GAAH Partners with César E. Chávez Elementary School to Kick-Start Students’ Summers

A week before the last day of school at César E. Chávez Elementary school, the students had the opportunity to participate in activities arranged by the committed and dedicated staff at both the Cook Arts Center and the Cook Library Center. By providing these pre-summer activities, the organization aims to inspire the kids to continue to use their imagination and literacy skills over the course of the few months that they will be away from their regimen with their educators. Not to mention, the collaboration supports continued organizational efforts to sustain creative, effective, strategic partnerships with a variety of facets city-wide. Naturally, this school is an ideal partner for Grandville Avenue Arts & Humanities (GAAH).

Between Tuesday, June 4 and Monday, June 9, both facilities of GAAH had the opportunity to meet a myriad of elementary school students. These children poured into our facilities with enthusiastic energy to create, explore, and dance. They participated in various activities, including Father’s Day card-making, flower designing, breakdancing, painting, crafts, reading, and more.

For some of these children, the experience of working with the teachers and staff of GAAH was a first. In fact, when given a tour of the facilities, many of these students could be overheard gasping in awe, saying things such as, “Oh, it’s so beautiful!” And once the activity for the day was complete, the Program Director invited them to sign up at absolutely no cost. When some students heard that they could attend for free, their eyes lit up, and it was apparent that they had already fallen in love with the organization and its mission.

Some of the regular students who have experience with GAAH’s programs conveyed their enthusiasm in a different way. In fact, two Cook Library Scholars wore their name-badges from the program to this outside activity, ultimately indicating their pride, feeling of a sense of belonging, and ownership to the program. In the end, this gesture is a great way to indicate the success of the first year of the Cook Library Scholars.

All in all, this fruitful partnership with César E. Chávez Elementary and GAAH benefits both parties. GAAH is able to attract new students who ultimately will make up the body of the future after-school programs. In turn, the school benefits as a result of the activities, which are planned in hopes that students will be invigorated with enthusiasm for learning, passion for art, and commitment to accomplishment.

Cook Arts Center Interns

The Cook Arts Center is lucky to have four wonderful interns with us this summer. Each is either a recent high school graduate or is in their final years of high school.

The interns help with a little bit of everything! Anything from groundskeeping to assisting in art classes - we keep them busy! By interning with us, they are able to get a well-rounded perspective of everything that needs to happen in a non-profit arts organization to keep it ticking along from day to day.

Thanks Juan, Felecia, Cindy and Andrea for all of your help! We're so glad to have you!

Juan works on prepping some canvases for an art class.

Andrea staffs the front desk. Answering phone-calls and entering class data.

Cindy and Felicia make some project samples for a visual art class.

Dia del Sol Story on Amway One by One

Check out the write up about Dia del Sol by board member Debb Kalmbach at Amway's One by One Blog HERE. Thanks, Amway, for all that you do for GAAH!

Campus Elementary visits the Cook Arts Center

This is the 5th year that 1st grade students from Campus Elementary have visited the Arts Center for a special field trip. The workshop is made possible through the support of a tutoring group from Grace Episcopal Church. Throughout the year, tutors and their students work together on reading and homework and in the spring the tutoring group treats two first grade classrooms to a special event at the Arts Center. This year's workshops in art and dance focused on the book, "Bats at the Library" by Brian Lies. The students had read the book before coming to the Arts Center. The art and dance classes incorporated the theme of the book and had them creating pastel watercolor paintings with bat silhouettes as well as running and "flying" like bats in the dance studio. The students were in for yet another special surprise because after the workshops they each received their own copy of the "Bats at the Library" book.

Notes from the Intern: Gardening & Cooking Club

Last Thursday I had the opportunity to join the Gardening and Cooking class at the Cook Arts Center. The class works with Mixed Greens, which is an organization that works to bring kids back in touch with the outdoors. Mr. Nick was the teacher of the day and he had a great activity planned for them that included an unlikely star…rhubarb.

He first wowed the group by saying that the leafy part of rhubarb is poisonous, and then handed each child a stalk. With awe, they held on to their powerful, but unassuming plants. After removing the leafy part, the kids were then able to chop up their stalk into smaller pieces (with a dull knife, of course!) Then, on the count of three, the kids were all able to pop a piece of raw rhubarb into their mouths. “Mmmm” and “ewww” erupted from all sides. Personally, I was surprised at how much rhubarb tasted like sour candy when it was raw, although some of the “eww" kids disagreed.

Nick then had the kids stand around the griddle and pour the rhubarb in. As it sizzled in the butter, kids were able to pour different ingredients in. As it cooked, some of the kids that were able to tear their eyes away from the rhubarb colored a picture of rhubarb.

As they colored, Mr. Nick put a secret ingredient into cups that left many guesses floating in the air. As the coloring slowed down, Mr. Nick called for attention and began to pour the rhubarb sauce over the special ingredient. He then handed it out to everyone and on the count of three everyone tasted it. Ice cream and rhubarb! Almost all of us agreed that the sweet and sour taste was delicious.

It was fun for the kids (and me!) to see within a half hour the transformation that the rhubarb went through. The best part was that at the end of class, each kid was able to go out to our garden and pick two stalks of rhubarb for themselves to take home.

* Shelly is a senior at Calvin College majoring in English and Studio Art. She shares her experiences interning at the Cook Arts Center on this blog once a week. **

Amway Volunteer Day

The Cook Arts Center has never looked better! For six hours last Friday, seven Amway employees from the Personal Care section of the Access Business Group painted, weeded, painted, mulched, and painted some more. A big thanks to Jay Heydenburg, Lisa Eddy, Darrell Mattick, Bruce Neely, Scot Rich, Mike Schwartz, and Sue Sweany for making us look so good. This work day was part of Amway's One by One Campaign for Children.

Amway has been a faithful community partner of ours for more than a decade, and both the Arts Center and the Library have benefited from their generous support. Thank you, Amway, for making a difference in the lives of the children of the Grandville Avenue neighborhood.

The Little Read!

The Cook Library Center was pleased to host one of the Grand Rapids Public Library's Little Read events yesterday afternoon.

Students were encouraged to read the book The Malted Falcon by Bruce Hale...

"He's everyone's favorite elementary-school detective and lizard of mystery. Now Chet Gecko is in Grand Rapids and on the case."

At the Little Read, students were able to meet Chet in person, see real lizards and geckos from John Ball Zoo, make your own detective hats and enjoy some interesting snacks that only a gecko could love.

Check out the photos... thanks to GRPL and John Ball Zoo!