The Savannah tribune. (Savannah, Ga.) 1973-current, September 21, 2011, Image 2
2 - The Savannah Tribune • Wednesday, September 21, 2011 SOCIAL AND COMMUNITY NEWS Dionne Hoskins Appointed District Two School Board Representative Dionne Hoskins The City of Savannah has been named a 2011 Playful City USA for its efforts to increase play opportunities for children and its outstanding dedica tion to play. For the second straight year, Savannah was selected as one of 151 Playful Cities in the United States by the national non profit organization KaBOOM! Savannah main tains 57 playgrounds, 661 acres of parks, nine public swimming pools and 14 com munity centers. Savannah also encourages play to be a part of neighborhood and business development plans. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, play is important to healthy brain development and allows children to use their creativity while devel oping their imagination, dex terity, and physical, cogni tive, and emotional strength. Today’s children spend less time playing outside than any previous genera tions in part because only 20 percent live within walking distance of a park or play ground. This play deficit is having profound conse quences for kids physically as well as mentally and socially because children need a place to play every day in order to be active and healthy. “The play deficit con tinues to harm our children and stifle their mental and physical development, while directly facilitating the ongoing childhood obesity crisis,” said Darell Hammond, KaBOOM! Founder and CEO. “These 151 Playful City USA com munities have joined KaBOOM! in making a col lective statement that we will no longer accept the misconception that play is a luxury when the reality is that play is an absolute necessity for children. Savannah is committed to the well-being of children and serves as an outstanding role model for the rest of America as we continue to strive toward the KaBOOM! vision of a great place to play within walking distance of every child.” A key platform in com bating the play deficit is Playful City USA, a national program advocating for local policies that increase play opportunities for chil dren. KaBOOM!, the national non-profit organization ded icated to saving play, created Playful City USA in 2007 to help local governments address the Play Deficit by ensuring their children have the time and space they need to play. The designation makes Savannah eligible for sever al grant opportunities. On Wednesday, September 14, 2011, during a special School Board meeting, five candidates were inter viewed for appointment to fill the District Two School Board vacancy. The candidates included Ellis Daniel Frazier, Malinda Hodge, Dionne Hoskins, Monifa Johnson, and Raymond Rouse. At conclusion of the interviews an open delibera tion was held with a motion by Julie T. Gerbsch and second by Irene G. Hines that Dr. Dionne Hoskins be appointed to the District 2 Board of Education seat. In a 7-1-0 vote the final resolution was made and the motion passed. Dionne L. Hoskins, Ph.D., will now act as the appointed District 2 School Board representative and will officially be sworn in after state approval. She will also have the opportunity to ran for the seat during the July 2012 election. Hoskins came to Savannah with her family in 1980. Starting with the third grade at Gould Elementary, she was educated in the Savannah Chatham County public schools until her gradu ation from Beach High School in 1988. She enrolled at Savannah State College as a Marine Biology major that same year, graduating with honors in 1992. Ms. Hoskins finished her schooling at the University of South Carolina where she earned a Ph.D. in Marine Sciences in 1999. She had been selected as a cooper ative student training program by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in 1996, and upon graduating in 1999, was recruited back to Savannah to start a similar pro gram for NOAA at Savannah State. Since then, she has over seen training and education programs for undergraduate and graduate students in the Marine Sciences degree pro grams. Dr. Hoskins has volun teered with the Savannah Black Heritage Festival com mittee, Coastal Jazz Association Board of Directors, Tybee Island Marine Science Foundation, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and the local Beach High alumni association. She teaches Ziunba in her spare time and lives in midtown Savannah with her two dogs. She worked briefly as a postdoctoral fellow in the newly established Marine, Environmental Science, and Biotechnology Research Center at Savannah State University in 1999 but was tasked in 2000 by the Southeast Fisheries Science Center (SEFSC) of NOAA Fisheries to develop a Cooperative Marine Education and Research (CMER) pro gram at the university, the first of its kind at a historically Black university. Since then, Hoskins has worked as a Fishery Biologist through the Galveston Laboratory of NOAA Fisheries and as an Associate Graduate Professor in the Marine Science program at Savannah State University. Integrity. Tradition. Commitment li' rfc., * »* m. •aKfimtSS* t For a half-century; the law firm of Weiner, Shea rouse, Weitz, Greenberg & Shawe, LLP has been providing professional legal services to the citizens of Southeast Georgia and the Low Country As we celebrate our 50 th Anniversary, we extend our since rest thanks to our clients, families, friends and community for your s upport and patronage. Aron G. Weiner William W. Shea rouse, Jr. Harvey Weitz Stephen F. Greenberg MarkT, Shawe Malcolm Mackenzie, Ml Edwin R. Byck Christine Tambakis McDonnell (GA & William G. Glass (GA, CA & MD} A. 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