A Thriving Minds Success Story

At Big Thought, our mission is to make imagination a part of everyday learning, and we do this daily for thousands of Dallas kids through the Thriving Minds After-School program. Giving kids opportunities to imagine possibilities and discover untapped talents is at the heart of this mission.

Prior to coming to the Thriving Minds After-School program at John Ireland Elementary, third-grader Mariyana Hill had never considered herself a dancer. Though the after-school program offered classes, she had never taken formal dance lessons. So when the Thriving Minds site manager asked who would be interested in attending a summer dance camp, Mariyana surprised herself by raising her hand, and soon found herself among hundreds of kids vying for a coveted spot at the Debbie Allen Dance Institute.

Held at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing & Visual Arts in June, the two-week program was created by famed dancer/choreographer Debbie Allen to introduce participants to a range of dance of styles, including ballet, modern, jazz, hip hop, African and tap. Despite her lack of experience, Mariyana snagged a spot at the camp.

“I was feeling scared, like I wouldn’t be able to pass,” she says of the tryouts. “But it was fun. We practiced the dances, and I pretended like it was my parents in the audience, so I was able to do it.”

Even more surprised was Mariyana’s mother, who had never considered this as an option for her child. But soon, she’d tapped into local resources to get Mariyana ballet and tap shoes and tights. Properly outfitted, Mariyana spent the next two weeks happily learning the difference between a plié and kick ball change.

The best part of the camp, says Mariyana was learning hip-hop dance, and getting to meet other kids from Thriving Minds after-school programs from around the city who had also been accepted into the program.

During the institute’s final performance, Mariyana was excited to perform for her parents. “My sister and uncle were there, too,” she says. “Afterwards they gave me flowers.”

The program, says her mother, has sparked a passion in her daughter that wasn’t there before.

On the first day of the after-school program in August, Mariyana ran up to the Thriving Minds site manager and asked with a big smile, “Mr. Spiller, can I please go to the Debbie Allen Dance Institute again this year?”

Her passion sparked, Mariyana is now continuing her dance lessons through the after-school program and even dreams of one-day attending Booker T. Washington. Imagine that….

Photo Friday: Summer Favorites

With the first week of a new school year coming to an end, we thought we'd reflect on some of the great things that happened this summer.  Thanks to our dedicated staff, volunteers, partners and teachers, we were able to provide quality summer programming for thousands of children and teens.  Through summer camp for elementary and middle school students (including Fair Park Live!, a day of interactive career exploration for middle schoolers), Creative Solutions and DallasKidsRead, these students were challenged to think creatively, achieve academically, make healthy choices and become productive, forward-thinking and engaged citizens.     Thank you to everyone who played a part in making summer 2011 a success!

Photo Friday: Movers and Shakers at the Harry Stone Rec Center

Summer camp at Harry Stone Recreation Center had kids moving in the right direction.  The camp is focused on providing youth with health and wellness resources including exercise, dance and sports classes.  The class I observed, Dance Xxplosion, was taught by Victoria Davis.  The class is a combination of elementary and middle school boys and girls.  They have spent the past month learning a variety of dances including hip-hop and modern line dance.  Among the favorites were the Cupid Shuffle, a dance to the Jackson 5’s “ABC”, and a choreographed routine to “Poker Face.” 

Here's what students had to say about their camp experience:

“I do what they love to do.  They dance.  I teach dance because I want invest in their future,” said Victoria Davis, Dance Xxplosion teacher.  Davis is a teacher with Dallas ISD and has been teaching dance for 18 years.

“Dance is something most kids express their emotions through.  That’s why I dance.  I can get out my anger or show my excitement for something,” said Hunter Rascon, 15, North Mesquite High School.  “ You know, people can learn to dance, some people are born to dance, but I think most people live to dance.”

“I like the class because we’re free.  We get to move around and express ourselves,” said Shaquayla Fleming, 13, Seagoville Middle School.

