New St. Louis magnet school graduates first class
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All 44 graduates are headed to university @stlouisamerican
2016 Gold Cup Newspaper Missouri Press Association
Page A3
St. LouiS AmericAn The
CAC Audited JUNE 1 – 7, 2017
Vol. 89 No. 11 COMPLIMENTARY
stlamerican.com
STL police accused of excessive force, battery UCity school board member files suit for tasing and arrest at Black Lives Matter protest By Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American Photo by Lawrence Bryant
Kristine Hendrix held up two candles of hope after marching from Canfield Green Apartments to the Ferguson Police Department on MLK Day 2015.
Kristine Hendrix, a 36-year-old mother of three boys and an elected school board member in the University City School District, filed a lawsuit on Friday, May 26
against three St. Louis police officers and the City of St. Louis for assault, excessive force/ battery, false arrest and imprisonment, and malicious prosecution. On Friday, May 29, 2015, Hendrix was leaving a Black Lives Matter demonstration on Washington Avenue, which had originally
started as a silent march by Busch Stadium at 8 p.m. The group had already moved to the sidewalk and were making arrangements to go back to their cars when the police “ambushed” them, Hendrix told the St. Louis American in a 2015 interview. She was already on the ground with one arm handcuffed behind her back when a police officer tased her body at least three times –
See POLICE, A6
‘I just want people to know me for me’ Deja Brown, little sister of Michael Brown Jr., graduates with mom By Sophie Hurwitz For The St. Louis American
Photo by Wiley Price
Lezley McSpadden graduates in Jennings Lezley McSpadden visited with Miranda Jones, a Jennings School District board member, at Jennings High School’s 2017 Commencement ceremony held at the Chaifetz Arena on Friday, May 26. McSpadden graduated through the district’s new Adult Education Program that she helped to develop with Superintendent Art McCoy Jr. McSpadden, 37, dropped out of Ladue Horton Watkins High School as a teen mother. She came to international attention in August 2014 while mourning the Ferguson Police killing of her son, Michael Brown Jr.
Half a century of service Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis turns 50 By Sandra Jordan Of The St. Louis American In the 50 years since it first opened its doors as the Herbert Hoover Boy’s Club in St. Louis, Flint Fowler, the president of Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis, conservatively estimates serving well over 100,000 children and youth through after-school and summer programs to strengthen and support academics, increase recreation and develop character. “We mesh well with what schools and families need. We are open at times when parents are more likely to need us,” Fowler said. “Research tells us the most dangerous time for a child is between the hours of 3 and 6, and that’s generally when they are out of school and their parents are still at work.”
n “We mesh well with what schools and families need. We are open at times when parents are more likely to need us.”
On Friday, May 26, Lezley McSpadden, mother of the late Michael Brown Jr., made headlines for her graduation from Jennings High School. She wasn’t the only member of her family among the 160 Jennings students in cap and gown that day, though – her daughter, Deja Brown, graduated too. Though the two took classes during the same year, their schedules didn’t Deja overlap much. While Brown took the Brown standard senior classes, McSpadden was in the district’s Adult Education Program, established by Superintendent Art McCoy Jr. in consultation with McSpadden, who dropped out of Ladue Horton See BROWN, A6
Danielle Lee named National Geographic Emerging Explorer American staff
Rather than leaving the children on their own, the club provides structured, organized activities with adult supervision.
Danielle Lee was named by the National Geographic Society to its 2017 class of Emerging Explorers comprised of “uniquely gifted and inspiring scientists, conservationists, storytellers and innovators who are changing the world.” As an emerging explorer, Lee will receive $10,000 for her research. She currently is a visiting assistant professor at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in the Department of Biological Sciences. She is a mammologist, who studies
See BOYS, A7
See LEE, A7
– Flint Fowler, Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis