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| The Lou Rawls Academy, a possibility
for Lakemore? By CR Rae Lakemore, Ohio - Nina Rawls, the president of the Lou Rawls Foundation, presented a potential plan to convert Lakemore Elementary into a charter or magnet school. At a Sept. 22 community meeting, Nina stated, “I am here because this is my home.” The project would create the Lou Rawls Academy. “It is personal to me,” she said. Nina was a Lakemore Elementary student herself and a 1988 graduate of Springfield High School. “I am honored and fortunate to have been married to the great Lou Rawls who not only was the most amazing performer in the world with his 82 albums and 13 Grammy nominations but was also a huge advocate for education and higher education,” she said. Because Lou could not attend college, when he became famous he used that fame to create the Lou Rawls Parade of Stars. Over its 30-year existence, he earned $225 million and put 66,000 kids through school. It has been close to three years since he passed away. Nina began the Lou Rawls Foundation to continue the good work that he had done for so many years. “We just wanted to come in and keep Lakemore alive. If Lou were alive today he would be here fighting the fight with me,” she said. Education was always important to her parents, George and Laurice (deceased) Malek. “My family still lives in the village and my niece and nephew would have attended Lakemore Elementary,” she said. “The options we have and what we are considering is to open the Lou Rawls Academy as either a charter or magnet school,” Nina said. The only difference between a charter and a magnet school is that a charter would be strictly for Lakemore and Springfield residents and a magnet would offer open enrollment to any one in Ohio. Charter and Magnet schools are different than private schools as there is no tuition charged to attend. Rawls stated that this is not a Bandaid that they are putting over the Lakemore school. It would be a top notch academy. “We intend to first make the enrollment available to the village children and then open it to others” she stated. “Every student will need to keep a 2.8 grade point average, which means the parents will have to get involved. We are finding kids are bored and they don’t have the extra curricular activities that there used to be. They are getting into trouble and not focusing on education and not bettering themselves. We want to change that and we want the change to better our area.” It was stated that Superintendent William Stauffer had some concern that the new school would take a portion of income from the Springfield Schools. “When you peel the layers back that is not the case at all,” stated Mayor Mike Kolomichuk. “We are creating, along with the economic revitalization for the village, an opportunity to increase housing values which in turn creates more tax base for the schools. We have an opportunity to bring good solid citizens into our community and to revitalize the village from the inside out. This is an opportunity that we need to wrap our arms around and do everything we can do to help.” Those from other communities who have been hearing about the school are already asking where they can get applications. “As these people get tired of driving their kids back and forth they will move here. Where will they go when they are done with their six years at the academy…to Springfield schools. We believe this will be something that you can be very, very proud of and it will trickle into the Springfield school system,” Nina said. “There is no down side, we can only better the situation. I could do this anywhere in the country but this is personal and I want to have it happen in Lakemore.” Nina’s said she heard about the closing of Lakemore School from her brother, George Malek, and that it would not be possible to open the school without his help and also that of her sister-in-law, Christina. Nina speak to Lakemore Council on Oct. 6 about the potential project. |
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| “A JOYFUL NOISE” Mrs. Nina Rawls widow of the late great Legendary
Superstar Lou Rawls to be honored May 20, 2008 |
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| Lou Rawls' Family Update Hello and thank
you for your interest in all that we continue to do to keep Lou's name
and legacy alive. It has been a year and a half since Lou passed away
and he is still terribly missed. There isn't a day that goes by that
his absence is not felt, but we continue to work diligently to insure
that Lou is never forgotten. |
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| UNCF Update - As we all know Lou created the Lou Rawls Parade of Stars...now known as An Evening of Stars..For 28 years Lou dedicated so much to insure the success of the show and so in 2007 at the taping of the show honoring Aretha Franklin, the Rawls family presented a $25,000.00 check to Michael Lomax and the UNCF in Lou's name in hopes of showing our continued support. Sadly, the UNCF omitted that portion of the show from their broadcast and our support was never known. The Rawls family wishes the UNCF continued
success in the years to come, however, we have decided to take a more
personal approach to furthering Lou's goals of enabling worthy students
to a higher education by establishing The Lou Rawls Scholarship
Foundation. |
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The Formation of The Lou Rawls Scholarship Foundation The Rawls family is so excited to announce the creation
of THE LOU RAWLS SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION. Lou never had the privilege to go to college himself and when he was financially able, he devoted so much of his time to providing educational opportunities to young people around the country through fundraising for UNCF. One of his great pleasures was meeting people on his travels, who had benefited from UNCF scholarships that allowed them to succeed in life. Lou coined the phrase "a mind is a terrible thing to waste" and it was something he truly believed. By forming The Lou Rawls Scholarship Foundation, the
family will be able to actively control raising money to give to young
people that we believe Lou would hand pick for assistance. As a family,
we will be able to keep Lou's dreams alive by continuing his work. We
will continue to make him proud. A page on the website has been established that is devoted to The Lou Rawls Scholarship Foundation soon. If you have any questions about the foundation or any other matter please e-mail us at Lourawlsinc@aol.com. God Bless Respectfully, |
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| New Lou Rawls CD in 2007 - In the next few months we will be releasing
a new Lou Rawls CD. We have teamed up with the amazing Kenny Gamble
to release a CD of Lou's songs that have never before been release.
We are really excited about this and are sure you will not be disappointed. |
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| "I'm
Blessed" - Lou Rawls Gospel CD Available at www.shopmalaco.com |
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