“It’s fun.  I like hip-hop because of the rhythm,” said Sha’Ron Manning, 11, W.E. Greiner Middle School and Exploratory Arts Academy.

Junior Docents at the African American Museum

This post is by guest blogger Tasha Speed, Museum Education & Public Programs, African American Museum

The Junior Docents at the African American Museum had a blast this summer supporting “Discovering Nature and Art,” the Museum’s summer enrichment camp held from June 6-July 15 for 70 elementary-age campers. Docents assisted campers with creative learning activities, exciting fieldtrips and much more. The docents also helped with Dallas ISD’s Thriving Minds Summer Camp, which brought nearly 2,000 middle school students to Fair Park, offering guided tours of the Museum and its collections. But it wasn’t all work and no play, docents were treated to a special performance of Dallas Summer Musical’s Guys and Dolls.

The African American Museum launched the Junior Docent program in March to give high school students hands-on experience as museum curators. Twenty-five students from Dallas-area schools participated, and went through training that taught them about the history, philosophy and practices of museum work. All the docents received a stipend for their work this summer.

For additional information about the Junior Docent Program visit our website at www.aamdallas.org.

Photo Friday: DallasKidsRead 2011

Dallas Kids Read 2011, presented by AT&T, took place yesterday at the J. Erik Jonsson Dallas Central Library.

Prior to opening the doors to the public, 1,300 Thriving Minds Summer Camp students spent the morning and afternoon interacting with award-winning children's authors and illustrators.  Students learned first-hand about the process behind taking a children's book from an idea to the bookstore shelves.  Along the way they asked lots of questions, collected autographs from their new idols, took home books for their home libraries, and smiled their way from school to library and back again.  The event served as a perfect ending to four weeks of summer learning, where children read, wrote and drew alongside teachers and artists at 17 Dallas ISD campuses.

Thank you to AT&T and to the other individuals and organizations who supported this event - American Airlines, Chef Doug Brown and Univision - as well as our partners at the Dallas Public Library, The City of Dallas and Dallas ISD!

Welcome to Ancient Egypt!

Today I had the opportunity to visit Choices Leadership Academy and attend their end-of-summer camp performance.  Over the past four weeks, 42 middle school students were immersed in the world of ancient Egypt.  They learned about the country's geography, history and culture through core academic studies in math, English, science and history.

Their culminating performance, called Journey Down the Nile, encompassed original music, dramatic performances and visual art on topics like the rulers and gods of ancient Egypt.

As part of the visual art component of the program, students created a giant, three-dimensional map of the Nile River and designed and hand painted the Egyptian themed shirts you'll see them wearing in the photo slideshow below.

Perhaps most enjoyable was the final scene - So You Think You Can Egyptian Dance, where students performed songs they had written about the lives of King Tut and Cleopatra.

Thanks to these talented students and their instructors for their thoroughly educational and entertaining performance!

Callie's Fair Park Live! Wrap Up

This summer, more than 1,800 Dallas ISD middle school students have been participating in the Thriving Minds Summer Camp at Fair Park. The mix of academic learning and exploration with the museums and institutions at Fair Park is re-thinking how students can learn during the summer.

On Thursday, July 21, the Tower Building was bustling with the energy of Fair Park Live! presented by Ernst & Young. Students walked the floor of a special kind of tradeshow to learn about careers and the importance of education. Along the way they interacted with professionals from 50 organizations on project-related tasks from industries including accounting, engineering, nuclear science, dentistry, airline transportation, law enforcement and publishing… just to name a few.

Many presenters met with students in small groups, which allowed them to receive individual attention, ask lots of questions, and learn by doing. Some of the flashiest displays that I saw included:
• Designing magazine covers with D Magazine
• Launching rockets and operating robots with Lockheed Martin
• Tinkering with lighting and sound equipment on a full technical stage from Alford Media
• Racing to put on a protective hazmat suit with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
• Learning geography and what it means to soar with American Airlines

Big Thought thanks Ernst & Young for their sponsorship and support of our first ever career event for middle school students, as well as everyone who made Fair Park Live! a vibrant and meaningful success.  Thank you also to our partners at UNT and to all of the professionals who shared their time and talents with these students.

