CARDS WORTH SENDING  June 19 is the 60th birthday of the world’s only imprisoned Nobel Peace prize winner. Aung San Suu Kyi is the leader of the National League for Democracy, a movement in Burma that’s being brutally suppressed by the country’s military rulers. Aung San Suu Kyi has been imprisoned or intermittently held under house arrest since 1989. To honor her birthday, the U.S. Campaign for Burma will deliver cards to the Burmese Embassy in Washington, D.C., and seeks the participation of teachers and students. To learn how you can take part, go to www.uscampaignforburma.org/action/birthdaycards.html. Cards must arrive by June 1.   

HEAD START STORIES  A new Web campaign, www.IGotAHeadStart.org, is looking for 10,000 or more former Head Start students and volunteer parents nationwide to tell their personal experiences with this proven program. The campaign was launched by the National Head Start Association to show that the popular and effective early-learning program works and that it should remain available for future generations of America’s most at-risk children who require special help so they can arrive at school ready to learn. The Web site features tools allowing those who sign up to get involved in local Head Start “virtual communities.” They can volunteer to help Head Start locally, contact their elected officials and send letters to the editors of local newspapers. The Web site also will serve as a primary collection point for the Head Start student and parent success stories to share with policymakers. 

ENRICHMENT AFTER SCHOOL  The Afterschool Alliance and the Advertising Council have launched an essay contest for students who discovered a new passion through an after-school program. The “Something Way Better to Do: Finding Inspiration After School” essay contest will award two $1,500 savings bonds as its top prizes, and is open to students in grades 5-12. To enter the contest, students may submit an essay up to 500 words that answers one of these questions: Has an after-school activity changed your life, and what do you want to do when you grow up? Has a person you met through an after-school program made a big difference in your life? Do you think your experiences in after-school programs make you better off? What if you had never been in an after-school program? Official rules and entry forms are at www.afterschoolalliance.org. Entries are due June 30, 2005, and can be submitted online. 

SERVICE CONNECTION  “Give Where You Live” is a national campaign connecting teachers and students to service-learning opportunities in their communities. Sponsored by USA Network in partnership with Hands On Network, the campaign offers free instructional resources and a volunteer recognition program through which students receive certificates in exchange for submitting reflective essays on their experiences. To support participating teachers, USA Network also is offering an online forum where they can discuss service learning through blogs. The package, at www.usanetwork.com/gwylclassroom, will guide teachers and students through all aspects of a service-learning project, including community needs assessment, acquiring funding and evaluating the success of a classroom project. 

EXECUTIVES IN TRAINING  Executive Women International, a nonprofit professional group, is offering college scholarships of up to $10,000 to qualifying high school juniors. Students first apply and compete at the local level, where award levels vary (chapter locations can be found at www.executivewomen.org). Chapter-level winners are eligible to win one of six national scholarships. Students must be nominated by their schools, and judges select winners based on scholastic achievement, leadership, citizenship and extracurricular activities. For details, call 801/355-2800 or visit the site. 

DAYS OF INFAMY  More than 60 years ago, the American Folklife Center mounted an effort to document the pulse of the nation in the days following the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. That project has been duplicated in “The September 11, 2001, Documentary Project,” an attempt to capture the eyewitness accounts, reactions and opinions of Americans and others in the months after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, Pentagon and United Airlines Flight 93. The day after the attacks, the center called upon the nation’s folklorists and ethnographers to collect, record and document America’s reaction. A sample of the resulting material is featured in the American Memory section of the Library of Congress, http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/. 

RINI ART  For grass-roots activists in North and Central America, the bold designs of the artist Rini Templeton have become a staple for banners, signs and leaflets. Dozens of those images now can be downloaded at www.riniart.org. Clip art is arranged by subject and is available in both TIF and GIF format. Also featured is a biography of the artist, information on submitting memorial fund donations, and a “public gallery” where graphic designers can show off their best work incorporating the images. 

HUMANITIES, PLEASE  A popular feature of the National Endowment for the Humanities Web site is “EDSITEment, The Best of the Humanities on the Web.” A project NEH developed together with the National Trust for the Humanities and the MarcoPolo Education Foundation, EDSITEment selects humanities resources from some of the world’s great museums, libraries, cultural institutions and universities, and delivers them directly to the classroom. Included are lesson plans arranged by subject. Go to http://edsitement.neh.gov/.  

COMMUNITY SCHOOLS  The KnowledgeWorks Foundation is looking for schools that successfully model the growing trend to build schools as centers of community. The top selected school, chosen by a panel of national experts, receives the Richard W. Riley Award for Excellence and a $5,000 grant. The panel also selects several schools with innovative design elements and initiatives to be members of the Schools as Centers of Community Honor Society and be part of the National Search Web site. Submissions must be received by June 24. For details, visit the National Search Web site, www.nationalschoolsearch.org. The AFT is a partner in this effort.