NewsnMedia

(Worcester, Mass.) — Worcester State University will host the educational conference, “Navigating the Gap:  Crises in Urban Education," on Friday, April 6, from 7:45 AM  to 3:00 PM in the Student Center Blue Lounge, Exhibit Area and the North/South Auditorium. The conference is co-sponsored by WSU Center for Community Media and Esperanza y Su Exito. Following the 12:00 noon luncheon, the conference will feature three sessions:

Overcoming the Language Barrier, features Dr. Bertha-Elena Rojas, bilingual School Psychologist at Woodland Academy and Michelle Cadavid, bilingual Head School Psychologist, (University Park School), from 9:00 a.m. to 10:15 a.m.

Privatizing Education: The Effects on Public Schools, delivered by Dr. James Horn, Associate Professor from Cambridge College, from 10:30 a.m. to 11:45 a.m.

Public Education: Pipeline to Prison, will be presented by Dr. Kathleen Lynch, Senior Instructor and Dissertation Chair of Cambridge College and Dr. Fernando Padro, Associate Professor of Cambridge College, from 1:30 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.

The Communication Department/Center for Community Media (CCM) co-produces Esperanza y Su Exito (Hope and Your Success), a Spanish-language television show now incorporated as a nonprofit corporation serving the Latino community of Greater Worcester.  It is now airing its fourth season on Channel 13, Thursday nights from 8-8:30 p.m.

Julian Berrien, Assistant Professor and CCM Director and Alta Carroll, Professor co-produce the show with Esperanza Donovan-Pendzic, Latina activist, host and creator of the concept for the show.  The show features speakers and issues of interest to the community (e.g., health, insurance, voting, and education) and also entertainment (e.g., music, art, cooking).  Esperanza is very pro-education and also works as a counselor in the Worcester public schools. 

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