Summer Camp News From the Field: Trinity River Audubon Center

Intern Callie here again! On Tuesday I got to travel out to the Trinity River Audubon Center about ten minutes from downtown Dallas. It is remarkable how driving just ten minutes from the hustle and bustle of the city can lead you to this lush forestland full of different plants, lakes and animals! The Center sits on 120 acres and has been open since 2008. Fun Fact: it is the first LEED-certified green building supported by the Dallas Parks and Recreation Department.

The middle school students participating in Big Thought’s programs got to visit the Center this week to do an Eco-Investigation. On Tuesday, the students from summer camp at Hill and Storey Middle Schools piled off buses for a day of fun. There were more than 275 of them who all broke in to small groups of 20 and rotated through various stations.

Despite the scorching heat, the kids all seemed to really enjoy the activities. They got to do a guided river-walk around the premise, examine microorganisms from the lake, formulate their own chemical reactions, learn about the Trinity River from a model complete with flowing water, and lots more! The hands-on aspect of the activities engaged the kids and the enthusiasm of the Audubon staff resonated with the students and made for a fun-filled day. It reminded me of how great field trips used to be!

To see more photos of the kids in action, visit the Trinity River Audubon Center's blog. 

Summer Camp at the South Dallas Cultural Center

Here's a peek into the programming at the South Dallas Cultural Center. Kids of all ages are experiencing programs focused on the visual, media, literary and performing arts. This program is supported by Thriving Minds.

So much great programming happens at this facility under the leadership of Vicki Meeks. If you haven't had the chance to visit go soon! In fact, visit the 3rd Thursday of the month from 7-9 pm for an Evening of Spoken Word Open Mic hosted by Michael Guinn, Fort Worth National Poetry Slam champion.

Oak Cliff Cultural Center's Camp Celebration

Hi, I’m Callie Williams and I have the privilege of interning in the marketing department here at Big Thought. I grew up here in Dallas and am currently a junior at the University of Texas at Austin majoring in marketing. My days here at Big Thought have been filled sitting in on meetings, drafting press releases, and making name badges, just to name a few things. I am learning so much about the working world!

To kick off Fourth of July weekend, last Friday, I got to take a break from making copies to attend a special performance done by students who had been in Big Thought summer camp all of June. On July 1, the Oak Cliff Cultural Center hosted an end-of-camp performance and celebration event for the families of the middle school students who had been participating in a four-week Thriving Minds summer camp program. From the yarn “God’s Eyes” in the front window, to the paper cutouts that served as the backdrop for their stage, the center was covered with artwork the students had made during the camp.

The students put together a theater performance based on biographical stories they had written. They had musical instruments, costumes and masks they had crafted to go along with each scene. They also highlighted the history and culture of Oak Cliff by acting out famous individuals who grew up in area.

During the creative writing portion of the program, the students learned about different types of poetry, and a few shared what they had written. I had been out earlier in the week as they were preparing for their final performance, and they all had so much enthusiasm about displaying all they had learned for their families.

The event closed with, what the kids said was their favorite activity of the whole program--guitar playing. Prior to the program, the majority of the students had never picked up a guitar, and I was amazed by how much they had learned! They split into three different group based on age and ability. The most advanced group played Guns ‘N Roses’ Sweet Child of Mine and one of the talented students sang along.

Afterwards they had a reception filled with hugs and congratulations from proud family members. It was easy to see from all the smiles that the kids and parents were so proud of all the students had learned in such a short time! 

