Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Pasadena: City of Learning


Pasadena: City of Learning is a monthly gathering of representatives from this community's major educational institutions -- from PUSD to PCC to Caltech -- plus JPL, arts and culture institutions, non-profit organizations with educational missions and the City of Pasadena.


P:COL encourages a climate for lifelong learning in Pasadena based on the unique resources here. It's a collaborative, community-building effort that has resulted in partnerships that otherwise may never have been possible.

For example, Scott Ward of Armory Center for the Arts is actively involved in grant-writing for new programs at Washington Middle School along with an advisory group made up of other institutions, neighborhood and community leaders, and community partners; and the Pasadena Education Network recently conducted a workshop to teach local parents to be effective leaders and volunteers in their children's elementary, middle and high schools, which impacts student achievement.

And, of course, there's this Saturday's first-ever competitive collaboration among Pasadena's institutions of higher learning.


This morning's meeting of P:COL was in the Crawford Community Forum at Southern California Public Radio's new headquarters on South Raymond Avenue, followed by a tour of the KPCC studios.


My long-time friend Larry Mantle was in studio preparing to go on the air with his daily "AirTalk" show, and he came out and gave me a hug when he saw me with the tour group. He's celebrating 25 years with KPCC!

Larry and I go way back to the days when he was the original moderator on "City Beat" in the early 1990s.


My most fun experience with Larry: When he and Larry Wilson of the Pasadena Star-News graciously agreed to appear together in the Pasadena Follies a few years ago as co-anchors of a TV news broadcast during an earthquake. The skit was really cute (if I do say so myself), along with singing and even dancing. They were really good sports. I wish I had the photos at my fingertips! I do have it on video if you want to stop by sometime and take a look.


The photos of the meeting this morning are mine. Many thanks to Terry Miller of the Pasadena Independent for the photo of SCPR, and to KPCC for the photo of Larry Mantle.

1 comment:

Cafe Pasadena said...

I'm sure the new radio facilities are a huge improvement. Still, I would have worked much harder to keep/build the new facilities on campus; in the higher education environment. To keep the feel of a college radio station.