Thursday, March 26, 2009
PTA meeting Today
The PTA meeting for middle school and lower school is scheduled for this afternoon at 6.00 pm
Friday, March 20, 2009
Obamas ready to start a White House garden
—Rebecca Cole March 20, 2009 WASHINGTON —
This year, the vegetables served at the White House will be as locally grown as possible—right on the South Lawn. After a campaign by gardeners and sustainable-food activists, the First Family has decided to dig up part of the White House grounds for a vegetable garden. And Friday, Michelle Obama and local elementary school students will break ground for the project.
It's part of the first lady's promotion of healthy food for America. But like many parents, the Obama's have had mixed results: Michelle Obama recently said a version of "creamless" creamed spinach by White House executive chef Cristeta Comerford still was a bit too "green" for the kids. Friday's activities are the culmination of a campaign to turn the 16 acres of White House grounds into an "edible landscape."
This year, the vegetables served at the White House will be as locally grown as possible—right on the South Lawn. After a campaign by gardeners and sustainable-food activists, the First Family has decided to dig up part of the White House grounds for a vegetable garden. And Friday, Michelle Obama and local elementary school students will break ground for the project.
It's part of the first lady's promotion of healthy food for America. But like many parents, the Obama's have had mixed results: Michelle Obama recently said a version of "creamless" creamed spinach by White House executive chef Cristeta Comerford still was a bit too "green" for the kids. Friday's activities are the culmination of a campaign to turn the 16 acres of White House grounds into an "edible landscape."
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
AlphaMax to play in SBB Youth league
Arrangements have been made for a basketball team from AlphaMax to join Suriname Basketball Bond league. " We expect to have a team of 13 players ready to join the league, perhaps as soon as before the end of term," Mr.Johnson ,AlphaMax's staff coach said. Mr.Johnson said that the league had agreed to our team participating in the second round of the current tournament. This is exciting news for our basketball players. They will have an opportunity to play with some of the most famous Suriname basketball teams.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Paramaribo under water
. . . dry season interrupted by heavy rains PARAMARIBO – Suriname does not expect the rainy season to start before mid-April but it has already begun to experience torrential rains. A flooded street in Kwatta, a residential area at the western outskirts of the capital Paramaribo, Suriname. A source told the Guyana Chronicle that since Sunday the country has been having relentless downpours which caused severe inundation, resulting in massive traffic jams and forcing shops, offices, businesses and schools in the capital Paramaribo to close.
Public transportation was severely disrupted when taxi drivers refused to traverse usual routes leaving scores of passengers stranded. The country’s Meteorology Service has said the bad weather is caused by disturbances in the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone above Suriname.
According to the source, the districts Paramaribo, Commewijne and Saramacca were severely hit, while rivers in the remote interior continue to swell. Authorities are closely monitoring an ‘early warning system’ in the hinterlands that was established after severe flooding in those areas in 2006. Weather service reports noted that 91.5 millimeters of rain was recorded on Monday and over 110 millimeters on Wednesday. The Boven-Suriname River has also risen some 70 centimeters above normal levels with residents recalling the 2006 floods on high alert. Since motorists were unable to distinguish the canals from the inundated streets over a dozen cars ended up in canals.
In one incident several young men had to dive into a canal to rescue a couple and their baby. Motorists, meanwhile, were forced to stay for hours in slowly moving lines navigating carefully through inundated roads. Fortunately, though, no casualties have been reported.
The rains are expected to continue until this weekend and according to Meteorologist Roël Oehlers, authorities are keeping a close watch on the Amerindian villages of Palumeu and Kwamalasemutu, in southern Suriname. They are also keeping an eye on the Maroon village Drietabiki, close to the border with French-Guiana, where the water levels are rising as well. Minister of Public Works, Ganeshkoemar Kandhai who toured several of the affected areas, told journalists that while all the drainage pumps were in operation the systems were unable to process the deluge in time. He maintained, however, that the government is seeking finances to upgrade the drainage in the country since it seems highly inadequate due to poor maintenance and expansion of residential areas.
Sieuwnath Naipal from the University of Suriname observed that although the situation isn’t alarming, as yet, if the rains continue at current levels it will deteriorate. In 2006 several thousand residents in the interior fled their homes while the government requested international assistance to cope with the disaster.
Public transportation was severely disrupted when taxi drivers refused to traverse usual routes leaving scores of passengers stranded. The country’s Meteorology Service has said the bad weather is caused by disturbances in the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone above Suriname.