Photo Friday - Summer Camp at the Bath House

Today's photos come from the Thriving Minds summer camp at the Bath House Cultural Center.                                                                                                                          
Over the last four weeks, 25 8- to 11-year-olds learned about visual arts, theater, puppetry, mime and melodrama and created an original show with eight unique scenes: 

• The History of White Rock Lake:  Told Through Mime
• Pet Shop Problems:  A Melodrama
• Bad Bank business:  A Melodrama
• Lunch at the Sunset Inn:  Stage Combat
• Who's On First:  Abbott and Costello
• Ice Cream Incident:  A Melodrama
• Hand Jive:  A Fifties Party and Puppets
• I Got a Feeling:  A Dance Extravaganza 

In addition to studying visual and performing arts, students pitched in to spruce up the area around the Bath House.  As you may remember, last year summer camp students auctioned off their original artwork to raise money to help keep White Rock Lake clean as part of their SLANT 45 project.  They raised more than $800, and this year students used those funds to renovate the outdoor amphitheater.                                             
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A big thank you to the instructors - Kineta Massey, Bonita Harthan, Julius Longshaw and Kent Williams - and our friends at the City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs for making this camp happen!

Photo Friday - Ryan Neufeld at Moreno Elementary

Today's photos come from the two-week summer camp at Moreno Elementary.  On June 16, former Dallas Cowboy Ryan Neufeld and his wife Dawn stopped by to read to students and sign autographs.

Photo Friday...on Monday!

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!

Summer's Coming!

Wow, this year's flown by. The end of the school year is fast approaching, so we're winding down the Thriving Minds after-school program and gearing up for the next big thing: Summer Camp! We're on the move at all levels of the organization, planning, writing, promoting, recruiting, hiring—the list goes on and on. Since we're doing all this hard work for you, the community, we've tried to find ways to inform you about what is available.

If your child is in the Thriving Minds after-school program, stay tuned for more information on the Thriving Minds Summer Camps from the Community Site Manager at your site. They'll be sending your kiddos home with flyers very soon.

If you don't have a child in the after-school program, don't fret! You can join us at the Dallas Independent School District's Summer Quest this Saturday, May 1, from 10 am – 2 pm at Townview Center (1201 E 8th St, 75203). Summer Quest will be full to the brim of organizations offering free and low-cost summertime opportunities, so that every child in Dallas that wants something constructive and creative to do this summer can get signed up. It'll be a four-hour summer camp extravaganza!

And if that doesn't work for you, join us at Sizzlin’ Summer Kickoff at Paul Quinn College (3837 Simpson Stuart Road, 75241) on May 15th from 10 am – 2 pm for another summer camp fair. This event will feature free and low-cost summertime activities for kids of all ages, college readiness workshops for parents and students, health and dental screening, and employment and internship opportunities.

So there it is—everything you need to get your kids set for summer learning. We'll see you around town!

Photo Friday!

Another Photo Friday Blog! These pics are from the TM Summer Camp at Titche Elementary School.

Julia E's Summer Camp Recap - part 3

Tuesday June 30
More rehearsals, more projects, more fun activities! Today in the morning we set off a Diet-Coke-and-Mentos experiment, which consists of reacting small mints with soda and watching the soda erupt. Although some walked away drenched in sugar-free pop, the kids have never been more thrilled by a science experiment! I’m planning on bringing more bottles of Coke tomorrow so that we can do it again. All the children decorated shirts for the play, with their character’s name and whatever other creative designs they could think of. Some of the shirts have too many glittery flowers on them to read the print, we ran out of fabric-paint, and we had several huge paint spills, but the kids definitely had fun and the project was very expressive! Our all-day rehearsals continue. With two days left, I hope we can pull it together!

-Julia E.

Julia E's Summer Camp Recap - part 2

Tuesday June 23
As we enter the second half of Summer Camp, things are starting to really level out. Every day I have a steady number of kids which always hovers somewhere around 23, with the same kids returning each time. The script is in print, and I figured out the cast list for my class without any meltdowns over role assignments (major and surprising success). Chris’ music class has turned to dancing, which is great, especially for the older children. Thrilled to dance to songs that they recognize, the kids seem really focused and engaged, a welcoming change. Our project for the day: what is your favorite animal in the sky, under the sea, or on the ground. We had several dinosaurs (and a “dinser”), sharks, puppies, and dolphins - which they were enthralled to hear were the smartest animals in the world, after humans. After classes were over, Elliot, another ATA at Conner, organized a camp-wide game of red-light, green-light which was a huge success!We will start rehearsals later this week for the end-of-camp show. Hope everything runs smoothly!

