“Meet a new friend at school, make conversation with the customer behind you at the grocery store, or approach acquaintances in your community and often times conversations begin with “how are you?” followed by a lingering silence. However, throughout the two weeks I spent at YYGS, rather than trying to come up with conversation starters, conversations led themselves. “Where are you from?” could easily flow into a discussion of culture, politics, food, or a plethora of fun facts that even the internet couldn’t provide.”
This past summer, I had the opportunity to teach science through the arts to underserved students who have access to a strong arts program but lack exposure to the sciences. While pitching my idea to the school, the director of the school was beyond grateful for the program we intended to bring because they had fulfilled all of their needs for arts activities but had difficulty finding any STEAM program.
Over the span of three weeks, we taught 12 different science lessons through an arts lens. I was able to see the difference between children who grew up with exposure to the sciences and arts compared with those who did not. These elementary school students grew dramatically over the short time, and I knew that given the necessary education, they would be able to succeed in whatever field they want to.