So for those of you who may not know, I intern at a charter school/youth art gallery this summer. The program focuses on helping children express themselves through various forms artistic expression and it's pretty cool to see their progress throughout this summer. Some of the classes they've had a chance to take are poetry, dance, jewelry making, painting, etc. Art therapy is something I have never really been exposed to prior to this year and it's cool to see an art program do so much for the youth and its community. A lot of the students also come from pretty hard backgrounds or have special needs, so the program helps to not only be an outlet for alot of these students but also a safe place for them to express themselves in the arts.
I've had my ups and downs with being here, but overall, the mission of the summer program and the accomplishments of the students is pretty cool. I sat in on one of the empowerment classes yesterday. The students break off into their same sex groups and the teachers help facilitate discussions on different topics about what's going on in the world or media and how that relates back to their own lives. Yesterday's topic was on the Chris Brown/Rihanna issue. Regardless of what you've heard, in the end, domestic violence did occur. So the topic of discussion was how all the guys in the room felt about domestic violence. Man, some of the stories I heard and what was shared was really intense. I'm not sharing anything for the sake of confidentiality, but I remember just feeling a pretty overwhelmed.
It brought me back to that statement in Cross the Line:
"Please cross the line if you grew up in a household where domestic violence was present"
It's crazy because they were so open and honest about their pains and how they felt. I in awe about what they accomplish in school and and in life, given what some of them have to go back home to. It made me think back on my childhood and some of what I saw back in my home. My parents would get into some pretty intense fights and even at a young age, I would remember having to yell and scream, just so I could diverge their hostile attitudes away from each other. I just remember using my parents current and past situations as one of my biggest motivations to GET OUT of the house. To the park. To swim practice. To UCI. To DC. ANYWHERE. Yesterday was the first time when I realized how important and powerful my internship site was in terms of just providing a safe place in the DC community and offering effective and productive outlets. These kids are so amazing in what they accomplish and I'm really taken back when I see how much self efficacy they have.
Given how terrible the economy is and how many school programs are getting cut, it's great to see this school flourish with their arts-focused curriculum. I really hope it continues to grow for the next few years and that other students can find a safe haven within the walls of WVSA Articulate Gallery.
No comments:
Post a Comment