With SLANT 45 projects continuing through the end of December, North Texas youth continue to transform their schools, neighborhoods and communities through creative and innovative service projects. Kudos to these teams and to all of the other SLANT 45 teams making a difference.
Team E1 Rocks! of Starwood Montessori in Frisco collected 452 pairs of shoes for Trinity River Mission! Several Starwood teams, with students from age 3 through 12, participated in SLANT 45.
Keller's Team Smileys collected 444 books for the West Dallas Community Centers.
The Bobcats, of Richardson's Brentfield Elementary, volunteered their time at Community Partners of Dallas, sorting items in their warehouse.
The Dream Angels of Dallas worked with the Texas Trees Foundation to plant trees in their community.
Yesterday, 185 fourth and fifth graders from Wells Elementary in Plano kicked off their SLANT 45 project with help from Bank of America, a SLANT 45 title sponsor, and Dallas Cowboy Felix Jones.
Students participated in a variety of activities as part of the "Hunger No More" initiative, including creating holiday cards for the elderly and decorating and stuffing lunch bags for Meals on Wheels recipients.
Click here to see a video of the students in action.
Visit NorthPark Center to view two awesome art exhibits!
SLANT 45 Community Heroes Exhibit
Between February and November 2010, more than 35,000 youth participated in SLANT 45: Service Learning Adventures in North Texas, a program designed to inspire kids to become champions of
community service. Each team had an idea from which came a service project—many bigger and more fantastic than imaginable. The SLANT 45 Community Heroes exhibition is a sampling of reflective
art pieces documenting their efforts and impact. The NorthPark exhibit will be on display through January 24, 2010 at NorthPark Center near Bookmarks, located on the lower level between LOFT and XXI Forever. Barneys New York Holiday Window
For the fifth year, students participating in Big Thought programming have created the art showcased in the holiday window display at Barneys New York. This year’s theme is “Have a Foodie Holiday” and students in grades K-8 participating in the Thriving Minds after-school program were asked to imagine and then paint a portrait of their favorite chef. Guided by teaching artists Junanne Peck, Janet Reynolds and Amber Fort, students at W.W. Bushman and L.O. Donald elementary schools and L.V. Stockard Middle School created the art
The first exhibit showcasing the reflective art collages of SLANT 45 participants is on display at NorthPark Center in Dallas now through January 24. Located in the corridor between XXI Forever and LOFT, the exhibit represents thousands of hours of service from kindergarten through high school age students.
From neighborhood cleanups and anti-bullying programs to coat drives for the homeless and musical performances for nursing home residents, more than 33,000 North Texas youth have contributed over 400,000 hours of services in their communities – that adds up to more than 45 years!
Be sure to stop by and see the creative and unique ways in which these students expressed their service-learning experience.
For more information on the SLANT 45 Community Heroes art exhibition, including future exhibit locations, please visit slant45.org/art-exhibition.
These photos are a just a small sampling of the Thriving Minds after-school program. These students worked for several weeks with artist's from Junior Players before putting on a performance ("Halloween Hijinx") for family and friends.
32 North Texas school districts are participating in SLANT 45! Here are some of the projects they launched to improve their schools and communities:
The Ruby Young Elementary ACE Team from DeSoto created a community garden at their school to teach their community to grow food naturally, to maintain a garden, to share resources and to work together.
As part of the school-wide health and wellness fair produced by students at Valley Ranch Elementary in Coppell ISD, kindergarten students created a skit to educate their peers about dental hygiene.
The Dunn Elementary Dragons from Arlington collected gently used books to distribute to needy children.
Ms. Fisk's Sherman ISD team wrote letters to children hospitalized at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital.
Students from Mackey Elementary in Balch Springs painted over graffiti and participated in several other community cleanup projects.
Children and families experienced everything from zumba lessons to art activities to free flu shots and health screenings to a one-mile fun run and more at the Mayor's Passport to Health Family FunFest. It was a blast! We hoped that everyone had a great time and we hope those who weren't able to make it enjoy seeing the fun we had last Saturday.
