We still need a few more sponsors to send their Bowlathon pledge amounts. See the "Official Bowlathon Report". 

Visitor from Ghana. We had a wonderful surprise visitor! Sekou Nkrumah was on a national tour, and stopped in to visit Ile Omode. Baba Sekou, formerly with the All-African People's Revolutionary Party, and now the founder and chairman of the Pan-African Improvement Association, is on a national tour.

As it turns out, he and the director attended college together over 20 years ago, and hadn't seen each other since. He shared his experiences living in Ghana, as well as the language, and some of Ghana's history.

Sekou is the author of two books, and his most recent work is: "Repatriation and Pan-Africanism", which is available from Alkebulan Books in Berkeley. Click here to see his presentation to the 3rd-6th grade students.

The Open house schedule has changed. Open Houses have moved from the last Saturday of each month to the last Friday of each month. Prospective parents can either chose one of the following tour schedules:

  • Breakfast Tour: 8:00 am; begin with our near-world famous breakfast
  • Lunch Tour: 12 or 12:30 pm; enjoy a Friday "fun" lunch
  • Afternoon Tour: 4:30 pm - this tour can be schedule later depending on your schedule; designed to accomdate parents who are unable to attend the breakfast or lunch tour

There are immediate openings in the preschool and kindergarten. If interested in enrolling your preschooler or kindergarter child you may contact the school at (510) 632-8230.

The Oakland Girl's Softball League is underway. We've partnered with the YMCA, which sponsors the Pink Panthers Softball team, and is led by some fairly exceptional and dedicated coaches.

This is our first year participating with the league, and we have girls in nearly every age group! Johnee, Abdeena, Kalimah, Zmari, D'Nia and KaRa are on the 8 and Under team; Serena, Sennua, Aminah, and Ejahye are on the 10 and Under team, and one of our alums, Iman is on the 12 and Up team. Check the web for game locations and results, and come out and support the girls when you get a chance.

SPORTS UPDATES: (1) We have our very own 8-and under coed soccer team, and (2) working on a partnership with the YMCA for a basketball team.

Enjoy a clip from the Pink Panther's opening day game. Unfortunately we lost a close game, 13-12, but oh, what a great game!

Young Drummers Showcased.Our drummers were invited to perform at Skyline High School in Oakland to open the Black Student Union's Black History Month program. This is the second time the drummers have performed at Skyline High School. They played for two assemblies.

Enjoy a clip from the our drummer's recent performance.

Ile Omode at MacExpo. In January students in the Computer Technology class attended the 2008 MacExpo at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.

Upon seeing thousands of people flocking into the exhibit they soon realized this wasn't a "boring" computer show, and they had a great time. Along with learning about new software, hardware and other technology uses, the students met a lot of interesting people, including Apple and Google engineers. They were featured in a Google YouTube video, as well as in the New York Times.

Students in the Computer Technology class each receive an Apple iBook for the year, and have coursework each quarter on various technologies. They have developed slideshows, financial models with spreadsheets, and type and edit their quarterly research papers using their laptops. This quarter they have developed websites, which you can view online.

 
Take the first Ile Omode history quiz! Are you up to the challenge? No cheating, and no life lines. [requires the free Adobe Flash Player]

See the picture of the month.

Congrats to Baba Menhuam and Mama Rima- they're expecting twins.

Congrats to Mama LaTronda and Baba LaMont Lumpkins - they just gave birth to their third child. Check back shortly for pictures.

Marcus (6th) and Bakare (6th) Joined Greg Hodge (City Council) and Jumoke Hinton-Hodge (School Board) on one of their campaign rallies for the June 3 election!

Congrats to Baba Jahi for being recognized by the BlackExpo as 101 people making a difference for our youth.

Mama Rose and Baba Adafo surprised everyone with an outdoor grill for lunch this month.

Parents interested in their children participating in soccer, should see Baba Shakur at school. Open to boys and girls from 5-7 years old. The team practices weekly on Wednesday, and the games are on Sunday.
Ile Omode Press publishes "Africans to the Americas"; a social studies booklet for the 3rd/4th grades...read excerpts.

Interested in fall enrollment? See the "Open House" schedule.

Husia class begins in May at Wo'se. The free class is taught by Min Greg Hodge.

Baba Abubakar's Martial Arts Aerobics class for adults continues. The classes are weekly on Tuesday and Thursday from 6 - 7:00 pm, and Saturdays at 10:30 am. The classes are still only $5 per session. See the flyer.