She Rocks! Meet Zena Hallam - Aromatherapist, Alchemist & Founder of Tazeka Aromatherapy

Zena Hallam is a Florida-based  certified aromatherapist, reflexologist, and modern day alchemist. She first experienced the power of natural therapies as a girl in Guyana, South America, watching her mother heal the people of her village—including her grandmother, who would have lost her leg and...
http://guyanesegirlsrock.com/?p=13666

Women in History: Early Successful Guyanese Women of Chinese Descent

Doreen Chung, Former First Lady of Guyana

Martha nee Fung Kee Fung was one of the earliest female business owners in Guyana (1800s). She became a landed proprietor who owned many businesses including a rice mill. She bought two abandoned sugar estates Waller’s Delight and Ruimzight at Windsor...
http://wp.me/p7a9Nh-1G8

She Rocks! Meet Nan Mattai - Aerospace Engineer, Avionic Magazine First-Ever Woman of the Year

Nan Mattai
Among the senior vice presidents at Rockwell Collins; the Iowa-based provider of avionics and information technology systems and services, Nan Mattai is the only woman.
“Just the thought that something I say or do may change a life inspires me to be the best I can be,” Ms. Mattai, the...
http://wp.me/p7a9Nh-1gx

She Rocks! Meet Maritza Lord, Talented Singer, Songwriter & Producer

Maritza Lord is an American singer, songwriter, producer and artist. She was born and raised in Georgetown, Guyana and became a professional musician after moving to Boston to attend Berklee College of Music.
She grew up in a household filled with music. Her father sang and played guitar and...
http://wp.me/p7a9Nh-44j

She Rocks! Meet Zena Hallam - Aromatherapist, Alchemist & Founder of Tazeka Aromatherapy

Zena Hallam is a Florida-based  certified aromatherapist, reflexologist, and modern day alchemist. She first experienced the power of natural therapies as a girl in Guyana, South America, watching her mother heal the people of her village—including her grandmother, who would have lost her leg and...
http://wp.me/p7a9Nh-3yq

English Teacher, Shamayne Cumberbatch, wants all students to have the opportunity to receive an excellent education

English Teacher, Shamayne Cumberbatch, was born in Guyana, South America and later moved to Irving, NJ. She first attended the local public school before enrolling at Kent Place for middle and high school. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and her master’s degree from Har...
http://guyanesegirlsrock.com/english-teacher-shamayne-cumberbatch-wants-students-opportunity-receive-excellent-education/

Guyanese Baroness Valerie Amos has become the first black director of a British university at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).

“The extraordinary life of Baroness Valerie Amos has taken her from the small island of Wakenaam at the mouth of the Essequibo River in Guyana to the House of Lords.
It is a journey that includes time spent at the United Nations headquarters in New York and the British High Commission in...
http://guyanesegirlsrock.com/guyanese-baroness-valerie-amos-has-become-the-first-black-director-of-a-british-university-at-the-school-of-oriental-and-african-studies-soas/

Celebrating our Graduates: Okeema Humphrey, Student Government President at Borough of Manhattan Community College

Okeema Humphrey
BMCC Student Government Association President, Okeema Humphrey’s ultimate goal  is to give back to the country of her birth, Guyana,  but in the meantime she’s sharing very smart advice with her peers. During her recent graduation ceremony,  Okeema advised the class of...
http://guyanesegirlsrock.com/celebrating-graduates-okeema-humphrey-student-government-president-borough-manhattan-community-college/

Happy Birthday to His Excellency Brigadier President David A. Granger....

Happy Birthday to H.E David A. Granger, 8th Executive President of the Republic off Guyana who celebrates his 70th Birthday today!
~ July 15th, 2015 ~


http://guyanesegirlsrock.com/happy-birthday-excellency-brigadier-president-david-granger/

GUYANA’S first female World Champion Boxer, Gwendolyn ‘Stealth Bomber’ O’Neil, Wins Heavyweight Title in St. Maarten

On Saturday, July 4, Guyana’s first female World Champion Gwendolyn ‘Stealth Bomber’ O’Neil defeated Sonya Lamonakis and captured the heavyweight title in Philipsburg, St Maarten.
O’Neil who is now a five-time boxing world champion while at the same time a mother of five children, thanked the fan...
http://guyanesegirlsrock.com/guyanas-first-female-world-champion-boxer-gwendolyn-stealth-bomber-oneil-wins-heavyweight-title-st-maarten/

She Rocks! Congratulations to Lisa Punch, Miss World Guyana 2015

Last night Lisa Punch was crowned the new Miss World Guyana 2015 during a coronation ceremony held at the Marriott Hotel in Georgetown, Guyana. The Miss World Guyana Committee decided not to hold a pageant this year, but to select a delegate instead, a practice which is not uncommon.
The newly...
http://guyanesegirlsrock.com/she-rocks-congratulations-to-lisa-punch-miss-world-guyana-2015/

She Rocks! Author, Marcia S. Shury, Triumphs Over Hearing Loss

Author, Marcia S. Shury
“The handicap of deafness is not in the ear; it is in the mind.”   These are the words of actress, Marlee Matlin, and Marcia Shury is determined to live in this truth.
“Silent Hearer” chronicles the story of Marcia S. Shury as her happy childhood wa...
http://guyanesegirlsrock.com/she-rocks-author-marcia-s-shury-triumphs-over-hearing-loss/

She Rocks! Dionne Hammiel, Recipient of the 2015 Agnes Meyer Outstanding Teacher Awards

Sometimes, when Dionne Hammiel wants the attention of her rambunctious kindergarten class, she stands on the table. Other times, she lowers her voice to a whisper, making her instructions a very important secret that every child strains to hear.

