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See It: The Community being helped
The reason this program was enacted was to help fund the AP Art students of Suttons Bay High School to be able to go to New York City for the first time every - all funds for the trip are student produced without any help from the school. For all of the years prior to this one the students could only afford to make it to Chicago and although it is a great experience the whole point for the students to travel to another city is to explore different motivations and ideas that they might be interested in. Chicago year after year stopped offering as much of a diverse art culture as the returning students were hoping for and needing.
Suttons Bay is a small community with a very integrated school system; the schools K-12 although separated by building lie on the same plot of land. Everyday there are people in the community that struggle to find healthy and economical things for their children to do between the times of school dismissal; 3:00pm, and the average end of work day; 5:00pm. there was a program already set up for an after school program, but it made the parents pay in advance in addition to being pricey (due to business insurance prices, background checks for employees and employee paychecks themselves).
Believe it: Describe your project/org
To bridge the funding gap and the time between the end of school and office hours seemed a great opportunity to me. I have a history in babysitting and even was a nanny at one point, so this project really came second nature. For every child we would as a mere $5 which to the child and parent meant going towards art supplies and snacks, but for the AP art students it meant a slow but sure way to getting to New York City. This payment would come either in a per day form, or the parents could pay in advance, it depended on the person. For some of the families we even made exceptions based on personal need etc. As the young children would get out of school they were told to come straight to the assigned art classroom and immediately sign in (so that we knew who we were responsible for that day as well as doubling for a billing sheet). They would get about a 15 minute break to gather and chat, get out any energy that they needed to or have a snack of their own if they pleased. Then, after the break, we would introduce the project for the day/week, give them a quick demonstration and promptly let them dive in. As they would be doing the projects the AP students would walk around keeping an eye on them, making conversation and helping students out where needed; being mentors. If a child had to take a bathroom break they would have to sign out, and depending on age they might even have to be watched going to and from the bathroom – to prevent any wondering away. About have way through the project making time the Mentors would announce snack time by having the students wash their hands before taking equal portions of the snack and juice of the day. Some days the kids would be able to then re-indulge themselves in their art while eating while others they would be given a specific “snack break” time to eat before getting messy again. The official ending time of the program was 5:15 and so depending on the messiness of the project the students would be given time to clean up and be presentable to leave with their parents as they arrived. A couple of parents would come early to watch their children, while others would be notoriously late, but it was always a service with a smile because with such a small community people’s hardships are not always so personal when the public can help. After all of this it wasn’t just the children and the parents that were impacted, nor the fact that it helped send the students to the place they wished for most. This program helped the AP students solidify their own confidence in their own art and their abilities to inspire others and find new waves of inspirations for themselves. It really seemed like such a simple idea in the first place, but large things can come in small packages.Build it: Steps taken to create the project/org and the kind of impact made
To inaugurate a whole new project and program such as the “Afterschool Art Workshop” the school was not liable to foot any of the bills we were inevitably going to encounter, thus came the grant writing. It took my instructor and myself some searching of companies and vendors that were willing to support us in our quest to construct this afterschool event. In doing so he put me in charge of writing some of them out as well as delegating others to do so. He would help guide us through the processes of it, but he made sure that it was the students that were doing the work and reaping the experience – plus the rewards. As I remember we were not turned down by any requested grant that year, which really blew our minds. After doing this we knew we would have the funds, but we didn’t know if it was all going to go to waste. Here we put the graphic designers to work in creating an eye catching advertisement that would really grab the attention of primary and elementary school children as well as their parents. They were wonderful in doing this as almost immediately we were getting responses from child and parent alike wanting more information on the upcoming program. Next we had to make up a curriculum; once again a teacher guided, student planned project. We had the workshop curriculum coincide high-school’s art class’ curriculum so that the young students wouldn’t get as distracting (a task that proved to be tiring). After this was the part that really got people moaning; assigning volunteer days to organize, assist and ultimately watch over the kids during the hours of school dismissal and parents getting out of work. The problem here lied in the fact that AP Art students tended to already be partaking in multiples of after school activities themselves and would now have to parcel out pieces of their time to this project. It the large scheme of things though everyone cooperated and got the days tasked out. As it got started things went according to plan and we even started offering the children some snacks in addition to their art adventures. Day in and day out the kids became more and more attached to the program and as they were telling their friends how fun it was the number kept growing. It grew so much in fact that we had to start turning kids down because of the sheer commitment to them we were making and as to not jeopardize safety we needed to make the number of child per mentor manageable. We would get compliments daily as parents would thank us for our low-priced, flexible paying, healthy and convenient “day-care” type provided assistance. I started this program as a junior in high school and it is continuing to this day.Vital Stats
| Started On: | 2005 | Ended On: | Ongoing |
| People Involved: | Every AP art student intending to travel to the new city to explore the art it has to offer, plus the AP Art instructor and any willing volunteers (approx. 15/year) | People Impacted: | There isnt an exact number to this date as it is an ongoing after-school event, but I know that the first year there were a consistant 20 kids that would attend and since I have left it has been continuing for the last four years. so 20 children plus the AP students (approx. 10/year) plus the partents times four would come to well over 100 people. |
| Money Raised: | Amount unknown |
Project Updates:
The first year, and only year I was able to participate, this program worked out more graciously than originally imagined. The kids bragged and begged for it for next year and so did their parents – they even asked for us to do a summer session of it, but it was not plausible. The AP Art students got to go to New York City for the very first time. They were able to fly out from a local airport and stay at a hostel for 6 days and 5 nights. While there the students got to go to multiple art museums as well as a dance performance and a mechanical design studio. While traveling around and exploring the students were given $25 a day for food, but here is the cake on top… the students paid a pre-payment to go on the trip of only $120. This means that not a single student or chaperone had to pay a dime to attend. It turned out to be nothing short of a once in a life-time event for most, if not all, of the AP students that were able to go. If asked about their experiences of researching the hostels, flights, coupons, museums, studios and transportation as well as writing grants, selling donuts and working the workshop not one would trade say it wasn’t worth it.