Carver's Child of America Gala on Friday, May 3

Carver's Child of America gala will be on Friday, May 3, 2019, at Shorehaven Golf Club, Norwalk, CT. Cocktails 6PM; Dinner, Program and Auction 7PM. The event website is: carver2019.givesmart.com

Our Keynote Speaker will be Tarik A. Brooks, Vice President, Office of the Chairman of Combs Enterprises. Mr. Brooks oversees the team that directly supports Chairman Sean “Diddy” Combs who received Carver’s Child of America award last year, and he serves as the primary interface across the Combs Enterprises companies and new business opportunities. Prior to Combs Enterprises, Tarik was the COO for the Account Management and Trading department at Bridgewater Associates. Mr. Brooks is a graduate of Howard University and Harvard Business School and he serves on the Carver Board Development Committee.

This year we will be honoring Ms. Theresa Rangel, Principal of Tracey Elementary School, with our Child of America award. Ms. Rangel personifies and illuminates everything the Child of America award represents.

In her fourth year as Principal, Tracey School has gone from one of the lowest achieving schools in the district to one of the highest performing. Tracey Elementary School was one of only 14 in Connecticut to earn the “Distinction” moniker this year for both high performance and high growth in ELA and Math, for all students and for high needs students as a separate category. Character.org, a national advocate and leader for character education based in Washington DC, also recently named Tracey a 2019 Connecticut School of Character.

Since 2017, Carver conducts an after school enrichment program for 5th grade students attending Tracey Elementary School and provides a Summer Transition Program for these students who enter West Rocks Middle School in the fall.

Governor Ned Lamont recently visited Tracey Elementary School on January 16th to help the Dalio Foundation announce an education report from The Aspen Institute National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development (SEAD) titled, From a Nation at Risk to a Nation at Hope. Tracey’s Character Education program incorporates core values into academic instruction. A Tracey teacher was selected as Norwalk’s Teacher of the Year last August. Joining the governor was James Comer, a past Child of America award recipient. Comer is the founder of Yale’s Child Study Center and is considered to be the father of social-emotional learning.

Tracey demonstrates that social, emotional, and academic development are inextricably linked. Theresa Rangel is a Carver hero!