Education

Over The River: loads of LEGOs, a run through the Zoo, an AHA! moment ...
Welcome to the inaugural edition of "Over The River," a monthly calendar of exciting activities taking place throughout the area. Have a fun event you want to share with your fellow Clevelanders? Send us your freshest happenings.

Click here for our May listing, which is full up with a confluence of art and poetry, live mural painting and even a Frog Bride.
'Cardinal Nest' nurtures students from Euclid to Warrensville Heights and beyond
When Carly Hill attended East Cleveland’s Shaw High School, she was accustomed to being one of the star pupils — earning good grades, participating in mock trials in preparation for her planned law career and she was often chosen for special projects.
 
Hills describes her experience at Shaw being a part of a small group of students intensely interested in learning. In fact, she earned all As, except for her first and only B in 11th grade.
 
“Imagine being in a class of 20 students,” Hill says. “In most of my classes, there was a small group of students interested in learning among a disruptive group, and as a result, we were always the only ones picked for special projects. Then those five well-behaved students were placed in AP and honors classes. That group of students aren't necessarily there because they know more, it's merely because they are not disruptive.”
 
Carly HillSo when Hill graduated in 2010 as valedictorian and headed off to Howard University on a scholarship, she expected life to be the same at the prestigious college. But things were different from the moment she stepped onto the Washington, D.C. campus.
 
“Shaw High School is 99.9 percent African American and Howard also is an historically black college, and I thought I knew what it was like to be black,” Hill recalls. “But I was around a completely different group of people. It was culture shock.”
 
No longer was Hill among a select group of serious straight A students. She was among the country’s best and brightest. “I expected it to be a little different, but not as different, and I knew it was a good college” she recalls. “It was a real culture shock to realize they don’t know me and I had to prove myself. At Shaw it was not as hard to separate yourself. At Howard, everyone is that kid, everyone is the best.”
 
By the time she got to Howard, Hill had decided to major in biology instead of law. But she was not prepared for the required chemistry minor and received a D in the class. Hill lost both her scholarship and her self-confidence. After her first semester, she briefly dropped out of Howard.
 
“I lost hope,” Hill says.

Read the rest of the story to find out how she regained it.
PHOTOS: art blooms at NewBridge spring exhibition
This Friday, the NewBridge Cleveland Center for Arts and Technology, which aims to give at-risk Cleveland youth a fresh and different outlook on education and life. will host its Spring Session Art Exhibition. Fresh Water managing photographer Bob Perkoski previews the festivities here.
Cleveland insider: curator's love of animals proves timeless
From big cats to a beloved gorilla, Tad Schoffner has come to understand the animals of Cleveland Metroparks Zoo like no one else.
Podcast: a Clevelander 'steps up' to University Hospitals — and a local jobs pipeline beefs up
This episode of "Neighbor Up Spotlight" welcomes Amanda Harris, who tells her successful employment story that was made possible by an innovative program — Step Up to UH. Also, Alicenne Passavanti explains how like opportunities are expanding into the hospitality industry.
Building bridges: connecting citizens to leading local employers
NewBridge Cleveland's adult job training programs have taken off since the center for arts and technology's 2010 opening, expanding offerings and tripling enrollment in its health-tech programming.
The business of babies: getting new and expectant families on the right path
Parenthood is not always an easy journey for expectant families unsure where to turn for guidance on birth planning and decision-making. Luckily, navigating parents along childbirth's sometimes rocky path is the mission of a business created by Clevelander Ashley Sova.
 
CLEBaby is a full-service pregnancy, birth, and parenting agency that hosts local events, presents childbirth education classes, and, perhaps most importantly to its founder, provides postpartum doula services. 
 
Sova offers educational tools that treat parenthood as an ongoing process that begins during pregnancy and continues through a baby's first months. Classes are taught in a client's home and center on a range of topics covering pregnancy, labor and birth. Sova's clientele, mostly professional women ages 27 – 40, prefer the comfortable nature of private classes over a more sterile hospital learning environment.
 
"They can ask embarrassing questions, and find out the information that matters for their birth experience," says Sova. "People will invite their pregnant friends and make it into a group event."
 
Teaching the classes are professionally trained doulas, who act as travel guides in advising families during pregnancy, birth and the immediate postpartum period. CLEBaby's postpartum doulas are also brought on to help with infant feeding and light housework, and offer mothers critical support in whatever ways they need to recover from childbirth.
 
Sova hired a doula for her second pregnancy after a difficult birth with her first child. Having an informed, supportive resource close at hand was a revelation, she says, one that inspired her to launch CLEBaby instead of returning to her job as a cancer researcher at Case Western Reserve University.
 
"Having an experienced woman who has seen so many births and knows it inside out brings such a sense of calm," Sova says. "We've had women tell us the service has been life-changing for them."
 
CLEBaby has served 50 to 55 families over the last year, a number Sova plans to grow through new classes and events. Outings for 2017 include a mom-centric ice cream social and a "daddy bootcamp" at a local brewery where new fathers can sip a beer while learning basic baby care.
 
Raising a newborn may not be all glitz and glamour, but neither should it be overwhelming or isolating, says Sova.
 
"We're going to continue to grow our services and our team," she says. "We want to continue on the path of having the most knowledgeable doulas around."
 
PHOTOS: award-winning student art at CIA
Managing photographer Bob Perkoski gives Fresh Water readers a peek inside the Cleveland Institute of Art's 71st annual Student Independent Exhibition.
For local firm, virtual reality imparts new dimension to design
A look back: two CIA grads reflect on their time in Cleveland – a 'well made place'
Two Cleveland Institute of Art graduates took the lessons they learned in the 216, became pioneers in web design and now helm one of Inc.'s fastest growing companies.