photos from the 6th annual summer meltdown
- Proposed Project/Goals and Objectives.
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- This project is in the Priority Focus Area of the Arts. While there are several performing arts venues in Santa Clarita, there is less focus on performances that appeal to teens. This project will fill the void by providing a live music event for teens. In addition, this project has an even more important purpose: using a music concert as an opportunity to provide community connection for at-risk students who are marginalized from the teen social scene, and promote social inclusion with their peer group. This project focuses on what teens have in common- love of music- to create a recreational arts experience that can be shared. The target population for the grant is the students with disabilities and their mentor students of the Yes I Can Programs at Golden Valley High School, Canyon High School, Saugus High School, West Ranch High School, Rio Norte Jr High School, and La Mesa Jr. High School,who will organize the event, and their peers in the district who will attend the concert. Supervised by the teacher and staff, the high school students with disabilities and their peer mentors will plan and put on a concert with national talent that appeals to teenagers. The event will be advertised to students in the William S. Hart Union High School District, and then the general public. The goal of this project is to hold a music concert that appeals to teenagers while at the same time creating a forum for social integration of the student population. With adult supervision, the student organizers will find research and vote on bands to play the event, locate a venue, advertise the event, sell tickets and hold the concert. Students will derive benefit from the execution of each step of the plan as well as the enjoyment of music. This program is unique and innovative because it seeks to use the arts as a forum to remove invisible barriers and create social connection. While many teens take it for granted that they could enjoy music together, many students with disabilities live on the “social outskirts.” Teens on campus are sometimes honest enough to admit they think that kids in special education are “not cool.” Peers think they do not have anything in common with teens with disabilities, and seldom make the effort to get to know and appreciate them. This project focuses on what teens have in common to create a recreational arts experience that can be shared. The project also builds interpersonal social skills for working together with a diverse group of people, and practical life skills needed for planning a large event.
- Community Need and Benefit.
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- Teenagers in the Santa Clarita Valley are very focused on the arts and music, and unfortunately there are very few safe venues for them to play at, or attend. This concert will provide them with both; local bands will have the opportunity to play along side national acts, and it will be a safe place for all of Santa Clarita to attend. The benefit to the community is a musical event that teens will appreciate and enjoy together, with social underpinnings that they might not initially recognize. Concert attendees will appreciate the Yes I Can program, realizing that special education students enrolled in the class can throw a concert of the same caliber as the professionals. The community will be made aware of the concert by flyers and posters as well as commercials to air at the junior high and high schools in the William S. Hart Union High School District. The concert will be marketed towards the youth of the Santa Clarita Valley, with the benefit of attending a concert in their home town. The benefit to the Yes I Can students working together to put the concert on will be social connection and social acceptance, greater self-esteem and feelings of self-worth, along with practical life skills of planning, organizing, budgeting and teamwork. Non-disabled teens will have the opportunity to understand and value the contributions of the students with disabilities and include them in this social musical event.
- Future Funding to Sustain Program/Matches.
- An admittance fee will be charged to enter the concert, funds from ticket sales and concession sales will carry-over into future years as a source of funding. When the goals of the program are accomplished and the efforts of the students are publicized, private or corporate donors in the community who wish to support future arts events for teens that promote social inclusion will be attracted to fund future projects.
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- Organization’s Background.
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- The William S. Hart Union High School District serves approximately 28,000 young people in our city. About 20% of the students have some type of disability. The District has given special attention to efforts to support social inclusion of at-risk students with disabilities who are socially marginalized by instituting the Yes I Can Program for Social and Recreational Inclusion. Developed by the University of Minnesota as a federal model program, Yes I Can was started in the Hart District with the help of the City in 1999 as a pilotprogram. The program is now in place in seven District sites, and will continue to expand. Implementation, program enhancements and innovations in Santa Clarita are considered a model for the state of California and the nation. Focusing on what teens enjoy and have in common to promote inclusion is a key to success. The Yes I Can class at Golden Valley High School is currently organizing their sixth concert during the 2008-2009 school year. However, because there is no established financial backing, the group’s focus has had to be on generating the needed funds rather than the integrated social aspects of the planning process. This year’s experience will provide learning opportunities that will contribute to the success of planning for next year’s concert. Having grant funding for the 2008-2009 project, the focus can shift to promote the optimal social goals of integration through the shared enjoyment of music.
- Evaluation Method. Student committee will conduct a pre- and post- concert survey of teen attitudes about inclusion and disability issues. Student committee will conduct a post-concert survey at the seven district Yes I Can sites to evaluate student enjoyment. Adult supervisors/teachers will report observations and findings regarding goals and objectives and the effects on individual committee members and the organization committee as a whole. Individual students will write reflective essays describing the personal benefit derived from the experience.