According to the source, the districts Paramaribo, Commewijne and Saramacca were severely hit, while rivers in the remote interior continue to swell. Authorities are closely monitoring an ‘early warning system’ in the hinterlands that was established after severe flooding in those areas in 2006. Weather service reports noted that 91.5 millimeters of rain was recorded on Monday and over 110 millimeters on Wednesday. The Boven-Suriname River has also risen some 70 centimeters above normal levels with residents recalling the 2006 floods on high alert. Since motorists were unable to distinguish the canals from the inundated streets over a dozen cars ended up in canals.
In one incident several young men had to dive into a canal to rescue a couple and their baby. Motorists, meanwhile, were forced to stay for hours in slowly moving lines navigating carefully through inundated roads. Fortunately, though, no casualties have been reported.
The rains are expected to continue until this weekend and according to Meteorologist Roël Oehlers, authorities are keeping a close watch on the Amerindian villages of Palumeu and Kwamalasemutu, in southern Suriname. They are also keeping an eye on the Maroon village Drietabiki, close to the border with French-Guiana, where the water levels are rising as well. Minister of Public Works, Ganeshkoemar Kandhai who toured several of the affected areas, told journalists that while all the drainage pumps were in operation the systems were unable to process the deluge in time. He maintained, however, that the government is seeking finances to upgrade the drainage in the country since it seems highly inadequate due to poor maintenance and expansion of residential areas.
Sieuwnath Naipal from the University of Suriname observed that although the situation isn’t alarming, as yet, if the rains continue at current levels it will deteriorate. In 2006 several thousand residents in the interior fled their homes while the government requested international assistance to cope with the disaster.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Continuous rain, floods cause Middle School PTA cancellation
Persistent rainfall since Saturday caused flooding over most of Paramaribo on Tuesday. Less than one third of the staff and students managed to make it to school. Water covered all of the streets in Zorg en Hoop.
The school looked like an island in a lake of water. Some people took over an hour and a half to make what was usually a ten minute journey. Traffic crawled through most of the city. There were several traffic jams as vehicles stalled in the swiftly running water. There were reports of a few cars being swept into deep ditches and occupants having to be rescued from drowning.
Mr. Taylor sent students back home after two hours as it appeared that the flooding might worsen. The PTA meeting for Tuesday evening was cancelled. Though the flood waters came into the school yard it did not come into the buildings. After five hours the waters began to recede in Zorg en Hoop. By morning most of the streets in our area were free of water. The rains are continuing. The forecast is for rain until the weekend.
The school looked like an island in a lake of water. Some people took over an hour and a half to make what was usually a ten minute journey. Traffic crawled through most of the city. There were several traffic jams as vehicles stalled in the swiftly running water. There were reports of a few cars being swept into deep ditches and occupants having to be rescued from drowning.
Mr. Taylor sent students back home after two hours as it appeared that the flooding might worsen. The PTA meeting for Tuesday evening was cancelled. Though the flood waters came into the school yard it did not come into the buildings. After five hours the waters began to recede in Zorg en Hoop. By morning most of the streets in our area were free of water. The rains are continuing. The forecast is for rain until the weekend.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Students Do Business Presentations
The 2008-09 GAC group did their Business 2 presentations on Sat. Despite severe rainfall all the students were on time and dressed as business executives.
Shoghi Mantri was first with his business proposal for an internet based business called –Business Networking Systems. He was going to set up an internet directory and sell advertising space. He hoped to attract customers with low prices and a free basic listing. Next Nicole Tjon Kie Sim who was voted the best dressed of the group told us about Tjon’s Souvenirs – a proposal to create a new and unique souvenir business in the center of Paramaribo. Her business competitive edge was her staff training and specially created local items. The third presentation was done by Marciano Proeve. He described in great detail a plan to set up an entirely new business in Suriname – an eco –friendly suite of services that included food, spa treatment, an exercise facility and a store with organic products. His entity was called, Cloud Nine and its slogan was simply ‘Treat Yourself”. The audience felt that this business plan was not only well presented but carefully developed after much research.
Seon Gomes presented his plan for a new kind of restaurant for Suriname called Cajun Cuisine. He hoped that Suriname’s love for spicy foods would lead them to his restaurant. His competitive edge was an emphasis on seafood. Most of his potential competitors focus on meat based recipes. David Chen gave a spirited and well documented presentation on Sentient Arts Studio—his music school. He was going to hire teachers on contract and his business was going to be a nonprofit foundation.
