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  • A LAB Update: September 2011
  • Dec 2010/The LAB'S Local (and hopefully Lucrative) Holiday Love-Fest!
  • Generosity & Gratitude – May 2010
  • Project & Mentorship Spotlight – Feb 2010
  • The Lab E-Newsletter: Back to School/Fall 2010
  • The Lab: November 2010/Thank you to Community Supporters
  • The Lab: Off to the races for 2nd Session! (January 30, 2011)

Last week we had two fantastic enrichments with junior high students from Washington and Battle Creek. In the Visual LAB we got busy making mandalas! These circular pieces of art originated in India as a meditation practice. Mandala is a Sanskrit word meaning circle, sacred and unity. At The LAB we’ve been using mandalas as a way to focus and work through thoughts and emotions which might be hard to put words to. The process of laying down colors, shapes and lines helps bring clarity to the thoughts and feelings of our students (and staff!) Please enjoy these examples from our Washington enrichment!

As we begin a new year I find myself reflecting on the year past.  I have the  Lab Summary Report in hand,  and as I read it, I ponder our stated mission….“promoting the use of creativity as a means towards emotional health and school success.” Questions come to mind. Have we created a strengths based environment where students are honored for their strengths, and where they can discover new and creative ways to express themselves? The student survey data seems to give a resounding affirmation that we are meeting that mission in a big way.  As I continue my reflection images flood my mind, images of students coming to The Lab for Enrichments. So often these students come in with a mix of curiosity and apprehension that is evident in their demeanor.

On their Enrichment day, students arrive at The Lab by school bus with their program staff at 9:30a.m. Lab staff  greet the bus and give students and staff a preview of what the morning will hold.  Students flow out of the bus into The Lab where they are greeted in the hallway by Lab staff in bright orange t-shirts.  Their program staff head off to their own staff development meeting. Students are given a nametag and head towards the cafeteria and stage where they prepare to enjoy a show.

As I watch students settle into the show I’m often amazed at how quickly the performer captivates them. The performers weave their story into the show with the message that no matter what you are going through you can find strength by tapping into creativity.  Everyone has a story to tell and something creative they can do whether it be writing, rapping, art, photography, yoga, caring for a pet, singing, whatever it is students are encouraged to find their creative modality.  Students are encouraged to take risks… they try something new and express themselves in ways they can be heard!

After the show students join a small group where they have new opportunities for creative expression. The small groups are facilitated by Lab staff and volunteers. The groups typically include AAE (animal assisted education), Art, Poetry/Spoken Word, Dance and Photography.   At 11:00 the groups end and students gather in the hall to wait for their staff to join them before loading back onto the bus.

The energy in the hallway is electrifying… students emerge from their groups with stories to tell, and work to show. One student beams with pride as he talks about how he led “Hobson”  (a favorite dog from the AAE-Animal Assisted Education group) through an agility course. Another student is grinning from ear to ear as he shows his self-portrait photos to his teacher. Students from the dance group are excited about the new dance moves they learned and they want to do a quick show for their teachers. The atmosphere is positive and upbeat as students and staff leave for the ride back to their school.  Click on the words LabDance to see a video below to see the hallway fun after today’s Enrichment! LabDance

Immediately following Lab staff, volunteers and guest artists, gather to debrief. Stories emerge of student’s success. It may be that a student came in feeling negative, checking in at a 1(on a scale of 1 to 10) and they leave at a 30!!!  Stories of students encouraging their peers in the writing group, or a student being a leader in the AAE group, another student declaring “I didn’t know I was such a good artist!”  One student confides to a staff that they had a blow up on their way to The Lab, the student was in the writing group, he declares a plan to use writing more often in his daily life, as a way to get his frustration out without causing more problems for himself.  An extremely shy student found a new means of expression through visual art and has a self-portrait in hand that she is eager to take home and show her family. It seems students feel honored for their strengths and have experienced success as they’ve engaged in creative self-expression. We leave the debrief feeling energized and honored to be able to do this work. Mission accomplished!

We are so fortunate to have such great guest artists at The Lab.  In January and February, we are featuring our favorite dancer, Tina Flewellyn, and our wonderful poet, musician and visual artist, Noah Brandow. Keep an eye on the website soon for audio and video footage of their performances.

Please hit the following link to hear a song called HOMETOWN, by Noah B.

Noah B: Hometown

Please hit the following link to see a video of Tina’s amazing dance.

Miss Tina’s Dance

For the last two weeks, we have enjoyed having four junior high school sites visit The Lab.  Youth participated in several small groups, including a hip-hop dance group, a visual art group that made Mandalas, and of course, The Poetry Lab.  Enjoy these pics of youth in action!

LabDance

We are off to the races with our “Second Session Services”.   It’s so exciting to see all of the students coming to The Lab to participate in such a variety and number of small groups and 1×1 mentorships each week.  Check out this summary of what’s going on around The Lab this term.  In each of these experiences, we help youth explore/practice the use of creativity & experiential wellness activities as healthy coping strategies for life.

