StarShine Academy has had a school garden since we opened in 2002 and it has been extremely beneficial for our students and our community. Our StarShine Garden Curriculum continues to evolve, and this past year we had our inaugural StarShine Farmers Market, selling produce to our local neighborhood. The long-term goal that our students and teachers are working tirelessly towards is to expand in our pursuit of developing a sustainable food supply for our school lunch program and instilling agricultural awareness within our student body.

The culture of our school is distinctive. Global awareness, financial literacy, career, personal, and holistic development, StarShine also instills environmental awareness in our students as well. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle is our motto. Our students understand that lettuce doesn’t come from McDonalds, but from hard strenuous labor in a garden similar to their own. Because they are aware of the origin of the food they eat, our students instantaneously develop a sustainable mindset. They are able to relate with the farmers, and the hard work it takes in growing and selling food. Our garden is distinct in its own right, but our students’ actions in collectively improving the garden impress every visitor of our school. It’s because of our environmental awareness curriculum that has been instilled in our students subconsciously. Planting crops, adding leftover food to our compost bin, watering our garden, and harvesting crops lends a sense of normality within our school. Compare that to my experience in primary and secondary education where the closest thing I’ve ever had to gardening was putting a potato in water and watching it grow leaves.

Today, President Obama delivered an education reform speech at the National Urban League’s 100^th Anniversary Convention. In it he explained how important charter schools are to “stir up” things by trying innovative techniques to engrain true knowledge within our future generation. He hit the nail on the head, and its what the foundation of StarShine Academy is all about. Our garden and our environmental awareness curriculum is only a small example of different techniques we have used in the past 8 years to change struggling students into healthy, productive, and happy individuals. Meeting the needs of Maslow’s Hierarchy allows our students to grow into their full potential. At StarShine Academy our curriculum is based around knowledge based learning. As mentioned before, our students have a StarShine Farmers Market where they sell their produce to the local community, and learn first hand entrepreneurial skills.

It’s so rewarding to see how our garden, our students, and our community has grown and flourished together over the past 8 years. We look forward to another great year at StarShine Academy, and we can’t wait to try whatever creative ideas our students always tend to come up with for how to best use our garden.

Please feel free to comment on any advice you would like to pass on to our StarShine Student Gardeners. Thanks!

Changing our next generation begins with the parents. Imagine a world filled with strong, functional, effective and loving families, who are led by committed, compassionate, knowledgeable and well-trained adults. Adults who know and love themselves; who know how to parent their children, taking their role as parent seriously and have learned how to match the joy and playfulness that their children bring into the world with the humor, perspective, tenderness, vision and wisdom that world class parents bring into the equation. Imagine the change that would resonate throughout the world, one parent- one family at a time.

StarShine was founded on the idea that we can turn children into peaceful and productive citizens through our holistic curriculum addressing the entire individual- mind, body, spirit, health, wealth and happiness. We proved that children from any socioeconomic background could transform their lives because our curriculum wasn’t primarily education oriented, but was community and family based as well. We reach out to their parents indirectly by involving them in our community events such as the StarShine Farmers Market and our annual holiday festivals. Before our school opened up 8 years ago, the neighborhood had the highest drive by shooting rate in all of the Phoenix Metropolitan area. Today, the community is ranked as one of the safest, with a newly opened StarBucks on the corner solidifying the amount of change our school has had on the community.

Through our teachers and administrators’ efforts we proved that any parent has the ability to relate to and connect with their children. It’s possible for anyone to raise independent, responsible young adults well and without unnecessary worry and hassle. Having the right mindset is the key; clear strategies, and relevant and effective tools- and that’s truer now than ever before. If you’re a parent, parent-to-be, parent surrogates or a grandparent, you are very aware that you are in a real competition for the hearts and minds of your kids and teens. You may feel you are ill prepared to compete effectively in part because you yourself feel uncertain and exhausted. If that’s the case, your focus should be on changing yourself. Your children will in turn, follow suite.

Over the course of 8 years StarShine has had a profound change on children, parents, families, communities, and businesses. We are fortunate to be honored by the United Nations, the Episcopal and Catholic Church, and also with large corporations such as Toshiba and Macy’s. To date, we have conducted training seminars in Liberia for 700 teachers and to many school leaders and parents in the United Kingdom. As we open up thousands of additional schools in the coming 3 years, we are in need of administrators and teachers to be a part of StarShine.

If you are a parent, soon-to-be parent, prospective StarShine teacher or administrator, or even an individual who seeks a profound change in your life, then I highly encourage you attend our seminar events. If you have the desire to make a positive change in your life and in others please visit us at www.SQI.US.com for upcoming sessions.

NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING AND AGENDA

MEETING OF THE GOVERNING BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF

STARSHINE ACADEMY

JULY 12, 2010, 2:00 P.M.

Location:

StarShine Academy – Corporate Office

4455 E. Camelback Rd., Suite C-138

Phoenix, AZ 85018

602-957-9557

Pursuant to Arizona Revised Statutes (A.R.S.) 38-431.01 and 38-431.02, notice is hereby given to the members of the general public that the meeting of the GOVERNING Board of Directors of StarShine Academy shall be held at the foregoing time and place to discuss and authorize action upon the following agenda items, but not limited to these items:

1. Identification of Time, Place and Location of Meeting

2. Identification of Present and Absent Board Members

3. Approval of Adopted Budget for 2010-11 School Year

4. Informational Items for Discussion

5. Date, Time and Location of Next Meeting

6. Adjournment

Pursuant to A.R.S. 38-431.03.A.2 and A.3, each Board may vote to go into Executive Session, which will not be open to the public, for legal advice concerning any item on the agenda or to review, discuss and consider records exempt by law from public inspection, including the receipt and discussion of information or testimony that is specifically required to be maintained as confidential by state or federal law. One or more members of the above mentioned Board may attend the foregoing meeting by teleconference from StarShine Academy.

Dated and Posted this 1st day of July 2010

by

Jan Shoop, Principal and Vice President