These photos are a just a small sampling of the type of projects that kids experience in the Thriving Minds after-school program. Can't wait to share more!
SLANT 45 community partners are local organizations who committed to promoting the SLANT 45 program through their regional structure. By offering the program to the youth they serve, our partners have ensured that children from all across North Texas were given the chance to participate in a SLANT 45 project.
Here are a few of the SLANT 45 projects done by some of our community partner teams:
Girl Scout Troop 530 of Red Oak held a food drive at their school for the North Ellis County Outreach Center.
The Torch Club team from the Boys and Girls Clubs of Arlington collected DVDs, games and toys for Children's Medical Center.
The Carter Park Angels, from the Clayton YES! afterschool program at Carter Park Elementary in Fort Worth, visited the Fair Park Fellowship Retirement Facility and provided socks for residents and asked them to participate in yoga. They also brought arts & crafts for residents' entertainment.
Just a few of the crazy costumes from our creative staff - Rosie the Riveter, Earl (from My Name is Earl), Cruella DeVille, Dr. Seuss, Mama & Baby Cow and the rest of the Big Thought - hope you have a safe & happy Halloween.
If you've watched the news lately, you've no doubt seen the stories of children who were so bullied and harassed at school they were driven to take their own lives. It's a national epidemic that affects the lives of many North Texas children daily.
The Department of Education recently issued guidelines urging schools to do a better job of protecting students from bullying.
President Obama recently said in a statement, "We've got to dispel the myth that bullying is just a normal rite of passage, or an inevitable part of growing up. It's not. We have an obligation to ensure that our schools are safe for all our kids. Every single young person deserves the opportunity to learn and grow and achieve their potential, without having to worry about the constant threat of harassment."
The task of educating parents, teachers and students in every school to prevent, identify and stop bullying seems daunting, but several SLANT 45 teams have taken the initiative to put an end to bullying, one school at a time.
Girl Scout Troop 1273 of North Richland Hills, Brownie Troop 1296 of North Richland Hills, Barbara Jordan Elementary in Dallas, Bishop Elementary in Everman and Souder Elementary in Everman have all launched anti-bullying programs in their communities or schools.
"If we can lower the statistics on bullying in our community even a little, we have made a difference. We expect all of our members to be able to end the major bullying around them and their friends. Every positive touch our girls have will grow exponentially over time. Being nice is contagious!" said Girl Scout Troop 1273 leader Angela Davis.
From making educational videos and leading role-playing games to creating posters and holding assemblies, all of these SLANT 45 teams have developed creative ways of educating their classmates about practical ways to prevent bullying and the importance of doing so.
Stacy Wells, SLANT 45 coach at Barbara Jordan Elementary, said, "We believe that bullying is not only a problem in our community but throughout other communities as well, and that if a change in attitude and behavior toward others is going to happen, it can begin in our community."
We're proud of all of these SLANT 45 teams for being champions of peace, kindess and tolerance in our schools!
Members of the Bishop Bulldogs SLANT 45 team stand proudly in front of some of the anti-bullying posters they created.
When SLANT 45 launched last February, our goal was to give children in Collin, Dallas, Denton and Tarrant counties the opportunity to participate in this historic service-learning program. A little more than 100 days out from Super Bowl XLV, we not only have participants representing more than eight North Texas counties, we also have out-of-state participants and even a participant in Ontario, Canada (according to Google maps, that's 1,432 miles from Dallas)!
Garrett's SLANT 45 project was GO GARRETT GO, a fundraising initiative where people were asked to pledge a dollar amount for every touchdown Garrett either threw to someone or scored himself during the spring 2010 Ontario Minor Football League season. Garrett scored 15 touchdowns himself and passed for one more for a total of 16 touchdowns. People pledged $1,260 per touchdown, which multiplied by 16 touchdowns equals...$20,352, which was donated to Children's Miracle Network!
After being attacked two years ago by a virus that caused seizures, Garrett was unable to play football. When he was well enough to play, he wanted to do something to help sick children not as fortunate as himself.