Vijoya Taylor’s plan was to set up a new coffee shop in the main street in Paramaribo quite near to two current coffee shops. Her company –Tea, Coffee and Company would attract customers with exotic teas and coffees from the best locations worldwide. Her competitive edge would be the ambience she would create in her shop. Her logo was regarded as one of the more eye catching of the group. She, too, showed that she had done both literature and direct research for her project.
Three students from the business and accounting group also presented business plans. Jess Ligeon and Gabrielle Goedhart chose businesses appealing to sports fans. Jess had a tight knit proposal to launch "Pro Tennis "--which would target all tennis players in Suriname. His business would have low start up costs and would maximise his tennis playing and tennis raquet stringing skills.Pro Tennis had no competitors as there is not yet a dedicated tennis business in Suriname.
Gabrielle aimed to compete head on with other sports stores presently operating by focusing on sports gear that was authentic and of high quality. Her aim was to enlist both government and legal support to see that copyright laws relating to sports material was enforced. She would drive traffic to her store-"Gabinho"- not only with quality service but with innovative store design. She would also develop women's football and use women's events to drive traffic to her unique store.
Jason Nelom's idea was to create a leisure area called " JJ's Haven". His target market was the young and adventurous. He would comptete directly with two main competitors by offering lower cost for services and by having a really different riverside business.
Ms. Hortense Taylor, the Business 2 Facilitator, praised the group for their research and their presentations while noting some of the usual short comings. One feature of the event was the stringent and focused questions asked by the audience. It was quite clear that they had grasped several of the key business concepts that were taught in this course. All the students in the group dealt with audience questions in a competent, businesslike fashion. All the presentations were filmed.
Shoghi Mantri was first with his business proposal for an internet based business called –Business Networking Systems. He was going to set up an internet directory and sell advertising space. He hoped to attract customers with low prices and a free basic listing. Next Nicole Tjon Kie Sim who was voted the best dressed of the group told us about Tjon’s Souvenirs – a proposal to create a new and unique souvenir business in the center of Paramaribo. Her business competitive edge was her staff training and specially created local items. The third presentation was done by Marciano Proeve. He described in great detail a plan to set up an entirely new business in Suriname – an eco –friendly suite of services that included food, spa treatment, an exercise facility and a store with organic products. His entity was called, Cloud Nine and its slogan was simply ‘Treat Yourself”. The audience felt that this business plan was not only well presented but carefully developed after much research.
Seon Gomes presented his plan for a new kind of restaurant for Suriname called Cajun Cuisine. He hoped that Suriname’s love for spicy foods would lead them to his restaurant. His competitive edge was an emphasis on seafood. Most of his potential competitors focus on meat based recipes. David Chen gave a spirited and well documented presentation on Sentient Arts Studio—his music school. He was going to hire teachers on contract and his business was going to be a nonprofit foundation.
Vijoya Taylor’s plan was to set up a new coffee shop in the main street in Paramaribo quite near to two current coffee shops. Her company –Tea, Coffee and Company would attract customers with exotic teas and coffees from the best locations worldwide. Her competitive edge would be the ambience she would create in her shop. Her logo was regarded as one of the more eye catching of the group. She, too, showed that she had done both literature and direct research for her project.
Three students from the business and accounting group also presented business plans. Jess Ligeon and Gabrielle Goedhart chose businesses appealing to sports fans. Jess had a tight knit proposal to launch "Pro Tennis "--which would target all tennis players in Suriname. His business would have low start up costs and would maximise his tennis playing and tennis raquet stringing skills.Pro Tennis had no competitors as there is not yet a dedicated tennis business in Suriname.
Gabrielle aimed to compete head on with other sports stores presently operating by focusing on sports gear that was authentic and of high quality. Her aim was to enlist both government and legal support to see that copyright laws relating to sports material was enforced. She would drive traffic to her store-"Gabinho"- not only with quality service but with innovative store design. She would also develop women's football and use women's events to drive traffic to her unique store.
Jason Nelom's idea was to create a leisure area called " JJ's Haven". His target market was the young and adventurous. He would comptete directly with two main competitors by offering lower cost for services and by having a really different riverside business.
Ms. Hortense Taylor, the Business 2 Facilitator, praised the group for their research and their presentations while noting some of the usual short comings. One feature of the event was the stringent and focused questions asked by the audience. It was quite clear that they had grasped several of the key business concepts that were taught in this course. All the students in the group dealt with audience questions in a competent, businesslike fashion. All the presentations were filmed.
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