Sep 21

Master’s student building libraries, bringing resources to Uganda

An MBA candidate created an organization to increase literacy in Uganda.

by Kimberly Burton, 20 September 2016

St. Mugaga Secondary School library is one of the nine libraries the Literate Earth Project has opened throughout rural districts of Uganda since 2013, with two more openings slated for this year.

St. Mugaga Secondary School library is one of the nine libraries the Literate Earth Project has opened throughout rural districts of Uganda since 2013, with two more openings slated for this year.

During a service trip Jeff Fonda took to Uganda, he worked in a school with no textbooks. Instead, every student was given a hand-written version of a textbook for their classes.  “It’s a crazy process, they actually hand copied each book over and over again,” Fonda said. “It was great they had the text, but they had no formalized pictures or graphs.”

Fonda, a first-year master’s of business administration student, was inspired by his experiences in Uganda to found the nonprofit called The Literate Earth Project, an organization that helps Ugandan children get access to books and increase literacy.  Other than the hand-copied textbooks, students had no books to read for pleasure. Fonda soon discovered the school’s headmaster had approximately 15 books in his office and decided to show them to the students.  “With these books and atlas, they were seeing pictures of new people, trees, buildings, things they had never seen before,” Fonda said.

Information about sports in particular were of interest to them, Fonda added.  “They were asking things like, ‘What is this sport?’ They had never seen tennis before. ‘What is this racket for?’” he said.  This is when his revelation occurred, he said.  “You could see the wheels were going in their heads,” Fonda said. “That experience of seeing the real need for knowledge and how it spurred these other thoughts and conversations was amazing.”

Ugandan Vice President Edward Ssekandi and LEP Founder Jeff Fonda

Ugandan Vice President Edward Ssekandi and LEP Founder Jeff Fonda

The Literate Earth Project was officially formed in 2011. In 2013, Fonda and his organization opened their first library in Uganda. In that same year, they also received a LEAP grant from BetterWorldBooks. LEAP grants are given to organizations with “game-changing” ideas to “help advance a compelling literacy project,” according to its website.  “We watched [the first library] for a year and half to see it’s successes and failures,” he said.

After Fonda and other individuals from the organization saw the library was working, they began to open more libraries throughout the country in 2014.  In the past two and a half years, The Literate Earth Project has opened nine libraries in areas like the Rakai, Masaka and Wakiso districts of Uganda. The organization will also open two more this year.  “As long as we are able to keep up funding, we’re actually on pace to open four to six libraries per year and we would like to continue at that pace,” said Alex Moore, project’s chief operating officer.

The need for books in Uganda is evident through the requests for the organization’s libraries. The Literate Earth Project has a list of about 50 schools that have been okayed to receive libraries, but hundreds have made requests.  To ensure success, the organization has a vetting process where staff visit the school to assess its needs. They make sure the teachers and community are going to get involved, and that the books will actually be used by the students.

In the past, to raise awareness for the program, Fonda has met with Uganda’s Vice President, H. E. Edward Ssekandi. Ssekandi has implemented policy to aid in increasing literacy in Uganda.  Fonda said he hopes to expand the program to the many schools on their waitlist, but the organization doesn’t have money for the books themselves. By applying for grants, starting college clubs and hosting events like the Let’s Get Literate 5K Run, they have started to raise more money for their efforts.  “We’re constantly looking for new partnerships so that we can kind of work together with other organizations that might provide solar energy or computers to schools,” Moore said.

Fonda, who is interested in eventually starting a club on Main Campus connected to his nonprofit, hopes to continue focusing on Uganda due to the serious demand for libraries.  “I’d like to say we can change the whole world, but right now our goal is to change Uganda,” Fonda said. “The demand is insatiable [there].”

Kimberly Burton can be reached at kimberly.burton@temple.edu.

