Discovering Creativity

After assisting students with their homework, the Lehigh tutors who volunteer in after-school homework clubs for South Bethlehem children often struggle with what to do next.

"There aren't very many options and [students] often don't enjoy being forced to do something. So it would be nice for them to have something more enjoyable to do," says Helen Ard '17.

Ard and four other undergraduates—Kaylee Kilgore '17, Do Hee Kim '16, Samantha Mahabir '16 and Brianna Ruggiero '18—participated in a Mountaintop project to address that problem. Students immersed themselves in a wide range of artistic experiences and used the activities to develop a portfolio of arts-based resources intended to better engage students.

Silagh White, director of Arts Engagement and Community Relations; George White, professor of Educational Leadership, and Jon Drescher, professor of practice in Educational Leadership and director of the Urban Principals Academy at Lehigh (U*PAL), mentored the team.

Basing their research loosely on the Zoellner Arts Center's performance schedule, the team worked with two Muhlenberg College students to learn circus arts. They interacted with a dancer, a puppeteer and the Touchstone Theatre's summer program. The group also joined U*PAL as they partnered with the Maxine Greene Center for Aesthetic Education and Social Imagination in New York City, spending a day at Lincoln Center with its famed jazz ensemble to learn about leading and following, and another at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, discovering the art of observation. Students then created a collection of resources and activities based on their experiences and tested them with students in Donegan Elementary School's summer learning program. More inspired tutoring shouldn't be far behind.