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INSIDE THIS SECTION:
?TV schedules , 6-7
MSporfs , Pages 9-12
CHAN ELL SMITH AND RAYMOND THOMPSON color the
" pig's house" for a production of "The Three IMtle Pigs."
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Where Students And Tutors Learn
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NICKY BROOKS helps a group of second through fourth graders learn about abbreviations.
STAf Y PHOTOS BY SUSAN USH?*
A BY SUSAN USHER
summer program aimed at giving youngsters a
"Jump Start" on school this fall is benefitting a
second group of students as well ? the 20 col
lege-bound young adults hired as their tutors.
Devised by Anne Mitchell, the school systems' Jobs
Training Partnership Act (JTPA) coordinator, the free tu
toring program is offered at four schools: Shallotte,
Leland and South Brunswick Middle and Bolivia
Elementary. Up to 25 students per site meet for group
classes and one-on-one help Monday through Thursday
from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Its aim, she said, is to help students retain what they
learned last year and to work on their academic weak
nesses before returning to school this fall..
In JTPA's traditional summer jobs program, the feder
ally funded program simply places students from low in
comc households in summer jobs.
This pilot program is different, bccause it provides
not just a job, but a learning experience as well. Five tu
tors at each site earn S4.50 an hour and arc supervised
by a site manager who is a tcachcr, like Gwcn Gore at
Shallottc Middle.
She said tutors develop lesson plans for each day
which she reviews. During the day she checks classes
periodically to see that all is well. When a tutor has
problems with a student, the student is referred to Gore,
she said, "and 1 straighten them out."
Staff arrives an hour before the students to plan
lessons, and stay until 4 p.m. to grade papers and share
ideas on how to meet students' needs. Gore said she is
seeing steady improvement in the tutors' skills in work
ing with students.
On a recent day at Shallotte Middle, tutor Darrilyn
Morgan was coaching students through short produc
tions of two fairy talcs, "Little Red Riding Hood" and
"The Three Pigs".
Morgan, who is studying at Brunswick Community
College to become a teacher and a cosmetologist, said
she drew on her drama class experiences at West Bruns
wick High School. The exercises may be fun, but they
also develops communication and cooperative skills.
She also tutors her fifth and sixth grade students indi
vidually in math and spelling, said Gwen Gore, the
teacher who serves as supervisor of the Shallotte site.
In the adjacent classroom, several different activities
are under way.
Nicky Brooks is leading the youngest group of stu
dents in a chalkboard drill, working with abbreviations
and word jumbles.
When one student complains that another is answer
ing all Ihc questions. Brooks replies, "That's because she
studied and did her homework."
At the back of the room, another tutor, Dominica
Hcwctt, is observing and taking notes. A rising sopho
more at West Brunswick High School, she said she's just
catching on to how to manage a classroom of students.
"Now 1 can understand why teachers arc like they
arc," she said, shaking her head.
Gore said the younger students Brooks and Hewett
are helping "have trouble with everything," telling time,
naming the days of ihc week, spelling and reading.
On the far side of the room Tamika Cotton works
with older students, "covering everything from geogra
phy to science ? whatever they need."
This particular afternoon she is drilling two students
in map skills, having them fill in an outline map of the
United States as she calls out the names of the states.
j BIRDS LEARNED TO HUNT AT RAPTOR CENTER
I Northern Harriers Released In Local Marsh
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STAff PHOTO BY SUSAN USH??
A NEARLY GROWN NORTHERN HARRIER regains freedom in
the wild when released in th emarshes near Sunset Beach Sunday
by Barbara Schmidt, a volunteer with the Carolina Raptor Center
near Charlotte.
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ShaRotte Calabash <*<4
Hours 9:30-8:00 Summer Hour* 10-9:30
2T Holden Beach Rd. Beach Dr. SW am
P 1/2 mile from Wal-Mart 500 ft. east of stoplight (1
Calabash
Summer Hours 10-9:30
Beach Dr. SW
500 ft. east of stoplight
LBY SUSAN USHER
ocal birdwatchers may be surprised lo see
fin unfamiliar bird that looks like a mix be
tween a hawk and an owl cruising low,
back and forth across the marshes near Sunset
Beach over the next few weeks or months.
