Impact summary AIA High School 2010
Our first week in Homestead Florida included scavenger hunts, group dinners, conflict resolution, mission statement, theme song, planning for the next four weeks and workshops on how to work with students with disabilities. After this full week of getting to know the community and living with each other in ECA our team of teachers had one thing in common: The need to communicate through our art to each other and the larger public. We planned to develop a youth empowering camp experience aimed at using arts as a vehicle to develop a sense of social consciousness and the communication skills necessary to empower leaders for change. The question of “how to get started?” with these students weighed heavily on our minds so we developed our mission: To communicate through our arts and explore conflict.
Beginning with an open house performance for the students and their families our group used what we know best, our art. We created a pirate themed story inspired by the homestead community. Each group had a stop on the journey to find the treasure in which their art was explored. Drama, Dance, Music, Musical Theater all had a piece while Visual Arts created a moving boat and Story Telling put the entire story together. Interested in showing collaboration as well, each team member was asked to be on stage and participating for the entire performance. This was a lot of work, but a huge success leaving our team tired yet excited for the first day of camp.
Our camp days started with icebreakers or a performance from one of the team teachers. This was a great way to start the day off as a unit. Then the students moved into Focus class which was the art form of the students’ choice. For this first week each student rotated into different classes and then chose mid-week which class they wanted to stay in for week two. Then LUNCH! Altogether we ate sandwiches with some kind of juice or milk while everyone listened to me scream about what would happen next, ELECTIVES! Different electives were offered to the students so they could have a taste of other divisions as well as explore new ideas such as, Art as a business, slam poetry, ballroom dance, visual arts appreciation, Shakespeare, clowning, dance and acting improvisation, and social justice. Asking the students to open their minds in a new way whether it was thinking of art as a career or understanding how to look at a painting these electives addressed an idea which was relative yet absent in their everyday lives.
Returning together our days would end with journaling where we guided them with a prompt asking for a response using writing, drawings, poetry, however they wished. Then there was a sharing for the whole group, giving the students a chance to perform everyday for each other. As the bus pulled in we would sing our camp chant, sign out and reluctantly ride home waiting for the next day. Each day seemed to delve further and further into our goal of using our arts to communicate but our group wasn’t satisfied…how can we go further than we have before? In 2009 thirty five percent of high school graduates in Florida did not plan to go to college. These Florida students replied that they had, “no plans at all” when asked during an interview conducted by The Huffington Post in October 2009.
Understanding that we can’t fix this but we can listen and give the students the resources we already know, our team looked harder at how we can explore conflict. We created a life after high school workshop in which we addressed their own questions, “What if we don’t have documents can we still go to college?” “Do I have to go to college to be educated?” “Is college expensive, what about scholarships?” Luckily we have teachers, who are involved with Americorps, Habitat for Humanity, worked in education for years, and EnFamilia which are all excellent resources to answer these questions specifically and thoroughly. This workshop was held two or three times where the students asked the teachers questions directly.
Then we decided to have gender discussions where we addressed gangs, violence, abuse, drugs, graffiti, and even nutrition, all relevant in the lives of these young adults. They had a lot to say. As a strong female advocate I was shocked to learn that many young women felt that they were stuck or that they “deserved” what they were going though. Untrue. Luckily we were able to talk to some of these young women and men and send them to either guidance councilors at EnFamilia or simply be there to listen to them, giving them the truth. We couldn’t stress enough how important the connection with Enfamilia was and how great of a resource they can be.
After a month of art-making we put together a show which addressed the fear some of the students live with everyday as well as the love they have to create together as artists. Within their performance issues of family abuse, immigration, equal opportunity, and their life goals were discussed. Some of these topics were almost too sensitive to talk about on stage. Our team watched as each students obstacles became their strengths, sources of power and wisdom. I cannot possibly explain everything our team did with these students for four weeks, electives, games/icebreakers, camp chant, mission, performance, focus classes, tasters, the list continues. Once camp ended four or five students started their own Social Justice group which meets once a week to discuss their issues and conflicts. One student thought Mara, a dance teacher, was so impressive in her pointe shoes she signed up for ballet lessons. Students who thought they had no way out at the beginning of four weeks are in an open conversation with our teachers about their next step. These students have impacted each other, our teachers, their community and especially me. Yes there were some things we could’ve done better like time management, shorter chant, and maybe a few more gender discussions. However at the end of the camp the success seems to outweigh any minute problems our team faced. The students were given choices, opportunities, and a community that supports them this summer at AIA 2010. That is the beauty of this camp; the magic is in the experience.