Page 18 - Florida Sentinel 10-21-16 Online Edition

Local
Tampa Silhouettes To Make 2nd Book Donation To Center
The Tampa Silhouettes of the Tampa Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Phi Fraternity, Inc. will hold its 2nd book dona- tion to the Gwendolyn “Gwen” Miller Community Center.
Kappa Alpha Psi Frater- nity, Inc. is an International Fraternity consisting largely of African-American men who are notable for outstanding personal and professional ac- complishments, high scholas- tic achievement, and entrenched community in- volvement.
The Fraternity was founded in 1911 at Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana. The Silhouettes is an auxiliary of the Fraternity consisting of wives and widows of these men, and work hard to assist and support activities and service projects at the Grand Chapter, province and local levels.
In keeping with this pur- pose, the Tampa Silhouettes have identified a service proj- ect that will complement the Fraternity’s Guide Right Pro- gram which focuses on devel- oping academic skills of youth within the community. The project entails a sizeable dona- tion of books to the library at the Gwendolyn “Gwen’ Miller Community Center, 6410 N. 32nd Street, Tampa (33610). The 2nd donation will take place on Tuesday, October 25, 2016 at 4 p. m.
The location of the book donation is significant because of Mrs. Miller’s service to the Tampa Silhouettes, and serv- ing on the Tampa City Council representing Districts 5 and 1. She is married to Hillsborough County Commissioner Lesley “Les” Miller, Jr., a well- known community and public servant, and devoted member
of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.
Local President of the Sil- houettes, Mrs. Joyce Daniels arranged a tour of the Community Center and came away concerned at the limited number of books that lined the shelves of the library. “We hope our efforts to provide high interest books will result in increased readership for pleasure and improved reading skills,” says Silhouette Daniels.
GWENDOLYN ‘GWEN’ MILLER ...Community Center
named in her honor
JOYCE DANIELS ...President, Tampa Silhouettes
African American And Hispanic Students Excel
On AP Examinations
The number of Hillsbor- ough County Public School students taking Advanced Placement (AP) examina- tions Aand achieving a pass- ing score of 3, 4, 5 continues to increase, giving students more opportunities for higher education.
Jeff Eakins, Superin- tendent for the Hillsborough County School District said,
“We continue to push for open access into our Ad- vanced Placement classes at our high schools. These re- sults show our students are looking for more opportuni- ties and our teachers and staff are giving them the sup-
port they need.”
The number of students
taking the Advanced Place- ment examinations has in- creased by 7 percentage points as compared to the number of students who took the tests last year. Also, the number of students who took the exams who earned a score of 3, 4, or 5 increased by 4 percent.
The results continue the district’s steady increase over the past decade and show students are taking on more challenging coursework in preparation for the future.
Superintendent Eakins further said, “The
district is especially proud of the results from our Hispanic and African American stu- dents which show impressive gains.”
The rate of Hispanic stu- dents taking AP exams in- creased by 18% over last year, maintaining a 44% pass rate. African American stu- dents scoring a 3, 4, or 5 went from 18% two years ago to 28% this past year, which is a 10 percentage point gain.
Taking AP courses and passing the related exams gives students more opportu- nity to be accepted into a 4- year university.
It also allows them to earn college credits, for their major or as an elective, elim- inating the need to take the classes in college which saves them money and time, Su- perintendent Eakins said.
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