Ja'Meyah Taylor, Edison Senior, was nominated and won the Red Wagon Award for her academics and leadership skills.  She was elected to win the Red Wagon Award by a committee of AmeriCorps Promise Fellows, community stakeholders and Alliance board and staff members. There were many exceptional candidates from all over the state of MN in which Ja'Meyah was one of three individuals along with one group to win this award! The 2015 winners will be honored along with this year’s STAR Partner award winner, Twin Cities Public Television, at the Red Wagon Awards Celebration and Fundraiser at 5:30 p.m. on June 11 at Macalester College.   See the below press release from MN Alliance Youth for more details. 

Ja’Meyah has overcome many obstacles in her life.  When Ja'Meyah started at Edison, she was  behind in credits and at one point was told that she may not graduate on time. Ja'Meyah was determined to be a successful student. She attended school every day and worked hard at making up credits.

 

Ja'Meyah made significant strides through a concurrent enrollment program new to Edison this year—the program is called SHARP (Strong Hardworking Accountable Respectful Positive - students in SHARP created this name for this program) and is supported through the District’s ALC (Alternative Learning Center).  This program supported Ja’Meyah in recovering credits while staying current in her Senior level coursework.  Through projects, co-teaching and co-designed lessons (designed collaboratively by Edison teachers, ALC teachers and the student), Ja’Meyah accelerated her learning and credits earned. Ja'Meyah's hardwork and dedication resulted in her earning close to 29 credits. Joshua Zoucha, Edison SHARP teacher stated, "She has worked very hard and everything she gets is well deserved." Ja’Meyah plans to continue her education at the Minneapolis Community Technical College and pursue a career in nursing. 

 

The SHARP program is available to Edison students in grades 10 -12 who meet the program requirements. To learn more Edison's academic offerings, please visit our website at www.edison.mpls.k12.mn.us.