His father, Gerard, said, "Garrett's brush with mortality at such an early age has made him keenly aware of how lucky he is to be able to play any sport, let alone one he loves. He also knows that many kids are not so lucky - something he saw first hand while at SickKids. His experience, is something he thinks about every day. He knows that things can happen in life and that you could wake up one day and not be able to do something you love to do anymore.
That's why he wants to 'go' for the kids who 'can't', to let them know there is someone who understands what they are going through and is on their team. That's why he thought of GO GARRETT GO. He wants to raise money to help kids who can't play because of sickness or poverty, in Canada and around the world."
We are proud of Garrett and the BIG difference he made in his community.
Here are just a few of the SLANT 45 projects that took place around North Texas recently:
The SLANT 45 team from the Down Syndrome Guild of Dallas planned, facilitated and performed in "Party for Change", a talent show and party for the children of Family Gateway Homeless Center, and also collected over 100 backpacks, umbrellas and other supplies for the children and families. "They were enabled to feel powerful and important in a world in which children which Down syndrome are often overlooked or thought of as "not able". On that day, they were the STARS!" said team coach Cara.
Students from Lakehill Preparatory School in East Dallas participated in several projects, including working in the Promise of Peace Community Garden.
Girl Scout Troop 1181 participated in a graffiti abatement project with the city of Fort Worth, helping paint over graffiti downtown with a rain forest landscape.
Thousands of North Texans and Super Bowl visitors from around the country will have the opportunity to see these collages and the different service-learning projects they represent.
If your SLANT 45 team has not completed their reflective art collages (or if you aren't part of a SLANT 45 team but would like to create a collage depicting a secret act of kindness you've done) we'd like to invite you to join us for two free SLANT 45 art workhops on October 16.
These reflective art pieces represent a small sample of the thousands of service-learning projects that more than 20,000 kids across North Texas have been working on to artistically tell the story of their service-learning
project. These pieces will become part of the Community Heroes Art Exhibition coming to NorthPark Center in November 2010, DFW International Airport in December 2010, the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History in January 2011 and the State Capitol in February 2011.
Unless you’ve been living under a sad, music-less rock, chances are excellent that you’ve heard of Fox’s sitcom Glee, a modern-day musical featuring the (lovable) nerds in a glee club. The show is an escapist’s dream that interrupts the endless buffet of violent mob/gang/police shows, sob dramas, stale comedies and other bleak programming from which viewers must choose. Aside from its departure from the status quo, Glee is living proof that children, tweens, adults and everyone in between are desperate for creativity and joy in their lives. Here are a few lessons that art educators can take from this mega-hit.
Glee shows that the arts are relevant:
For those unfamiliar with the show, each episode features Glee covers of popular show tunes or modern pop hits from artists like Jay-Z, Madonna or Britney Spears. These remakes are imaginative and over the top, and the grouchiest grump can’t help but give in to the optimistic and poppy crooning of the teens. By opening up music, theater, dance and performance, Glee takes a niche activity like glee club and makes it applicable and relevant to a mainstream audience.
Tearing down barriers is critical in developing young minds by finding something which resonates with them. For instance, a New York Times article on the importance of literacy noted that in order for children to improve their reading skills over the summer, any book – including the Hannah Montana books – would work. Glee might be considered the Hannah Montana of the art world, but it accomplishes what many arts educators seek to do: spark an interest in creation and demonstrates how art belongs to us all.
Glee shows that the arts mean more:
Taking part in any creativity doesn’t only open up the creator’s mind, it opens up the creator’s heart. Researcher James Catterall has chronicled how theater, in particular, teaches the art of empathy, of literally taking on another’s identity and struggles, resulting in changed paradigms and perceptions. Glee is a nerd’s show (its followers are aptly named Gleeks) where outsiders are taught strength, insiders are taught compassion and everyone learns what it means to be a better person.