Also see: Literate Earth Project, Books for Africa

Loading

written by admin \\ tags: , ,

Dec 17

BHS Yearbook Production Now A Popular Class

By Christi Boortz, Curriculum & Professional Development Department
Posted on December 16, 2015

FSDB1Blind and visually impaired high school students were excited when a new class showed up on the FSDB course schedule for the fall semester, among the usual listings. Technically “Journalism 1,” the class focuses on Yearbook Production, and is taught by English and Language Arts instructor Melissa Fonda. The class has a strong literacy component integrating technology and the visual arts. Students learn writing and listening skills, as well as the aesthetics of photography and layout design. They use email to schedule interviews, fact check, and submit assignments via computer. Also, they use the Memory Book website to upload photos and create copy and layouts. Fonda has many good memories from participating in yearbook production as a student back in her early years—she “enjoyed the technical and creative aspects of making layouts and writing features,” Fonda received state of the art technology and equipment to implement the class, in the form of a giant Apple screen display unit with wireless keyboard and mouse, and two high quality Canon cameras. The class is composed of juniors and seniors, which is just fine by Fonda since “older students have had time to develop their writing skills, they know who people in the high school are, and they have a sense of the extracurricular activities that everyone is engaged in – more maturity overall.” Fonda is also pleased with the cross section of students who signed on, which includes athletes, musicians, artists, and Student Council members. Initially six students signed up, but three more added the class after they heard it was fun. Word travels fast in BHS!

Bryce Cothron plans to be a novelist in adulthood, so he especially enjoys writing snippets for the yearbook. He also expressed appreciation for learning about the various elements of photography, such as composition and positioning. He summed up, “It’s interesting to see how it all comes out. Good stuff.” Jonathan Moran asked himself, “Why not?” and showed up for class. He cites editing as one of his favorite activities. Ditto for student Aaliyah Gisondi, who loves being a copy editor. She admitted with a smile, “I get to tell anyone when they have made errors. It might sound funny but that makes me happy.” Gisondi also took the class so she could work with “Ms. Fonda,” one of her favorite BHS instructors. Roque Moran, brother to Johnathan, took the class partly because it fit his schedule and partly because he felt it would be interesting. The class has met his expectations. Among other things, he has learned “taking good pictures requires accuracy.” And he enthusiastically endorsed the instructor, saying “Ms. Fonda’s teaching is awesome.”

FSDB2Emmitt Johnson enjoys writing and “running around the school to take photos of events.” He has learned, in terms of formatting, what to do and what not to do. Nick Thompson favors design and layout, but explained that he additionally does “odd jobs, like getting photo permissions.” Vanessa Coleman had a professional take on the “soft skills” she has been learning through the course, stressing that one should “always follow up and stay on task.” She shared her former problems with procrastination and explained “As soon as you get a task to do, you better get on it right away!” Quinn Delong took the course on the advice of Assistant Principal Charlie Crozier. Delong already had some accumulated knowledge from working with Fonda on the yearbook last year. He feels the course has added to his skill set in media, from technical aspects of layout to the softer skills of working in teams effectively, and sharing knowledge with his classmates. He has some advice to offer: “Do what you love, love what you do.” Apple Polonia is the editor of the club section in the yearbook, and through an email interview, shared that she is learning cooperation and interviewing skills. She highly recommends the class as a good learning experience for those who enjoy design and communication. She suggests that her peers should “try as many different things as possible, because knows that thing might turn into an interest and then maybe a passion.”

About FSDB

Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind (FSDB) is a fully accredited state public school and outreach center available tuition-free to eligible pre-K and K-12 deaf/hard of hearing and blind/visually impaired students. Comprehensive educational services at FSDB are individualized, specific to the unique communication and accessibility needs of each student for independence and lifelong success. FSDB gratefully accepts private donations to support vital programs that directly benefit students and are not paid by state general revenue funds. To visit the school or to learn more about eligibility for enrollment, contact 1-800-344-3732. For more information, visit www.fsdb.k12.fl.us.

Loading

written by admin \\ tags: , ,

Sep 14

Starting from Scratch

September 13, 2012 By Kelly Dyer

Today, at the venerable age of 90, Professor Emeritus Dr. Bob Fonda cheerfully admits that he has seen many milestones over the years at Minnesota State Mankato. One of those would most certainly be celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Dental Hygiene Program, which Fonda started almost single-handedly in 1969.

Dr. Robert Fonda will be at the Department of Dental Hygiene’s 40th Anniversary Reunion on Saturday, September 29 in the Centennial Student Union Ballroom.

Although the program has turned out countless well-qualified dental hygiene graduates over the past four decades, it got off to what Fonda characterizes as something of a “rough start.”  That may be a bit of an understatement.

