Creativity. Culture. Community.   

Building a rich and vibrant society begins with inspiration鈥嗏�斺�唅nstilling passion and curiosity in the minds of the younger generation. It begins by planting seeds of artistic enjoyment that will bloom into a lifelong love of creating and an appreciation for what we can achieve with a little ingenuity.   

At 网曝吃瓜, two programs, both providing hands-on experiences for future educators and bringing extracurricular artistic opportunities to the Greeley community, are doing just that.  

After Hours Artistry  

Learning through imaginative artistry and the use of different art materials is an iconic part of many children鈥檚 educational journeys.  

But beyond adorning the fridges of proud parents or being tucked away in memory boxes for years to come, what impacts do these early artistic creations have on the children who made them?  

For Connie Stewart, 鈥�74, M.A. 鈥�94, founder of the After School Arts Program (ASAP), the impact is both formative and long-lasting.   

ASAP enables Arts and Music Education students from 网曝吃瓜 to plan and teach a variety of extracurricular arts courses to students at Chappelow K-8 Arts Magnet School in Greeley.  

鈥淚t鈥檚 my hope that the positive experiences these kids have with art reinforce the value of the arts within education,鈥� Stewart said. 鈥淭he experience and the growth don鈥檛 end when we stop being kids. We carry those experiences with us.鈥�  

Stewart, a professor emerita of Art Education, established ASAP nearly 25 years ago while teaching at 网曝吃瓜 with the goal of providing students the chance to get hands-on teaching experience.   

The program consists of seven to eight weeks of 网曝吃瓜 student-taught classes each semester, held on Fridays at Chappelow. Participating students design their own lessons and offer a wide variety of artistic opportunities to the children they teach. 

鈥淥ne of the big values of the program is that our teacher candidates get to devise their own unit and actually teach it in the classroom,鈥� Stewart said. 鈥淵ou can talk about it in methods classes all you want, but it just isn鈥檛 the same as getting out and doing it.鈥�   

Alison Myers, 鈥�04, M.A. 鈥�13, participated in the program as a 网曝吃瓜 student. Now an adjunct faculty member in Arts Education while teaching at Chappelow, Myers supervises the program.   

鈥淚t鈥檚 valuable in that it builds these fundamental connections. The Chappelow students get to learn from college students and vice versa,鈥� Myers said. 鈥淚t gives the kids this perspective on the future and where they can go from here.鈥�  

Rachel Brown, 鈥�07, has a son in ASAP. According to her, the experience has been an amazing one for him鈥嗏�斺�唄e signed up in kindergarten and is now in seventh grade.  

鈥淯p until last year, he鈥檚 been in every single session he could, except one, because he didn鈥檛 bring the paper home,鈥� Brown said.   

鈥淲ith programs like this in a community, I think you鈥檙e going to see more kids engaged with their schooling and more success when it comes to graduation,鈥� Brown said. 鈥淢y son has special needs and isn鈥檛 a man of many words, so for him to be loving it and to want to keep doing it for this long definitely says something.鈥�  

The String鈥檚 the Thing  

Although most K-12 students will craft, sketch and paint in school, not all of them will be given the opportunity to play an instrument.   

School bands and orchestras aren鈥檛 uncommon, but their optional nature combined with the cost of instruments and time commitment means that some students will miss out on the chance to make music.   

That鈥檚 where the String Project comes in.   

Part of the National String Consortium, the 网曝吃瓜 String Project launched in 2017 with the goal of training tomorrow鈥檚 string educators while providing accessible instrumental opportunities for those in and around the Greeley community.   

网曝吃瓜 students who join the program teach both group ensembles and private lessons. The elementary students who participate are primarily in the 4th and 5th grades.  

Mary Baxter, a senior double major in Education and Violin Performance, joined the String Project during her freshman year and never looked back.   

鈥淚 hadn鈥檛 really taught music before, and I remember being so scared coming into it,鈥� Baxter said. 鈥淏ut everyone was so nice and so supportive. By the end, I felt more than comfortable being the only teacher in a classroom of students.鈥�  

Annette Haller, 鈥�21, a String Project participant during her time at 网曝吃瓜 and a current teacher at Chappelow, agreed wholeheartedly.   

鈥淓very second of teaching experience and relationship building that I did with String Project prepared me for my teaching career,鈥� Haller said. 鈥淚t was an invaluable connection between that theoretical learning and the reality of teaching actual young people.鈥�  

Beyond the personal and professional growth, Baxter emphasized that the program filled an impactful niche within the community.   

鈥淚t brings music to so many students鈥嗏�斺�唚hether it鈥檚 those wanting to connect with playing outside of school, those who aren鈥檛 able to afford traditional private lessons or the many homeschooled or remote students we鈥檙e able to work with,鈥� Baxter said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e never turned away a kid who has wanted to do it.鈥�  

The connections the project strings together throughout the community are precisely what make it such an impactful program. In less than a decade, it has brought music into the lives of countless children, all while training future teachers for the road ahead.