'Power of One' aims to enlist help for schools

With Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools slashing teachers and programs to close a $100 million budget gap, can one volunteer make a difference at a struggling school?

1-3-11
Charlotte Observer
Ann Doss Helms

As Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools faces school closings, bruising budget cuts and likely layoffs, Mecklenburg Ministries wants to offer a ray of hope.

6-14-10
Charlotte Talks
Mike Collins

We’ll meet some Charlotte teachers who were part of a recent local documentary that covered the struggles, frustrations, and also triumphs of working with school students in Charlotte’s urban schools.  The documentary, called Souls of Our Teachers, was made to increase understanding that good public schools in our region are in the best interest of every citizen who lives here. We’ll talk about what inspires these teachers to work with troubled kids, and discuss the good, the bad, and the truly inspiring sides of teaching in a high-poverty school.
Guests
Aaron Pomis - Science Teacher, KIPP School in Charlotte
Shanna Rae - 5th Grade Teacher, Billingsville Elementary in Charlotte
Dr. Maria Hanlin - Executive Director, Mecklenburg Ministries

Listen to the Show

5-27-10
Charlotte Observer
Ann Doss Helms

As a ninth-grader in the urban schools of Rochester, N.Y., Shanna Rae was pregnant, unmarried and a mediocre student. But one teacher insisted she could be more than a statistic.

 5-24-10
Charlotte Observer
Ely Portillo

Four local groups will screen a new documentary examining the experiences, challenges and insights of public school teachers in the Charlotte area.

5-21-10
Carolina Weekly
Christina Ritchie Rogers

At a time of transition, frustration and dissolution in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, “Souls of our Teachers” emerges as an audiovisual reality check and an intimate glimpse into the lives of seven teachers working in high-poverty Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools.

5-20-10
The Charlotte Post
Ryanne Persinger

A couple of years ago the documentary “Souls of Our Students: Appreciating Differences” debuted in Charlotte.