The genesis of the program came about like this:

After spending four years in the Navy, Fonda practiced dentistry for 23 years in the small town of Rockwell City, Iowa. Unfortunately, spending that many years hunching over patients as he worked contributed to significant back problems, and in 1969, Fonda began to think about finding a new job in the dental field.

At about that same time, Minnesota State Mankato was investigating the possibility of starting a professional two-year dental hygiene program. Fonda met with college administrators and was offered a job. He accepted and agreed to come to campus to start putting the program together late in 1969.

What Fonda discovered once he arrived on campus was nothing. No books had been ordered. He didn’t have a classroom, a secretary or even a telephone. The college lacked a physical clinic in which students could receive practical instruction, and in fact, there wasn’t even a curriculum outline for the classes that were scheduled to begin the following spring.

Asked now if he realized what he was getting himself into all those years ago, Fonda chuckles. “No, not really,” he says. “I thought I knew but as in many cases, after you get there and sign the contracts and so on, you discover that there are other things that you are going to have to do…that weren’t maybe exactly the way you want to have them, but you just take the ball and run.”

The history of the Dental Hygiene Program — and Dr. Fonda’s role in it — is documented in a new book from the department.

Fonda rolled up his sleeves and got to work. The first order of business was to design a program and curriculum that would meet the accreditation standards of the American Dental Association. He spent countless hours doing that. He also began to interview and hire professional staff who could then teach to those standards.

That done, Fonda turned his attention to another pressing problem: The University had purchased a significant amount of used dental equipment from the Veteran’s Administration in anticipation of the new program. As Fonda inspected that equipment, however, he discovered that much of it was hopelessly outdated, damaged or simply not acceptable for use in modern dentistry. That started another scramble to find better equipment.

In addition, the physical clinic needed to be constructed, and Fonda spent a great deal of time supervising the construction, all while also sorting out the other details that the new classes would entail.  “I had some sleepless nights, let’s put it that way,” he says. “Sometimes I went home at night and just laid there and looked at the ceiling and thought, “Oh my goodness…”

Classes began in 1970 on the lower campus, with Fonda and the other instructors traveling from classroom to classroom carrying their tools and textbooks with them. In spite of all of the confusion of those early days, Fonda says he loved teaching.  “I liked passing on the information that needed to be passed on to students about dentistry and the various aspects of dentistry, and what kind of background would be required so that you would even be able to perform the duties,” he says. “I loved the student contact. I just thoroughly enjoyed that.”

As the program attracted more students, Fonda was also instrumental in finding new ways for the students to interact with the public at large, including working at the Faribault State Hospital, nursing homes, the White Earth Indian Reservation and other areas.

Today, Fonda remains delighted with the progress of the program he fathered. Even though he retired in 1986, he remains fiercely proud of its success.

“It was a pleasure for me,” he says. “I wouldn’t have missed it for anything.”

Loading

written by admin \\ tags: , ,

Apr 23

Possibility In Objects

Gioia Fonda transforms gutter garbage into art

By Stephanie Rodriguez on 4-22-2010

Ordinary hurricane fence morphs into happy orange flowers, familiar green baskets that once held strawberries transform into whimsical city skylines and forks found abandoned in Sacramento’s gutters glisten brightly. These are Sacramento City College assistant art professor Gioia Fonda’s recycled treasures. And her art. “I feel that people aren’t being as creative as they could be with their trash,” Fonda says. “There are possibilities in objects. A lot of things could be repurposed.”

Sacramento City College professor Gioia Fonda snuggles to one of her quilts, some of which are made with repurposed plastic bags.

Fonda’s den of creativity once filled a large space in Verge Gallery and Studio Project at 19th and V streets, but now is awaiting construction of walls before its move into a new location downtown near S and Seventh streets. Her studio brims with random objects found during her daily bicycle commute. While seated at her workstation, Fonda appears wholly comfortable surrounded by a world of recycled bliss.

On the ground, a white ceramic owl anticipates a fresh coat of paint. Boxes labeled “froo-froo fluff” and “Valentine crap” rest neatly on shelves. Hand-painted sheets of construction paper wadded into balls, then pierced with string, hang over a doorway. There’s more: A patch of cotton-candy-pink fur is pinned to one wall. A tin caboodle chock-full of gel pens beckons even the most artistically challenged. A small table bears an assortment of dull and bent silverware. A tiny pile of snipped paper bits lay interwoven on her desk.

