What’s Happenin’ at The Lab

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end, and from small beginnings come great things! Since 2000, The Lab has grown from an after school writing group at Ramsey Jr. High serving just 8 students, to an Arts and Wellness-based program serving 11 special education (EBD) programs in St. Paul Public Schools. We now serve over 250 students, and over 100 educators in our district each year.

Now in its second year at Homecroft School, The Lab continues to grow and evolve. The Lab has increased its commitment and services to strengthen EBD programs by providing ongoing staff development and support to teams, training and follow up on the Empowerment framework, and ongoing creative outlets for youth.

This Semester

The Lab kicked off 1st semester with 11 Enrichments, 26 Small-Group Residencies and 8 One-on-One Mentorships. Volunteers, Lab Interns and Lab Staff spent 443 hours working with 234 junior high and high school students and listed below are just some of the extraordinary experiences that happened at The Lab this semester.

Mentoring

Building Relationships

This semester has been busy with a variety of one-on-one mentoring connections, ranging from voice lessons and graphic design, to guitar lessons and writing. Students met weekly with their mentor for an 8-week period to spend time further developing the craft of their choice as well as building a positive relationship with an adult.

Poetry Lab

Writer’s Lab

During their Enrichment visits, students had the opportunity to participate in a one-time Poetry Lab experience, facilitated by lab staff, Mallory Haar and Lab Intern, Kama Johnson, with help from local hip-hop artist Glo Pesci. Six schools also participated in 7 week, small-group Poetry Lab residencies in which students spent time exploring language, writing about their selves and communities, and using poetry to process and talk about what’s going on in each of their lives.

Wellness Lab

Animal Assisted Education

Through our partnership with Paws for Learning, Pet Haven of Minnesota and the Canine Coach, students participated in weekly Animal Assisted Education groups. Here, students work with dogs (and their human partners) to learn and practice building trust with others, establishing healthy boundaries, kindness, compassion, responsible pet ownership, effective communication and leadership.

Yoga

A small-group of junior high school students participated in an 8-week yoga residency with Lab intern and yoga instructor, Geriann Fedorowicz.

Students spent time learning breathing and relaxation exercises and trying on poses from mountain, to downward dog, and their favorite, the corpse pose!

Hip Hop Dance

Students and staff alike had a great time this semester watching and participating in Hip Hop Dance. Professional dancer and dance instructor, Tina Flewellyn, known for her work with Rhianna, Hillary Duff, and Disney, is taking a break from choreographing music videos to teach dance to students in St. Paul through Arts Us (located at the Dunning Rec Center) and The Lab! Students have the incredible opportunity of working in small groups with Tina in which they learn techniques like popping, locking, waves and ticking.

Technology Lab

Photography

Through the Technology Lab, students get direct access to digital cameras and photo-editing software. This semester, students learned about the art of self-portraiture.

After looking at a variety of self-portrait images and discussing their aesthetics and techniques, students took a digital camera and captured their own self-image. In these photo groups, students also learned about digital photo-editing and printing.

The Lab Youth Radio Podcast

The Lab launched its first radio podcast this semester, hosted by two high school students, Malcolm and Rickeisha, and mentored by local hip-hop artist, Glo Pesci and Lab intern and mentor, Kama Johnson. The students use the podcast as a forum to discuss issues that are relevant to urban teens.

Visual Art Lab

Sewing

A small group of high school students participated in a sewing group in which they made patchwork bags with a sewing machine with volunteer mentor, Eleanor Daly – read about Eleanor in our Volunteer Spotlight this month!

Students also work on mastering the needle and thread in their hand-sewing skills. During Enrichments, student created “ugly dolls” by sewing together felt in the shape of a monster or “ugly doll”, embroider or glue on facial features and decorations, and stuff the doll (see picture).