Press  Release                                                          For Immediate Release                 

SOUTH BRUNSWICK RESIDENT MAKES BOOK DONATION TO SCHOOL IN PANAMA

SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NEW JERSEY -- June 30, 2009:  South Brunswick resident, Sharon M. Biggs, one of about 30 New Jersey school principals who was awarded a 2009 Geraldine R. Dodge Principal Fellowship Grant in April 2009, has returned from her trip to Panama in Central America a renewed and more inspired Educational Leader.  Mrs. Biggs, an Elementary School Principal, and formerly a Montgomery Township Middle School Assistant Principal and South Brunswick and New York City Elementary Teacher, feels “extremely blessed and humbled by the Panama experience.”

 

Sharon’s grant, “Extension of a Lifeline ~ From a Suburban Town in New Jersey to a Rural Village in Panamá,” focused on the application of Mrs. Biggs’ “servant leadership and quality American higher education, to help start a lifeline connection between a suburban New Jersey town and a rural village in Panamá to provide children’s books to help combat the deadly social disease, illiteracy.”  Panamá currently reports an 80% literacy rate, however, “from what I’ve seen, researched, and talked to natives of the island about; I’m not so certain this high statistic pertains to individuals living in the more rural and impoverished areas of the island – there we may have less than half that percentage of literate individuals,” reports Sharon.  This has motivated Mrs. Biggs to strengthen and continue the lifeline connection to help foster literacy and to encourage the acquisition of English as a second language, which is “greatly needed to be successful in this 21^st Century global society.”

 

Escuela Manuela Urbano Ayarzo in Cativa, Panamá (Colon Province), the birthplace village of Sharon’s husband, Terence; couldn’t be visited this trip because it would have involved an eight-hour round trip excursion.  “Without there being any direct route to get to Cativa, we had to look for a school closer to where we were staying,” commented Mrs. Biggs.  The hotel concierge helped locate a public school just 15 minutes away from them – Escuela Farallon Anton Panama in the Province of Farallon.  The School Principal, Directoria/Maestra (Principal and 5^th Grade Teacher) Susana Guillen, was delighted to accept both the visit and the book donation; which Sharon found out, represents the first book collection of its kind in the school’s biblioteca or library.  The students did not have authentic literature in their classrooms or in the school library; and their somewhat dated workbooks stored and locked in the biblioteca all have Spanish-only text.  All oral communication during the entire school site visit took place in Spanish. 

 

The 110 donated children’s books were individually signed by Mrs. Biggs prior to the visit, and a binder copy of Balanced Literacy (Reading Workshop and Writing Workshop) professional development materials was provided to Maestra/Directoria Susana to help guide and enhance literacy instruction provided by her teachers.  Currently, a language specialist visits the school one to two days each week to instruct the students in English for a portion of the day.

 

Dodge/FEA includes a competitive selection process, providing around $125,000 in grants to full-time New Jersey PK-12 principals in public and public charter schools annually.  Funds help support non-traditional, imaginative, professional development, and personal and intellectual renewal endeavors, which enable principals to grow as educational leaders to better impact their schools and communities. The grant covered the expenses of Sharon’s travel and lodging in Panama, and the purchase of the 110 children’s books.  

 

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