• Gardening Project at The Lab
• Shoe Designing at The Lab!
• Picture Day at River East
• Volunteer Spotlight: Glo Martin
• Volunteer Spotlight: Kitty Kilmer
• Volunteer Spotlight: Trisha Collopy
• Volunteer Spotlight: Robyn Lingen

Projects Funded!

We are grateful for all of you who donated to our fundraising projects on Donors Choose!  (www.donorschoose.org)
This year, through this great resource, we garnered: 2 Digital Cameras, 1 Digital Video Camera, 100 blank DVDs, 100 blank CDs, and 2 Recording Microphones for our studio.  

Through our St. Paul Public School's  Focus Beyond program, we were awarded two Transition Grants to support creative projects at The Lab.  We were awarded $250 to support the purchase of quality art supplies, and $250 to support our Raised Bed Gardening project.

For more information about
THE LAB email Mallory Haar at mallory.haar@spps.org

Do you know someone who might want to read this newsletter? You can easily forward up to five copies at once.

Gardening Project at The Lab

Volunteer writer and gardener, Trisha Collopy, Lab staff, Tess Pease and intern, Kristin Sancken are working with RiverEast Day Treatment students and staff at Homecroft to plant a raised-bed vegetable and flower garden. Using techniques from Mel Bartholomew’s book, Square Foot Gardening they are growing seedlings indoors right now and building their own beds from wood. Click here to read more about gardening at The Lab!

Shoe Designing at The Lab!

This Spring, students have been designing and creating their own shoes. Inspired by the collaborative project between Beautiful Losers & Nike, "Make Something!!! from Nothing," where designer Jesse Leyva designs sneakers with youth. Beginning with an outline of a high-top shoe, Lab students plan out their color scheme, textures, and decorative accents for their shoe design. Click here to read more about Shoe Designing at The Lab!

Picture Day at River East

Morgan Sheff, a local photographer, stepped up to the volunteer plate recently to take school pictures for our River East students at Homecroft.  The students looked great and look forward to receiving their photo packs soon. Thanks, also, to Webb White of White House Custom Colour (www.whcc.com) & The Photographer's Guild for donating the printing costs for picture sets for each student.  We appreciate people like Morgan and Webb for making such great contributions to The Lab!
(visit Morgan's website at: www.morgansheffphotography.com)

Volunteer Spotlight: Glo Martin

Shay Glorius Martin (GLO) has been nothing short of glorius this year at The Lab.  Martin, also known as, “Glo” came to The Lab in October of 2008 and has been instrumental in the development and implementation of Lab services ever since. He has put in well over 100 hours of mentorship at The Lab this year.  From Enrichments at HPJ, HPS and Murray, to individual mentorships with students from W. 7th, Central, River East, Highland Sr. High, Murray, you name it, Glo has done it all, and made a significant difference in the lives of our students. Click here to read the full volunteer spotlight on Glo!

Volunteer Spotlight: Kitty Kilmer

Kitty Kilmer has been a consistent force at The Lab, supporting so many aspects of The Lab's development this year.  She has been instrumental in supporting students in the Enrichment programs for Highland Sr. High, and fostering one to one mentorships for Highland jr. high and Highland sr. High.   Her caring energy is such a gift to The Lab and our students.  Kitty has put in well over 50 hours of volunteerism at The Lab in the last six months. Click here to read the full volunteer spotlight on Kitty!

Volunteer Spotlight: Trisha Collopy

Trisha Collopy is our longest-serving volunteer at The Lab, volunteering with us for two consecutive school years! Collopy works as a Copy Editor at the Pioneer Press, has been writing poetry since she was in high school.  She spends most of her time at The Lab working as a 1x1 writing mentor, Enrichment supporter,  poetry lab group facilitator, and new to The Lab this Spring, a gardening group facilitator.  She has connected with students from Highland Jr. High, Highland Sr. High, and River East, logging approximately 38 hours of volunteerism at The Lab this year. Click here to read the full volunteer spotlight on Trisha!

Volunteer Spotlight: Robyn Lingen

Robyn Lingen has stepped in such a powerful manner this year, as a Wellness mentor, teaching the martial art of Shaolin Kenpo to young women from Central High School and Hazel Park Middle School.  Robyn has been practicing the art of Shaolin Kenpo since 2002 and holds the rank of second degree, black belt. She is among the first of three women in Minnesota to earn her black belt and is the first woman to teach Shaolin Kenpo in Minnesota and has put in approximately 32 hours of volunteerism at The Lab. Click here to read the full volunteer spotlight on Robyn!