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i - FORSYTH COUNTY news - Thursday, March 11,20Q4
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C..'E T WKS
By Mary Beth Brf.ckexrhx.e
Knight Ridder Newspapers
Being taken from home to foster care is unsettling
enough. Having to pack your belongings in trash bags or
cardboard boxes just makes the move more difficult.
Katy Carpas knows what that’s like, and she wanted
to ease the pain of upheaval for other children.
So Katy, an eighth-grader who used to be a foster
child, donates oversized, colorful
tore bags to Summit County
(Ohio) Children Services for dis
tribution to children moving into
foster homes.
The bags are big enough to
hold many of the children's
belongings, and each contains toi
letries. school supplies and a
stuffed animal —a few items to
make the children feel more com
fortable during the transition to
foster care.
So far she has donated 32
bags, with another 100 almost ready to go.
The 14-year-old undertook the project to fulfill a
requirement for her confirmation class at St. Hilary
Parish in Fairlawn. Ohio, but the impetus came from her
experience as a foster child before her adoption four
years ago by Fairlawn residents Nick and Jackie Carpas.
"I wanted to do this to help other kids who were being
moved feel that someone cared about them." she said.
Still, the project was never intended to be so extensive.
When it started in June. Katy’s plan was to sew bags w ith
help from some other people. Then one day. she and her
mother happened upon zippered bags for 87 cents at the
local store Marc’s and. knowing they couldn't duplicate
them for that price, they snapped some up.
They mentioned the project to an employee at the store,
w ho told them how to contact owner Marc Glassman to
request a donation. So Katy composed a letter to him.
“I know what it feels like to be taken from my home,”
she wrote. "That is what happened to me six years ago. It
was a scary moment. I remember the social worker giving
me a paper grocery bag to put mv things in."
Illi I Illi 111
Rips fc Raves
Helmet head
F Sometimes your precious noggin
Br needs a helmet for protection. If you’re
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are a stunt-crazy skateboarder, helmet
wearing is a little a more appealing with
these too-cool Helmet Headz.
Made by a company in Boulder.
Colo.. Helmet Headz turn traditional
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kA er ttelmet Headz come in 16 styles
’iZ Wl, h ranging from about $25 to
'
wKZK Serving the North Georgia
Poultry Industry and helping the
environment by recycling poultry
by-producte into useful feed ingredients.
Teenager
collects gifts
to help children
in foster care
Katy faxed the letter from a neighbor's house, then she
and her mother left for a trip to the bookstore. They no
sooner had arrived than Katy's father called to report that
the company already had committed to donating another
100 bags, which were ready for Katy and her mother by
the time they reached Marc’s.
Family members and friends have supplied items to
pack in the bags so much, in fact, that Jackie Carpas
said stuff was piled everywhere in the Carpas house.
And the project keeps growing. A marketing class at
Copley High School, taught by Katy’s cousin. Diane
Ashcraft, decided to take it on as a community service pro
ject. The class "went wild” over the project. Jackie Carpas
said, donating l(X) notebooks and committing to 1(X)
stuffed animals.
The Carpases have stocked up on school-supply boxes
and small photo albums to include in the bags, and they
intend to buy mittens and scarves. Katy also plans to take
letters to hotels, requesting donations of small toiletries,
and to businesses, asking for school supplies.
Katy's supporters are so eager to continue the project’
that the Carpases say they probably will keep supplying
bags. They’re thinking of expanding the project by send
ing goodies to Children Services periodically for the
children who live on site, rather than in foster homes,
Jackie Carpas said.
Katy knows the bags aren’t a substitute for the one thing
she wanted most when she was in foster care: a family. But
it’s away of sharing with them some of the caring that
families are made of.
111 Illi I Illi
| ’ Help! ~|
Family is really embarrassing
DEAR AMERICAN GIRL: M\ family DEAR AMERICAN GIRL: My friend gave
always embarrasses me. Yesterday, my me a nickname I don 7 like. Mv other
sisters knocked over a display of shoes at UKr friends use it a lot. I’ve tried many ways
the mall. My dad tells stupid jokes J to get them to quit, such as ignoring it and
whenever my friends are over. What / telling them 1 won't answer to it. What
should I do? —Embarrassed should I do? No Name Please
• When your dad or sisters do some- |B|L J ■ Your friends may not understand how
thing that makes you want to run and r much the nK 'kname bothers you. Tell
hide, remember three things: 1. V them! One at a time, tell each girl why the
Nobody's family is perfect. VWBBBRSMSBRSBTI name bothers you and ask her
Every kid feels just the way you [ to use your real name True
do sometimes. 2. Friends like friends should respect your feel-
you for who you are not for what your family ings and drop the nickname. If they don't, go
is like. 3. Your family’s little faults are much more right on ignoring it. No girl has to answer to a
noticeable to you than they are to anyone else. If name that isn’t hers.
you don t make a big fuss about them, chances Visit americangirl.com to get or give advice.
are no one else will either. 02004 American gm. llc. ah ngst*
They've come home to find bags
of stuffed animals waiting for
them, she remembered.
“We thought it was just going
to be us." she said. "It took on a
life of its own."
Katy's first donation drew a
bit of attention at Children
Services. Staff members, includ
ing Executive Director Joseph
White, turned out to thank her
and take her picture.
“They were pretty excited,"
Nick Carpas said.
Johns Creek is proud to sponsor the
Newspapers in Education program as part
of its ongoing commitment to the youth ■■
of Forsyth County. lQ|n|g (QRWK* E
In The News
■
Putting kids
to the test
| I 4 4 T Kids at Garfiekl/Franklin
fiOSt StlGB Elementary School i-i
Muscatine, lowa, finished
their state tests on Feb. 20. Teachers sp< nt months
getting students ready. "A lot of people feel stress,”
says Molli Lippelgoes, 9.
"But if you just put youi
mind to it. it's not that hard " J
Kids have been spend- ft
mg more tune on fill-in- ft #
the-bubble tests. That's ■
because in January 2002. ®
President George W. Bush ®*
signed the No Child Left ft .
Behind Act.
,J? el ™ say * that , by
2005, public-school kids in
grades 3 through 8 must take reading and math
tests each year. Some schools are already giving
those tests. Each state decides what its students
must know.
MAKING T HE GRADE
The tests are used ■< > show how well students and
schools are doing. If students don't do well enough,
their schools must make changes to improve.
Molli's school principal. Jan Collinson, says
that changing the math program helped give kids'
test scores a big boost. "We were amazed at the
things we weren't teaching before the test." she
explains.
THE PRICE OF SUCCESS
Some people oppose the law. They worry that
test practice takes away too much time from other
school work. Other people say that the govern
ment should give schools more money to buy test
ing materials and to train teachers.
People don't all agree about the tests, but kids
still have to take them! If you've been practicing,
you should be fine. Just take a deep breath, relax
and keep your pencils sharp.
BY THE NUMBERS
93,000: Approximate number of U.S. public
schools
30,000: Approximate number of U.S. public
schools that didn't make enough progress in the
2002-2(X)3 school year
20: Number of states meeting the law’s reading
and math testing requirements this school year
31 percent: Fourth-graders in U.S. public
schools who read at or above grade level
32 percent: Fourth-graders who can do math
at or above grade level
2013-2014: The school
@year when all students afe
expected to test at grade level
in reading and math
Elizabeth Winchester
SOURCES EDUCATION WEEK U S
/ \ DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Are tests
bs. I the best
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