Creating art has never been merely an output of work, but an exchange of dialogue. This is especially important for the dynamic demographics of today’s youth. Our students live in a world that is fraught with fights, war, differing ideologies, cultures, languages and ideas. The arts, all forms of it, neutralize the fear associated with “the other” and turn it into a beautiful exploration. Without creation in our lives, we’re stuck with the same ol’ stereotypes and associations which place young learners in silos.
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Despite the fact that television has begun to rely on gimmicks, sensationalism and semi-voyeuristic trash to lure viewers in, Glee opened the fall season with the strongest showing of viewers on any network. Let’s not forget that above all, creativity drives us in our professional and personal lives and people are hungry for something that connects them to that power. Oh, and it’s super fun, to boot! See below if you want proof. :)
Guest blogger and SLANT 45 Community Heroes Art Exhibition Committee Chair Lisa Glasgow shares her thoughts on the importance of creative reflection.
Reflection is essential to learning. Teachers have understood this for hundreds of years. Parents know this intuitively. Given time and instruction on how to reflect, children are better able to make meaning of their experiences and integrate them into their values in meaningful ways. Yet in the pressed-for-time, test-based world our children are being raised in, too often time for reflection is the very thing missing from their lives.
Recognizing this powerful opportunity, the designers of SLANT 45 built a reflective component into their service learning program, which asks participants to consider the service they have performed – what that work has meant to their community as well as what it has meant them – in a piece of art. In this way we increase the likelihood that the lessons of service will be lifelong. And that is the goal after all: giving children a chance to understand that they can affect the world around them for good.
Now through October 31, 2010, the SLANT 45 team is gathering the reflective art of North Texas children and from it will create three art exhibitions – one at NorthPark Center, DFW International Airport and at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History. Each will tell individual stories of children who, through service to their communities, discovered their own capacity for problem solving, giving and grace. Each will be a celebration of the power we all have to make a difference in the world around us.
For more information about how you can participate in the Reflective Art component of SLANT 45, click here.
Guy Deutscher studies how language shapes our worldview. Unfortunately for him, he’s working against generations of pseudo-science that sometimes made past linguists sound more like tonic-selling charlatans than experts. For instance, In the 1940s Daniel Whorf peddled the idea that our mother language functions like a prison. The anthropologist hypothesized that without words to describe concepts, such as “love” or “future”, speakers were unable to understand the concept.
Years later, scientists like Deutscher have rebutted that idea. He explains, “Do English speakers who have never heard the German word Schadenfreude find it difficult to understand the concept of relishing someone else’s misfortune?” It seems obvious now that language doesn’t prohibit our understanding of phenomena, but that doesn’t mean how we speak is void of influence. Deutscher explains that language helps define understanding of colors, special reasoning and even masculinity versus femininity. In other words, language affects us all but doesn’t indefinitely bind us to one way of thinking.
This critical distinction between something that influences us and something that becomes us is often a missing piece in the ongoing war around “the culture of poverty.” Advocates of this argument have, like Daniel Whorf, led us to believe that those from low-income areas experience a prison built of weak familial ties, geography and a grim outlook on life which disallow them from ever breaking free. The culture of poverty debate centers around the notion that the human brain is immutably fixed in its ideas, in its language, in its ecology, in its poverty.
But common sense steps in and suggests that while our brain can be influenced, it’s anything but an organ that resists change. We are constantly searching for ways to break free of ties that bind. Most of us can attest to the fact that we actively work to overcome ways of thinking, bad habits and other modes of thinking that prohibit success both now and in the future. It’s human nature to be influenced by the bad but hopeful and amenable to the good.
In fact, in a recent study conducted by Gallop which measures students’ overall wellbeing, 53% of students age 10-18 say that they are hopeful for the future, 73% describe themselves as “thriving” and an overwhelming 92% strongly agree that they will graduate from high school. Since we know that roughly 1 in 3 students drop out of school before earning their high school diploma, there is a decided break in what students think and feel and what they are accomplishing. This evidence suggests that the majority of students, socioeconomic factors aside, aren’t trapped in a prison of their circumstances.
