On June 8, 2016 the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School students were a part of an international session with the students in Ghana. This began with Eric Jones, CEO of Project Ghana, peformed a magic
trick with one of the lead teachers in Ghana. The lead teacher in Ghana wanted to give Mr. Jones a package. Mr. Jones told him how were we going to get this package right now from Ghana. Therefore, the lead teacher from Ghana put the package to the top of his screen and then Mr. Jones reached to the back of the screen at the Middle School and pulled the package out. All students from both ends were amazed.
Inside the package were hard hats representing Dr. Repollet’s, superintendent, theme for the Asbury Park School District, “Building a Brighter Future.” The hats were presented to Dr. Repollet, Zakiya
Del Orbe, Mr. David Wronko, and Eric Schneider. After the hard hat presentation, it was time for student presentations. The topics both the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School students and the students
from Ghana agreed upon were sports, attractions, music, and beaches. Presenting these topics for the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School were Mikayla Serrano, Jaiden Griffin, Ba-Sean Fraser, Corey
Thermitus, Daniele Delgado, Rodney Loiseau, and Jackie Duarte. Besides using power points, the students made movie videos about the topics. For instance, the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School students
created a movie video on a WNBA game that they attended, the Memorial Day fire works display from the Asbury Park Board Walk, the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, a tour of Asbury Park which included the speech by Bernice King at the Paramount in Asbury Park, and MLK students singing and playing musical instruments such as the piano and drums. From there Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School students
gave presentations on what they have gained from Project Ghana. The students stated that this project made them improve their skills at public speaking, taught them about new cultures, and history. In addition, they also stated that it was great to meet students from another part of the world.
After the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School students, the students from Ghana did their presentations. Their presentations consisted of videos that showed sports being played in Ghana such as soccer and basketball, a boat ride and tour of a zoo, the feeding of crocodiles, and an amazing surprise by the Ghana students, a mini concert showing off their musical talents. The Ghana students played
incredible music together through the use of their instruments such as the guitar and drum. The students from the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School gave the Ghana students a thunderous applause for their tremendous presentation.
At the conclusion of this session, Eric Jones stated that an international relationship had been formed between the students of Asbury Park and Ghana. This relationship would last a lifetime.
On a side note, a nice accomplishment of the Ghana Project was that one of the sessions was published in Prehistoric Times Magazine issue 116. Mr. Wronko’s students presented the Cretaceous Warzone to students in Ghana.
The Ghana Project:
Eric Jones
Darryl Bahs
Twia Goss
Viviene Barr.
Mr. Caprioni
Ms. Friedman
Mr. Provenza
Dr. Adams
Mrs. Del Orbe
Mrs. Jackson
Dean Doss
Lou Parisi
Alfonso Freda
Wilbur V. Martin
George Reed
Mr. Williams
Mr. Mason
Dr. Repollet
Sancha Gray
Mr. Wronko
Mr. Schneider
Ms. Major Phillips
Jackie Duarte
Kayla Byrd
Nai’Heem Crooms
Daniele Delgado
Viridiana Jacobo
Perfecto Kendle
Tatiana Laurore
Christlie Lavarin
Oscar Limon Vasquez
Rodney Loiseau
Maria Lopez
Asion Murchison
Yahsir Ofori-Afari
ShyAsya Parker
Oswaldo Pelaez
Mikayla Serrano
Jaiden Griffin
Ba-Sean Fraser
Corey Thermitus
Berenise Banos-Merino
Carlie Herrera
Djephca Cagilus
Marc Kenley St. Surin,
Andrit Garnica
Ke’ome Whitman
Antonia Ramirez
Deicie Vasquez
Walter Duarte
