with Grand Street Settlement.  Performance highlights included: the LESP choir, singing "Love Train"; Beacon Parent Mildred Centino, singing her original song "Don't Hate the Game" (despite technical difficulty); Middle schooler Britney Valentin, with a Thanksgiving speech; the Advantage UNHS Dance Team; Grand Street Settlement's Act up LES; the LESP Dragonets dance performance; and the Beacon school's choreography to the songs "What's My Name?" and "Whip My Hair."

After the show, the entire congregation sat down to a Thanksgiving dinner served by the LESP volunteer staff, a traditional meal of yams, stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn, ham, turkey, and assorted pies.  The night finished with a raffle, with prizes from movie tickets, to chocolates, to the grand prize, a Thanksgiving turkey.  Grand Street Settlement served dinner to over 500 people this year.

With the holiday upon us, we can't help but look forward to the upcoming Winter Break.  Advantage would like to extend its fervent wishes for everyone to have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and come back fresh and ready for program next week!


Advantage @MVHS
















Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Welcome to Advantage!!

Advantage is here for the 2010-2011 Marta Valle school year!!  Advantage is an after-school program, offering educational and recreational services to the students.  Come visit us in the Beacon office, room 261.

We offer tutoring in the humanities, science, and math, SAT prep, Resume Writing, and our activities range from Audio Club, to Writing, to Bboy/Bgirl breakdance!  We are committed to your academic excellence, and we want your experience at Marta Valle High School to be fun and rewarding!


Jim Heffernan - Site Coordinator
Teresa Torchiano - Program Coordinator
Joe Tumbarello - Education Coordinator
Andrew Reyes - Tutor/Breakdance Activity Specialist
Joshua Budhu - Tutor
Mimi Wolldemariam - Health Counsellor
Rachel Hurn - Audio Recording