50 The Queens Courier • kids & education • september 24, 2015 for breaking news visit www.queenscourier.com kids & education St. Francis Prep students check out C-SPAN campaign bus by the QUENS COURIER STAFF editorial@queenscourier.com/@queenscourier Fresh Meadows was a stop on the “Road to the White House” for the C-SPAN Campaign 2016 bus, which visited students at St. Francis Preparatory School and provided them with lessons regarding the upcoming presidential election. Students at St. Francis Prep’s AP government and American history classes toured the bus and learned more about the C-SPAN “StudentCam” competition in which the teenagers talked about the issues they wanted the presidential candidates to discuss during the campaign. A C-SPAN marketing representative also spoke with the youths about the channel’s new history series, “Landmark Cases: Historic Supreme Court Decisions,” which premieres on Oct. 5 at 9 p.m. C-SPAN is the public access network available through cable and satellite providers that covers public affairs including live sessions of Congress and committee hearings. During the 2016 presidential campaign, the network will also cover an array of campaign rallies, the political party conventions and presidential debates. “Time Warner Cable is proud to partner with C-SPAN to bring the C-SPAN Bus to Fresh Meadows, giving Queens residents a hands-on opportunity to learn more about the programming the network offers,” said Brien Kelley, area vice president of operations for Brooklyn and Queens at Time Warner Cable. Aboard the C-SPAN Bus, visitors experience the following through interactive technology: s St. Francis Prep School students pose for a picture outside the C-SPAN Bus after their tour. • in-depth public affairs programming and educational resources; • touch-screen quizzes on C-SPAN and the three branches of government; • mobile devices demonstrating how C-SPAN is Photo courtesy of C-SPAN used on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube and mobile apps; • and HD cameras and production equipment capable of producing public affairs programming aboard the bus. Fundraising campaign to support Queens group’s writing contest Queens literary journal Newtown Literary is launching its second biennial writing contest for kids, Queens Young Authors and Poets, by starting a fundraising campaign to pay for the outreach and administration of the contest. The campaign, hosted on crowdfunding site Indiegogo, quickly raised its goal of $1,000 after a little more than three weeks, as residents and local businesses reached out to support the literary aspirations of local youth from Jamaica to Long Island City. The journal is now stretching its goal to include funds for additional prizes for the winners. In 2014, the journal ran the first iteration of the contest and attracted entries from over 100 children all over the borough. “At a time when schools are focused on writing for standardized tests, this contest encourages young writers to pursue and improve their creative writing skills,” said Tim Fredrick, editor of the journal and president of Newtown Literary Alliance Inc., the 501(c)3 nonprofit publisher of the journal. As with the first contest, winners in six categories will share both page and stage with professional writers next spring in the journal’s eighth issue and the contest awards ceremony in June 2016. The contest is free to enter, but does accrue some expenses in sending out contest materials to schools all over the borough, running the online submissions site, and arranging an awards ceremony to celebrate the contest winners. Hence, the journal is raising funds from the Queens community to pay for the contest. “Without the money raised from this campaign, the journal would not be able to afford this important opportunity for Queens’s young writers,” Fredrick said. The additional $500 the journal hopes to raise above the initial $1,000 will go toward gift bags for the winners that will include high-quality journals and pens, as well as books, to encourage continued writing. As a bonus and thank you to contributors, local Queens businesses, nonprofits and authors hailing from Forest Hills to Astoria have donated books, merchandise and gift certificates to offer as incentives to donors. The journal’s volunteer staff is also contributing time and advice in exchange for larger donations. Donors can contribute as little as $5 between now and Sept. 30 by going to http://igg.me/at/QYAP2016.
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