Students who grow up in our poorest areas are inevitably influenced by their surroundings, but not defined by them. What characterizes them is their ability to grow, mature, change and pursue those behaviors and activities that will lead to a successful adult life. It may just be possible that all we need to overcome the culture of poverty is to believe that students have the hope, tenacity and potential to be successful and we just need to help nurture them. If we provide them opportunities to exercise their minds and follow through on their hopes and dreams, we can help undo the damage done by our own imagined constraints.
Right now, there are hundreds of SLANT 45 projects going on all across North Texas, from Weatherford to Terrell to Sherman to Midlothian, from big cities to small towns and everywhere in between.
Take a look at how a few of our SLANT 45 teams are transforming their communities:
The Green Team picked up trash around Lake Grapevine to make the area cleaner and safer for their community.
Girl Scout Troop 2692 from Dallas set up a lemonade stand to raise money for The Family Place shelter.
Mrs. Lilly's 5th grade class in Lewisville created and presented lessons to help teachers at their school utilize the "Smartboards" in their classrooms.
First and second grade students from Sherman ISD wrote letters to and made suncatchers for children at Scottish Rite Hospital.
Feeling inspired? You, too can do something positive for your community. Start by registering at slant45.org/register today!
Eight teens worked together to make a positive impact in their neighborhood. They worked alongside local artist, Sal Barron, and came up with a design that reflected their West Dallas community and the vibrant, colorful people that live in it. Special thanks to teen artists who brought this project to life: Damian Lopez, Samuel Lopez, Samuel Manzay, Carina Torres, Brenda Sanchez, Jeterrius Wilson, Sha’Doniva Hardmon and Andrea Hernadez!
“We feel like we provided our community with a fun way to exercise. Our 5th grade friends at school love going through our workout. It is a great feeling knowing we helped our community,” said team coach Katie Newman.
What’s your SLANT 45? Register now at slant45.org!
Middle school students from Dallas ISD participated in the Thriving Minds Summer Camp where they unleashed their creativity while participating in a variety of clubs including: stepping, krumping, cheerleading, fashion design, martial arts, visual arts and music production.
Super Bowl XLV will be here in 164 days! Don't miss out on the opportunity to be part of North Texas Super Bowl history and take part in the largest communitywide service-learning program in U.S. history.
Neighborhood groups, religious organizations, classrooms and school groups, PTAs, communitybased organizations, Scouts, athletic teams and corporate affinity groups are encouraged to get involved! Projects can vary from neighborhood improvement to beautification, to documenting local history or culture through a photography exhibit, to focusing on real-life ways to address pressing social challenges like hunger, poverty or environmental issues.
Here are just a few examples of projects other SLANT 45 teams have done:
Kindergarten and first grade students in Sherman ISD baked cookies and made thank you cards to show their appreciation for local firefighters and and police officers.
The Green Team cleaned up the shoreline at Lake Grapevine.
The Rockin' Rulin' Girlz are holding a drive to collect items for stray pets at the Ellis County SPCA.
It's easy to participate in SLANT 45 and make a difference in your community. Just form a team, come up with your own great project idea and register at slant45.org today!
Italian artist Adriano Celentano created the song below which hilariously demonstrates how English sounds to foreign speakers. Using gibberish words, he concocts a consonant heavy, drawn-out and at times grunty language which sounds eerily similar to our speech.
The video, despite its hopefully purposeful kitsch-iness, is quite extraordinary because it gives us a peek at ourselves through the eyes of others. Charles Horton Cooley calls this phenomenon “The looking glass self.” Essentially, we perceive who we are as individuals by the interactions that we have with others. If they treat us like we’re talented and beautiful, we believe ourselves to be, whether we are or not. Likewise, if people treat us like pariahs and failures, we will come to think the same.