Three birds of prey known as northern harriers
or marsh hawks were released into the marsh
Sunday afternoon after spending approximately
six weeks in the care of the Carolina Raptor
Center near Charlotte. Barbara Schmidt, a center
volunteer since 1988, and her husband Walter,
part-time residents of Sunset Beach, drove from
their home at Huntcrsville Sunday to release the
two males and one female.
Standing in the marsh grasses overlooking the
Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, Barbara Schmidt
took large, rectangular boxes from her husband
one by one, removed the sealing tape, opened the
lid and stepped back.
Each time, a nearly-grown bird emerged,
blinked yellow-brown eyes, and hesitated for only
a second before soaring up and away toward a
protective grove of trees overlooking the marsh.
A small but appreciative audience of friends and
neighbors of the Schmidts and news personnel
looked on as the birds regained their freedom.
The three were fledglings when they arrived at
the center June 19. They had been found that day
in Trigg County, Ky., on the ground by someone
who thought the still-downy birds were orphans.
"They thought they were doing a good thing,
'rescuing' the birds, but really they did more
harm than good," said Laura Keistler, develop
ment director for the center. "They didn't realize
the birds nest on the ground."
44 Our environment is in
trouble when a raptor is in
trouble. " .
The fledgling marsh hawks were taken first to
a veterinarian, then brought by a falconer to the
center. There they were cared for on a diet of
mice and birds supplmented by vitamins and cal
cium. Two weeks before their release the harriers
were moved into a 40-foot "flight cage," which
allowed the nearly full-size birds to exercise their
wings and practice catching their own food ? live
mice released into the cage.
The only species of harrier in the United States,
the northern harrier or marsh hawk is a slender
bird with long, narrow wings, a long tail and a
distinctive white patch of feathers on the rump, at
the top of the tail. Males typically are smaller and
mostly gray. The adult female is larger and mostly
brown. Her tail bands of dark and light brown are
usually equal size.
It is the only bird other than an owl to have a
facial disc ? a circular area of stiff feathers around
the eyes ? and it looks like a mixture of hawk and
owl. The three birds released Sunday were almost
full-grown, said Keistler, noting that the harriers
can can reach a length of up to 2 feet, with a
wingspan in cxcess of 4 feet and can weigh up to
21 pounds.
The bird hunts in a distinct pattern, flying back
and forth, low over fields, in search of prey ? ro
dents, insects, amphibians and other small birds.
Raccoon is its major predator.
Breeding in Canada and the northern United
States, the Northern Harrier winters over in the
Midwest and eastern United States.
"Extreme northeastern North Carolina is the
only place they are found naturally," said Keistlcr.
"They overwinter here, but we have no recorded
population of harriers."
Come breeding time, the center staff hopes the
three biids released Sunday afternoon will join
the raptor migration north. Two of the three birds
were banded with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
bands for future tracking.
Staging the release at Sunset Beach was a nat
ural fit, according to Keistlcr, since the Schmidts'
home overlooks a marsh, the harriers' natural
habitat.
Schmidt works mainly in the center office as
assistant to the executive director. The non-profit
center, at Latta Plantation Park near Charlotte, is
dedicated to the preservation of raptors (birds of
prey such as eagles and hawks) through public
education, rehabilitation and research.
"They're a wonderful group of people and the
work they do with the birds is really great," said
Schmidt, a longtime birdwatcher who has devel
oped a special appreciation for raptors. "There are
a lot of misconceptions about hawks and other
raptors, many people think they are 'bad' birds,
but they're part of the ecology."
Raptors are also good environmental indica
tors, she said. "If there's something wrong, it
shows up very quickly, as with the DDT and the
osprcys. Our environment is in trouble when a
raptor is in trouble."
Mmk Sxmidms
Family Optometry
?Comprehensive Eye Examinations
?Ocular Emergencies
?Contact Lenses and Glasses Prescribed
?Diagnosis and Treatment of Diseases of
the Eye
?Full Selection of Eyeglass Frames
Suite 3, Promenade Office Park
143 flolden Beach Road, Shallotte
Office hours by appointment.
Evening appointments available.
Phone 754-9687
Member American Optometric Association
C109O THE BRUNSWICK BEACON ?i
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