The hushed message at John Burroughs Education Campus in the District was utterly routine on a recent day: “We need to go to the bathroom, drink some water, come back, and pick out our books to read.”

But the children were instantly alight, excited about the next step in their kindergarten ad­ven­ture.

Hammiel, with her infectious enthusiasm and outstanding results, is known for the towering expectations she sets for the small children in her class and the deeply analytical approach she brings to her own practice and the skills each child is developing.

“She creates an environment in her class where they really want to do well,” said her principal, Aqueelha James. “Her students want to see her energy, and they really, really work very hard.”

Dionne Hammiel

The result? “The children who leave her are not on the first-grade level,” James said. “They are beyond that.”

Hammiel, 37, is the daughter of a schoolteacher, as well as the cousin and niece and granddaughter of a family full of schoolteachers. Her approach is also close to home: “I look at my students as my own kids,” she said.

The Guyana native moved to the District when she was 11, went to Orr Elementary and eventually graduated from Wilson High School. She majored in human development and family studies at Pennsylvania State University, then started her career as a social worker at a local day-care center. She became a teacher at a Head Start center and found her niche in early childhood education. She has been teaching at John Burroughs in the Brookland neighborhood for nearly 15 years.

Kindergarten has become more academically rigorous in the past decade, and Hammiel keeps a “data wall” at home tracking her students’ performance. She sets goals for each child and celebrates their progress. She holds their parents to high standards, too, giving them clear directions for what she expects the children to do during spring break.

She said she loves teaching kindergarten because the children are “sponges.”

“The more you give them, the more they will take,” Hammiel said. “They want to please you, and every day there is the joy of seeing their success.”

She teaches lessons in creative ways to appeal to different learning styles.

When the children were having trouble with vowels, she wrote a song they could sing using their hands, with each finger representing a vowel. Now when they are writing, she sees them taking a break to look at their hands before returning to the page.

When introducing a word, she reads it in a sentence, shows a picture or acts out the meaning. And she is always looking for challenging words to share.

James, the principal, said she was skeptical when she saw that Hammiel’s lesson plan early in the year included “array,” “linear” and “circular.” But later she heard the children using the words when discussing the line they had formed in the hallway.

“From the outside, you think, ‘These are kindergartners,’ ” James said. “But they rise to the occasion.”

“The moon, that’s where I set the bar,” Hammiel said. “When they leave me, they go out there and shine.”

The Washington Post has honored teaching excellence in the Washington region for three decades, with more than 500 men and women winning the Agnes Meyer Outstanding Teacher Award for their work in the classroom, creativity and contribution to the improvement of education.

The awards are named for Agnes Meyer, wife of Eugene Meyer, who purchased The Post in 1933. She was a staunch supporter and defender of public education and believed in the motto that still guides the awards: “Quality education is essential to the well-being of our society, and good teachers are the foundation of our educational system.”

The Post also honors the region’s principals with the Distinguished Educational Leadership Awards, recognizing those who go beyond the day-to-day demands of their position to create an exceptional educational environment.

The teachers   are examples of what works in the classrooms,  such as tutoring high school freshman at risk of failing, recruiting students for AP classes who didn’t consider themselves advanced-course material, and writing songs to help kindergartners master vowels. Winners in both categories receive a $1,000 cash award. Here, The Post’s education team profiles a selection of the 2015 winners, taking us into their classrooms and showing why they are some of Washington’s best educators.

Source:  www.washingtonpost.com

http://guyanesegirlsrock.com/rocks-dionne-hammiel-recipient-2015-agnes-meyer-outstanding-teacher-awards/

She Rocks! Guyanese Olympic Swimmer, Britany Van Lange, is Heading to West Point

Britany Van Lange
Olympian and Guyana Defense Force Officer Cadet, Britany Van Lange, was recently awarded with a Certificate of Appointment to the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York. Britany received her appointment from U.S. Embassy Georgetown’s Senior Defense Official, LC...
http://guyanesegirlsrock.com/she-rocks-guyanese-olympic-swimmer-britany-van-lange-is-heading-to-west-point/

She Rocks! Guyanese Olympic Swimmer, Britany Van Lange, is Heading to West Point

Britany Van Lange
Olympian and Guyana Defense Force Officer Cadet, Britany Van Lange, was recently awarded with a Certificate of Appointment to the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York. Britany received her appointment from U.S. Embassy Georgetown’s Senior Defense Official, LC...
http://guyanesegirlsrock.com/she-rocks-guyanese-olympic-swimmer-britany-van-lange-is-heading-to-west-point/