So if we are constantly mirroring others’ perceptions of ourselves, how do we form our identity as a city, a community, a country or a continent? We understand a certain amount through news reports and the occasional visit abroad. But what makes this video notable is that art is used, with great efficacy, to tell us more than a thousand words could. Without saying a single sensible thing, Adriano Celentano provided an interesting portrait of our communication style. If you are like me, you might have asked yourself one hundred questions while watching. Things like, “I wonder how different Italian would sound if I learned the language? I wonder if our language makes the whole English-speaking world appear to have a certain type of personality? Does this make English sound brazen and fun or silly and weird?” In six minutes, he opened a window into the soul of how we relate ourselves to the world.
In certain ways, art is a much purer form of understanding than words. When language acts as a barrier, restricting understanding to only those we can speak with, the arts act as an open door. It causes us to relate at an almost primal level, taking into account our similarities as well as our differences. For those of us in education, it is easy to relate art as a way that we can come to understand discrete cultures, languages, neighborhoods and ethnicities that exist within our educational system. As our classrooms become more diverse, the arts can serve not only as a way to spur the mind but to spur understanding. In fact, James Catterall noted in his book “Doing Well and Doing Good by Doing Art” that schools offering rich dramatic and artistic experiences demonstrate better race relations among students and show that students show greater levels of empathy. By providing artistic exeriences to our youth, we are giving them the ability to succeed in a multi-national, ever-changing world.
How has art or your creative endeavors helped you bridge gaps in your life?
For more than 15 years, Big Thought has partnered with the Dallas County Juvenile Department to give at-risk youth an outlet through which they can express themselves using either visual or performing arts platforms. This is a sampling of the visual art created during this summer's program. Hope you enjoy!
It was amazing to see the transformation that took place at and around the McMillan Center over the course of just a couple days, thanks to the hard work of volunteers from all across our city.
And in the end, that’s what SLANT 45 is really all about – working together to leave a legacy of service and collaboration that will last long after game day.
Visit slant45.org to find out how you can make a difference in your community!
Troops returning from overseas received a hero’s welcome from a SLANT 45 team and a former president as they stepped off the plane at D/FW International Airport yesterday.
The Collin County Patriots, a youth football team from Frisco, decided they wanted to show their appreciation for the hard work and sacrifice of our military. With help from the Welcome Home a Hero program, the Patriots planned a surprise welcome for the troops and handed out gift bags, bottled water and plenty of smiles and high-fives.
Honorary SLANT 45 chairs President and Mrs. Bush and SLANT 45 chairman Daryl Johnston were also on hand to shake hands and pose for pictures with some very surprised service men and women!
For Anne Wishart Arnold-Ratliff, the adage “Not all who wander are lost” doesn’t really apply. Feeling purposeless after college, Anne embarked on an ambitious, 48-state trek throughout the contiguous U.S. to find her niche in this big ol’ world. Anne wasn’t content with backpacking and hostel-staying through the country like so many young post-grads do when feeling out-of-whack. Instead, she wanted to help. She explains, “My grandmother, Meme, always said that in the minute you begin feeling pity for yourself it is then your responsibility to help someone else.” With that in mind, she would pick seek out volunteer opportunities in each state that she visited.
Anne started her journey on January 4, 2010 and has been trucking ever since. To date, she’s visited 42 states and has helped out nonprofits and charity organizations in any task they could provide. She’s carved out an understanding of other cultures, people and situations through seeing and hearing inspiring stories of some of America’s most overlooked. For instance, in Virginia, she volunteered with an organization that rebuilds the lives of the formerly incarcerated through job training. In Utah, she worked at an ESL center. She pitched in at animal shelters and big-time events, gave her time stuffing envelopes and painting walls. And like Willie sang, she’s back on the road again.
Today, Anne stopped by Dallas to help out Big Thought on the Texas leg of her trip. A performer at heart, Anne has always held a special place in her heart for the arts. Hence, she stopped by our office to help us get out the word for events and to research creative activities for Dallas children and families. We couldn’t be happier that she chose as her destination in Texas because Anne embodies so much of the Big Thought spirit. As our name implies, we are an organization that imagines possibilities -- gigantic, huge, tremendous ones, in the name of creativity and education. We believe that all of our youth, regardless of where they live or learn, have the ability to imagine – and achieve -- great things in their lives. In essence, our young learners are full of big thoughts and we want to nurture them. That’s why we were so excited to have Anne, who had the audacity to believe that service to others can change not only her life but others around her.