Scanning the entire room, Fonda jumps up and grabs an object she proudly presents as a “weed tiara.” “Everything looks better with spray paint,” Fonda says, matter of factly, while holding what appears to be a chunk of flattened tumbleweed. “One day, I just decided to spray-paint it pink and then, another day, I decided to glue a little sequin on the tip of every [branch].”

A simple weed, flattened by numerous cars and blown into the gutter in front of her art studio, now sparkles with new purpose. “When things are cheap, I’m more likely to take a risk and try something new than if I spend a lot of money on art supplies,” explains the blond 36-year-old of her attraction to found art and collage. She says that her family always looked at things “a little differently.” “For me, it’s second nature.”

She points out a deity sitting on a shelf lined with orange lace, safely surrounded by an old picture frame, silently surveying the studio. An artificial-grass fan is attached to the deity’s back, forming a green aura, while an old ink pen and pair of scissors stand guard at its sides. Multicolored paint chips, scraped from Fonda’s palette, lay as an offering at the deity’s feet.

“[My mom] thought it would be funny to give me this little goddess, my ‘studio goddess,’” Fonda says, smiling. Her mother, Chloe Fonda, is also an artist. “Most of the paintbrushes I have were hers when she was in school. She kept good care of them, and I take OK care of them, and they are still usable 50 years later. “I think there’s a sense that you should use things and take care of them for as long as you can.”

Students in Fonda’s collage-and-assemblage classes quickly learn this lesson, too, and items such as an ordinary gum wrapper, lying in a crumpled-up ball on the ground, becomes their art. Fonda’s intention is to show students that they can save money by visiting thrift stores or by simply taking a second look at, say, the plastic bag bread comes in. “My motivation isn’t always saving the Earth, although that’d be nice,” Fonda admits. “[But] everything could be useful somehow. It could be turned into something.”

Fonda’s passion for recycled collage and assemblage has produced notable projects. “Gioia is one resourceful woman,” says Sacramento City College’s art department chairwoman Emily Wilson. “A piece that comes to mind is a quilt she made entirely out of used plastic shopping bags. She created a piece of artwork with intricate pattern and vivid color made entirely out of what most of us would consider trash.”

Fonda started collecting plastic bags from different bodegas around Brooklyn during her studies at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. She saved them by making a book of plastic pages. Two years later, they reappeared as the quilt. “When I use plastic bags, I can kind of experiment, and it’s freeing to me,” Fonda says while unfolding her plastic masterpiece, which rustles softly. Certain squares of the quilt are very familiar: the swirly “S” of Safeway, red Target circles, even the intense yellow of a Sacramento City College bookstore bag. “I was just thinking I had so many plastic bags, and they were such beautiful colors … what could come of it?”

Fonda says that her fear of driving is the reason she commutes by bike, but that pedaling through Sacramento puts her at the street level, which makes it easier to find objects for future art projects. “I used to go on walks with a friend [and] her dog, and she would be laughing at me for how many times I bent down to pick things up,” Fonda says. “My pockets would be full by the end of the walk.”

Fonda, who has also participated in state fair competitions for recycled art, feels everyone is capable of repurposing an object, but everyone should also push the aesthetic potential a little more. “If somebody wants to start out, just look around,” she advises, thinking. “Like all those AOL discs that come in the mail all the time. We gotta think of a project for those!”

Loading

written by admin \\ tags: , , ,

Mar 23

Longtime University Professor Honors Mother, Assists Students by Establishing New Endowed Scholarship

Cal Poly Pomona Campus News – Week of January 14, 2002 (older article, just found it)

President Bob Suzuki accepts a check for $10,000 from Animal & Veterinary Sciences professor Edward Fonda. The donation will fund a new endowed scholarship at Cal Poly Pomona.

Ed Fonda remembers how his mother influenced him and his sister to pursue advanced degrees. Each eventually obtained a Ph.D., degrees that opened doors of opportunity in both their lives.

Mary McNellis Fonda passed away in February 2001. Ed Fonda, in his 20th year at Cal Poly Pomona where he is presently professor and chair of the university’s Animal & Veterinary Sciences Department, has chosen to honor his mother’s memory by establishing the Mary McNellis Fonda Scholarship.

