White House officials and Hispanic artists visit Concord elementary school
Source: Contra Costa Times
CONCORD -- Although Meadow Homes Elementary is considered a low-performing campus in the Mt. Diablo school district, it shined in the eyes of White House officials and famous artists who visited Wednesday.
"All of you can make your dreams come true," opera singer Carla Dirlikov told the students. "But you have to really work hard in school."
The school, which is located in the Monument Corridor of Concord, includes a large percentage of English learners and Hispanic children who have struggled in the past to keep up academically with their peers at campuses in wealthier parts of the district. But the school and its students have blossomed with an extra focus on arts and funding from a federal School Improvement Grant during the past two years.
The school was one of 10 in the state chosen last May to participate in a special arts initiative program from the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. The program pairs schools with well-known artists who encourage children to follow their dreams and be anything they want to be. Dirlikov, whose mother is Mexican and father is Bulgarian, said she was bullied as a child, so she sang to herself. She later pursued a successful career as an opera singer, following her passion and her dreams, she said.
Read more: http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_26421875/white-house-officials-and-hispanic-artists-visit-concord
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and realized when I read the name of a school on one of my cycling routes that it wasn't about NH after all. 