To learn more about Anne, please visit her website: http://48sop.com/blog/ (48 states of purpose, that is.)
If you are inspired by her story and want to do more, visit http://www.slant45.org/ to see how you can give back to your community and be a part of something bigger than yourself.
The FROGs (Friends Reaching Our Goals) is a SLANT 45 team of second graders from Tanglewood Elementary in Fort Worth whose mission is to fight hunger in their city.
Through a series of summer fundraisers, they have raised nearly $1,000 and collected over 1,000 cans of food for the Tarrant Area Food Bank! The team also spent an afternoon packing backpacks for the Food Bank’s SummerPacks for Kids program, which provides weekend food for needy children in Tarrant County.
Next week the FROGs kick off “Hits Against Hunger” and “Kicks Against Hunger”, where for every a hit a teammate gets in baseball or softball or every kick a teammate gets in soccer, sponsors will donate a dollar to the Food Bank.
Check out their blog for more about what the FROGs have accomplished so far and what they have planned for the fall.
What’s your SLANT 45? Register your own team now at slant45.org!
Remember this post about SLANT 45 art workshops at the Dallas Museum of Art? Well, guess what: the first round of workshops has been completed, and some fantastic community service-related artwork came out of it! Here are just a few of the pieces created by participants at the July 16th "Late Nights at the DMA" event:
Mark your calendars for the next Late Nights workshops on August 20, September 17 and October 15. We'll see you there!
It's not Friday but we still wanted to share photos of some of the kids at the Charles Rice Learning Center participating in the Thriving Minds Summer Camp, as well as some of the artwork the kids created. This camp was a joint partnership with South Dallas Cultural Center. Hope you enjoy!
Join us at the Dallas Museum of Art for professional artist-led workshops for the whole family! There are sessions for SLANT 45 participants on Saturdays (see schedule below) which will allow kids to complete the reflective art component of the program in a variety of mediums - under the direction of local artists Lesli Robertson, Will Richey, and Jill Foley. Reflective art is required of all participants, so come out the DMA and let professional artists help your team create something to be proud of! Participants will also receive FREE admission to the museum.
There will also be special sessions for adults at the immensely popular Late Nights at the DMA. Visitors will be given the chance to create "Secret Service" postcards to highlight the unseen acts of kindness they've done or seen others do to better their community, with the help of artists like Sara Cardona, David Herman, Jr., Adriana Martinez and Ann Marie Newman.
The community service-related art will then be shared with all of North Texas as it tours alongside the SLANT 45 art exhibit (including pieces like these) from D/FW Airport to NorthPark Center to the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History and even a stint at the State Capitol. Mark your calendars with the dates below - we'll see you at the DMA!
Youth & Family Saturday workshops (RSVP at 469-621-8989):
July 17, 11am - 1pm
August 14, 11am - 1pm
September 18, 11am - 1pm
October 16, 11am - 1pm
DMA Late Night workshops:
July 16, 9:30 - 11:30pm
August 20, 9:30 - 11:30pm
September 17, 9:30 - 11:30pm
October 15, 9:30 - 11:30pm
We're always on the lookout for the latest-and-greatest creative websites, widgets and games on the web, and we REALLY like the ones that make us say, "WOWZA! That's super-cool!" So with that, here is post number one of our newest weekly blog feature: the Wowza!
This week's Wowza came a-knockin' at our door recently through a friend of a friend (everybody's got 'em): JamStudio.com! Join for free to create and listen to your own music. How cool is that? We even went and found a useful video to help us make the most of this neat little web tool. Mix and match instruments, chords and sounds to build your own personal theme song - enjoy!