“My mother was so supportive of education. The mother of two kids, she came from a farm, became a nurse, earned two masters degrees and eventually became head of nursing administration for a large hospital in New Orleans,” says Fonda. “She encouraged me and my sister to continue our education. I see this as a wonderful tribute, establishing a memorial that will enable other students to further their educational dreams.”

The Mary McNellis Fonda Scholarship will be awarded each year by the College of Agriculture through the Cal Poly Pomona University Educational Trust. It will annually recognize a full-time student who is a U.S. citizen with a GPA of 3.0 or higher majoring in Animal & Veterinary Sciences. First preference will be given to a qualified graduate student.

“My mother had two graduate degrees and encouraged both her children to get graduate degrees, so I believe it’s fitting we try to recognize a graduate student with this award,” adds Fonda. “So many times scholarships are established for undergraduates and we may forget the importance of graduate training. I feel this is a good chance to create an opportunity for those students looking to continue their educations.”

Fonda’s $10,000 gift creates a continuing endowment for the scholarship. After one year, that endowment will qualify for matching funds provided by the Kellogg Foundation.

——————————————————————————————————

Further details from Inland Valley Daily Bulletin (Ontario, CA) – May 3, 2002:

When Mary McNellis Fonda died February 2001, her son, Upland resident Ed Fonda, feared her passion for healing, education and animals would die with her.  To perpetuate his mother’s fine qualities, which others shared, Fonda established the Mary McNellis Fonda Scholarship fund.  The scholarship will be awarded each year to a Cal Poly Pomona student majoring in animal and veterinary science.  Additional criteria for the scholarship include being a United States citizen and holding at least a 3.0 grade-point average. First consideration for the scholarship will be given to graduate students.

Fonda is a professor and the chairman of the university’s animal and veterinary sciences department. He started the fund with a personal $10,000 donation which was matched 50 percent by the Kellogg foundation. The first recipient will be chosen in late May by a committee made up of the agricultural department’s faculty.  The amount of the annual scholarship will vary from year to year depending on interest earned from the principal, Fonda said.

He chose this type of scholarship because his mother was born on and raised on a farm; and Cal Poly’s picturesque setting, rolling hills and lush landscaping would make the perfect backdrop for his mother’s lasting tribute.  “My mother would have loved this place,’ said Fonda about the university where he has taught for more than 20 years.

Fonda’s mother was born in 1913 and grew up on her family’s farm in Iowa. She was one of three children whose parents valued education. Though she was a young woman who became college age during the depression, her father insisted she further her education. She graduated from Iowa State University with a bachelor’s degree in nursing.  McNellis married Ed Fonda Sr. and the couple had two children. She worked as an Registered Nurse until her husband died in 1953, then she packed up her kids and moved back to the farm.

She loved the outdoors and the animals. Fonda said his mother believed that her children would benefit greatly from growing up on a farm as she had.  The Fondas raised cattle, pigs and turkeys. Their farm also grew such crops as wheat, soybeans and corn.  “She was tiny and she was tough,’ Fonda said of his mother. “She could drive any type of farm equipment work any piece of heavy machinery. She was amazing.’

Though his mother valued the practical education her children were receiving from farm life, she held formal education in the highest regard and moved back to the city where she believed there were more educational opportunities, Fonda said.  McNellis Fonda herself went back to school and earned two master’s degrees: one in nursing and the other in nursing administration.  She eventually became the the director of nursing at a large hospital in New Orleans.

Her example influenced both her children. Fonda has a bachelor’s degree in biology from Tulane University in New Orleans, a master’s from Louisiana State University in reproductive physiology and a Ph.D. in animal science and reproductive physiology from the University of Georgia.

Fonda’s sister, Jean Westin-Legotic has a Ph.D. in art history from Pennsylvania State University and a law degree from the University of Florida.  “My mother was a great lady and I miss her greatly,’ Fonda said.  It was because of all his admiration for his mother that Fonda wanted to create a lasting memorial for her.

“There were so many things I could have done, but I wanted to do something that really represented what she was all about,’ he said. “I couldn’t think of anything better than something that helped students further their education especially in an area she held so dear.’

Diana Sholley can be reached by e-mail at d_sholley@dailybulletin.com or by phone at (909) 483-8542.

Loading

Related posts

written by admin \\ tags: , , ,