1. African Drumming with Jason and Guest Artist Marc Anderson (www.fathands.com) – St. Andrews young men’s group

2. Poetry & Recording with Glo and Jordan – Highland young men’s group

3. Writing, Art & Wellness with Melissa and Tess and Kathy Flaminio of 1000 Petals (www.1000-petals.com) - Highland young women’s group

4. Visual Art groups with Kyle and Ginny - two River East classrooms

5. Animal Assisted Education Group with Kelly and Jennifer Troy of Paws for Learning (www.pawsforlearning.com) -Ramsey Jr. High

6. Yoga & Mindfulness with Jason & Faith McGown/wellness coach (www.WellWellWellcoach.com) – River East classroom

7. Visual Art Group with Kyle and local artist Matt Eckhard -Battle Creek Middle School

8. Poetry & Recording with Glo & Noah Brandow - Washington Middle School

9. 1×1 mentorships with 22 students coming from (River East, W. 7th, Ramsey, Central, Highland, Washington)

10. Monthly Enrichment Programming for 10 school programs.

Volunteering at The Lab

This is my second year of volunteering at the The Lab.  I help out during enrichment programs as one of several adults who encourage students during the programs and do whatever background tasks need to be done to make the programs go smoothly.  I volunteer about once a week during the enrichment program cycle, for about three hours.

Programs at The Lab are designed to help students find creative outlets to communicate their thoughts, feelings, and experiences.  A few students come to The Lab already motivated to participate and communicate; many arrive sleepy, wary, bored, sad, or scared.  What’s magical about The Lab is that in just a couple of hours, Lab staff and visiting students figure out how to move toward each other enough to have experiences that are fulfilling, motivating, and fun.

What I love about volunteering at The Lab is watching this hopeful encounter unfold each week.  The Lab staff are militantly upbeat, positive, and attentive to the students.  The students, even the reluctant ones, gradually find their feet and decide to engage:  write a poem, try some dance steps, play with a service dog.  By the end of each program, most students leave with smiles on their faces, many holding the products of their work at The Lab.

Does this experience change students’ long-term educational outcomes?  I don’t know.  But for those moments, anyway, the students look like their true selves—happy, confident, creative, and powerful.  Getting to see that, each week, is the gift I receive for volunteering at The Lab.

Sue Koch

Ladies and gentlemen! The moment you have all been waiting for has finally arrived! The LAB is rolling out several tracks each week from our lasted record of student music and poetry. Today we would like to feature the unique stylings of students from Central, Ramsey and St. Andrews.  Enjoy!

Inspiration

Chasing My Dreams

No Competition

BANG!!

Hilarious

Over the holiday break, a friend dragged me along to her company’s holiday party.  I found myself in a group of people that I didn’t know very well, explaining the work I do at the LAB.  One person thought for a moment, and replied, “So you work with teenagers.  That’s noble.”  Noble?  Yikes!  This person had missed the point in a pretty huge way.  My role at the LAB has nothing to do with being ‘noble.’  It’s not about charity or selflessness.  Instead, I’d like to think that the work I do looks more like mutual aid.
If you come to the LAB, look around.  You’ll see a Desmond Tutu poster that explains what I mean, probably better than I can.  It reads, “My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together.”  A social work professor might call this idea “parallel process.”  In working to inspire, strengthen, and heal students, I am inspired, made stronger, healthier.  I have experienced a kind of reciprocal energy at the LAB that can be truly magical.

The life of an MSW student can be grueling at times; too much to do, not nearly enough time with which to do it.  It is all too easy to get mired in the day-to-day routine, to loose sight of what is really important.  I hope that every kid leaves the LAB stronger, more inspired, and better equipped to deal with whatever life sends their way.  This is what’s really important.  I feel privileged to have an internship that can offer me this clarity of purpose.  And I feel grateful to be able to help young people better themselves, and to better myself in the process.  Here’s to another semester.

I was in a workshop with Shá Cage (a local activist and poet) where she asked a group of 20 people, “How many of you believe that racism will be defeated in our lifetime?”  Only one or two hands went up.  “Wow, this is an optimistic crowd!” she said, “Usually I barely get half a hand raised.”

That same daunting thought is sitting with me as we start 2011 with the same old struggles facing us.  Violence in our communities, poverty, public schools closing, and freaking cold winters: it seems impossible that we will ever change the things in our society that hurt the most in the day-to-day.

But I’m carrying another idea into this new year.  I believe that our day-to-day life is exactly where things are most ready to change. I think that every moment is a chance for us to be the person we’ve been waiting for. To be alive, to be compassionate, to take action.  I saw this through our guest artist at The Lab in December.  He took a simple action – performing some poetry to a small group of students.  But he did it with emotion, passion, and with genuine love for the students who were listening.

Every group that saw him was moved, and in the poetry groups that followed, students wrote more honestly and thoughtfully than I could ever imagine happening (especially in a one-time group at 10am).  They each took a simple step to change the norms, saying “Today, instead of trying to impress anyone, I’m going to be real and ask for compassion.”  Take this poem, for example:

I remember when I used to be

A kid that hates getting the 3rd degree

When I lived, laughed and love

Daydream to the stars above

I had friends of many, some smart, some dumb

Either way, we always had fun

Now every passing year, my brain developed new

Like being marinated in an open stew

All seemed wrong, not what I wanted to be

Life is hard and rough without a way to be free

As long as I can remember to dream

As long as I continue to be positive to the open seas

I’ll find a way to stay in touch with the kid in me.

-student poet

So yes, it’s hard for me to imagine racism being defeated in my lifetime.  In fact it’s hard to imagine any sort of transformation.

But in these circles, on our stages,

on each student’s colored-outside-the-line pages,
I see transformation on a daily basis.

So can we take this: the day-to-day

step up and make this the day that we’ve been waiting for?

Thanks to The Lab team, the puppies and the youth for reminding me of this hope.

TEST