These little kiddos are participants in the Thriving Minds after-school program at Mills Elementary School. Under the direction of their extraordinary staff, led by Site Manager "Miss Judy," these students put on a fantastic music and dance extravaganza at the end of the school year!
...that TEDxSMU and TEDxKids are back - October 15 & 16. And they’re looking for creative types--artists, architects and designers--to submit ideas for a performance, installation or interactive-based project. The winning project will receive a $1,500 honorarium plus up to $7,500 for project fees, materials and resources. But time's running out…deadline is July 8. Check out the details at www.TEDxSMU.org/art-commission.
SLANT 45 is not just about community service - the kids who participate are also given the opportunity to reflect on their project and its effect on them and the community in a creative way. Each youngster is given an 8x8 sheet of paper on which they can draw, collage, paint - whatever their heart desires - to show their feelings on their accomplishments. The reflective art pieces are being collected and will be toured throughout north Texas in a special SLANT 45 exhibit. Here's a glimpse of the art that's been completed - more to come!
Remember Team Sasha, the inspiring children's basketball team from Plano? Yesterday marked their final delivery of thousands of Legos collected for their SLANT 45 project to Children's Medical Center in Dallas. The team rolled up to the hospital Monday afternoon with wagonloads and donation boxes full to the brim with more than 400 Lego sets for the patients and their families to enjoy. It was quite a spectacle to see those boys and their families surrounded by hospital staff and cameras galore as they piled their donations up in the entrance!
Team Sasha's members then headed up to the 10th floor of the hospital to receive words of thanks from Dr. Bowers (Sasha Ohotskiy's doctor) and Sasha's father, Sergei (among others). The boys gave heartfelt interviews for the press, remembering Sasha as "one in a million," and talking about how optimistic he remained both in and out of the hospital during his treatment, and then hauled their wagons over to the 10th floor playroom to stock the shelves FULL of Lego sets! The rest of the donations were distributed to other playrooms for general use or stocked away to be used as birthday presents for patients.
Team Sasha has served as an inspiration for many, including the 8th grade graduating class at Levine Academy, where many of the team attend school. Each year, the class does a fundraising project, and this year, they chose to support Team Sasha's SLANT 45 Lego donation program. Soon, a check for $500 will be headed to Children's Medical Center to join the thousands of Legos who've already made the hospital their home - which really demonstrates the generosity of these kids and their capacity to care and provide for others!
Miss B's 3rd and 4th graders in the Thriving Minds after-school program at Twain Elementary chose to make a HUGE paper recycling bin for their school for SLANT 45. They primed the individual wooden pieces to make a smooth surface, used paper templates to plot out design elements, and painted the pieces of the bin with every color in the rainbow - especially green!
...and for the pets of 250 Arlington area Meals on Wheels customers, that day was Saturday, May 22. With the help of Girl Scout troop #3502, Meals on Wheels and the Arlington Animal Services Shelter collected over 6,000 pounds of dog and cat food.
The Girl Scouts, under the leadership of troop leader Sandy Worth, chose the Giving Back Twice event as their SLANT 45 project, and set about collecting donations at Kroger grocery stores and Arlington Fire Stations. On the day of the event, the girls made colorful posters to display, helped meet and greet customers at the shelter and handed out donation fliers in the Tails n' Trails dog park at the facility.
Chris Huff, Community Services Educator for the city of Arlington and coordinator of the event, was extremely pleased with the hard work of the Girl Scouts. The original goal for the pet food drive was 1500 pounds, but the girls were so efficient and excited about the project that she revised it - twice - and they still exceeded the new 5,000 pound goal! Said Chris, "The success of this event shows how much kids can do and how much they're willing to do; they just need an opportunity."
The girls each worked 2-hour shifts at the shelter, pausing only to grab a drink or play with a puppy in the dog park. Girl Scout Peyton had this to say about the experience: “When you give back to the community at least once, you keep wanting to do it over and over again because of the really good feeling and fun that you’re having.” Friend Lauren agreed, saying, “Yeah, and it inspires other people to start taking action, too.”