Friday June 26
The weekend again! We ended the week yesterday with a somewhat unproductive rehearsal, but now that we are more organized, we will have a better rehearsal on Monday. All of our instructors communicated and found a way to include every art form in the program; now we just have to straighten out the logistics. Yesterday, while the kids were not needed on stage, I took my group for project free-time, and set everyone up with quiet individual projects. While most of the boys were entertained folding new models of paper airplanes, everyone else found creative busy projects and stayed happy and focused.Chris also put the finishing touches on the two dance routines, and the kids seem to really enjoy them and are getting really good. Now that we're allowing the kids to dance on stage, even those who didn’t feel like participating are jumping in, which is great. The challenge comes in fitting forty antsy children on stage to dance!

-Julia E.
ps - more pics here!

Julia E's Summer Camp Recap - part 1

Hi! I'm Julia E., an Apprentice Teaching Artist from the Thriving Minds Summer Camp at Conner Elementary. I had a great time working with the kids this summer, so when Big Thought asked me to put together a short recap of my time at Conner, I jumped at the chance! What I'll be posting here are my reflections on the process of creating the play the students performed at their culminating event on July 2nd - and some of the fun daily activities we did. I hope you enjoy it: today I'll post a special two-fer for you from week 2 of Camp!

Tuesday June 16
Going into our second week of Thriving Minds Summer Camp at Conner Elementary, the craziness is beginning to settle. I have a sweet group of four and fifth graders, who get better daily as we get to know each other a little bit more. As of now, I am happy to report that the Thriving Minds Summer Camp is a successful program. Our kids participate in four classes throughout the day: theater, drumming, percussion and rhythm, and visual arts, all of which we hope to compose into an end-of-camp show. Because my kids are the oldest bunch at our campus, they can participate in the more difficult activities; today, they excelled at an improv game called Taxi, individually took turns on the big drum set, successfully put together a cohesive rhythm in percussion class, and created still life paintings in art. Also, as a project, I brought in a long sheet of butcher paper for the kids to write and illustrate what they wanted to be when they grow up – my favorites: Batman, FBI agent, a farm man, a skateboard, and a vegetarian (not to be mistaken with a veterinarian). I will be working on the script for the play tonight!

-Julia E.
ps - Click here to see one of my pictures from Conner!

Friday June 19
The script for our end-of-camp show is officially finished! All last week, my class (the older kids) helped Krystal and me think of characters, setting, and plot for their show, and it has all accumulated into a short and sweet medley of fairytale characters (Dorothy, the Cat in the Hat and Tinkerbelle, just to name a few!), set on Fairytale Island. We read the finished play to the kids yesterday, and they seemed pleased. Now we just have to put it into action! More of the same in terms of activites. The children did blind portraits of each other in art class, or drawings where they couldn’t look down at the paper while drawing. The craziness of drawings, with eyes next to chins and teeth inside the ears, was bizarre enough to get the kids laughing at themselves.

-Julia E.
ps - here are some more Conner Camper pics!

Thriving Minds Summer Camp

Imaginations soared as high as the temperatures outdoors in June as we hosted 12 creative arts summer camps for students in grades K-8 across the city. Nearly 1,400 youth participated in the enrichment camps, which ran from June 8-July 2 at Dallas ISD elementary and middle school campuses, as well as the City of Dallas’ Bath House Cultural Center in East Dallas.
Julia E., an Apprentice Teaching Artist at the Conner Elementary camp site, gave us a play-by-play of the finals days of camp, which we're happy to share with you. We'll post a new entry every Monday and Thursday along with photos!