avalon students wear a new hat

 

On March 2, 2013 thirty Avalon Continuation High School students and teachers boarded the local dash public bus and made their way across town to Hawaiian Elementary School to participate in Read Across America’s annual reading awareness program. Through a day to celebrate the birthday of beloved children's author Dr. Seuss, students and community members had an opportunity to experience the powerful impact of service on individual students and a community. While about half the students had never been to Hawaiian Elementary, many of the others were eager to return to the school they had matriculated from and their younger siblings were now attending. Leaving behind their school books and cell phones, each Avalon high school student carried their favorite Dr. Seuss book they would soon have the opportunity to share with a classroom of their own. The students had been practicing reading the books aloud in preparation for the big day and for some the nervousness of the task at hand was visible as they flipped through the brightly colored books as they waited for the bus to arrive. As the bus moved through the Wilmington community a few students looked up to point out their favorite fast food restaurant or the street they avoid to stay out of trouble and away from gang violence. The conversations while lively were limited by the glares from other student using the commute time to look through the pages of their books.

When the group arrived at the school the office manager greeted the principal and students with a smile and led them to the library where they were offered breakfast and hand-stitched Cat and The Hat hats to wear during the reading. The Avalon students filled the library and sat politely on the tiny chairs as they were provided with nametags and room assignments. Each student placed on their red and white top hat and made their way to their classroom. While one student read to a special needs class of students, another read to fifth graders. The fifth graders excitedly raised their hands after the story to ask their reader a 17-year old questions like, “ Is high school hard?” and “ Have you ever been bullied”. When the high school student reassembled in the library many of them expressed a sense of pride, some discussed wanting to work as teachers in the future and another group of males talked about how being a parent is difficult especially in high school. The high school students arrived back at their school just two short hours later and quietly returned to the classes taking place without them. While to the elementary students and the passing community members they were role models and heroes, back in the gate of their high school they were just regular students again. One student explained, “…this was the highlight of my year”. 

year-round yda - a resounding success

post created by Shannell McMillan, Program Director

As the semester closes for our year-round YDA programming at Avalon Continuation High School we are celebrating the success of many who have graduated over the past 4 months.  With program partners like Derrick Engoy offering a college level creative writing course, he not only helped the students recover their "creative selves" but also assisted them in earning the much needed english credits towards their graduation.  

The students, under the caring guidance of new principal, Dr. Monica Fiello, seem to be transforming into a community of self motivated, community minded, laser focused individuals with their sights set on a post high school education and a desire to come back and serve along side fellow Avalon students at Sharefest's 10th Annual Workday, Saturday, May 4, 2013.

Year Round YDA is a collaborative effort with the teachers, administrators and the LCSW Ms. Lamb who provide the students with a holistic approach to education and personal development.  

In a recent letter shared by one of the students written to a teacher, the student shared the tremendous impact the staff has made on her life.  She shared that Avalon isn't just a high school, it is a community and the teachers have become "family" to her.  

Very few people get the privilege to see behind the scenes at a continuation high school. The students are dynamic, energetic, multi-faceted and uniquely gifted which requires a lot from the teachers who instruct them.  I am profoundly moved by the personal commitment, tenacity and dedication of the staff and our program partners at Avalon to find creative ways to keep the students engaged and learning as they move through their high school careers.

Thank you to all the Sharefest corporate sponsors who partner with us in providing this unique experience for the students of our Year Round YDA here at Avalon High School.  Your investment makes a immeasureable difference in the lives of these youth, their families and their futures.

The Creative Collision

By Derrick Engoy

Q: What happens when creative writing collides with the community?

A: A beautiful explosion that rains down the amalgamation of teenaged minds and words onto the doorsteps of creative recovery.

When the opportunity to teach creative writing to the wonderful teens of Avalon High School came knocking, I didn't hesitate to swing the door wide open. I jumped at the chance to unleash on their curious minds the creative literary tools that I accumulated throughout my learning years (to some degree, I’m still learning). I excitedly dove into my writing toolbox to conceptualize what the journey could look like for them. And, because it has always been my dream to offer creative writing classes for the community, seeing my desires come to fruition has left me elated since we began a few weeks back.

The journey, I imagine, has yet to even begin.

I’m a firm believer that creative writing is more than just delicately dotting “I’s” and collaboratively crossing “T’s”. It’s more than properly perfecting verb and noun agreements. It goes beyond fusing comma spliced sentences. And it dives a little deeper than conjugating words to convey proper mood. Creative writing is a holistic endeavor. And, in this endeavor toward harnessing our creative side, the journey actually dives into a rediscovery of what once was lost. I operate under the conviction that we were all once more creative than we are. The fact that we were created by something or someone leads me to believe that we possess hints of creativity. Unfortunately, through the course of life and our maturation toward adulthood, our creativeness has subsided into the depth of our own black holes and simply hibernates until we wake it up.

Our goal then is to awaken our creative beasts.

This is the journey of our class. This, in essence, is the journey of our lives. It’s a rediscovery of what was once lost. And through various writing exercises and self-discovery tools, the students at Avalon High School are on a journey to explore their “artistic child.” It’s only been a few weeks since the students began their trek to unearth their dormant creative selves from the gravels of conformity, but they’ve already shoveled past the surface and have met hints of creativity with excited surprise.

“Someone told me she thought it’d be a regular boring class,” one student said of another student’s comments.

It’s this kind of enthusiasm that propels me to provide an environment for creative rediscovery to happen. It’s this kind of eagerness that encourages me to assist them in their desire to be more creative. It’s this kind of unexpected realization that creative writing isn’t as mundane as they initially assumed that invigorates me to excitedly come alongside them in their discovery.

I’m looking forward to seeing these students journey deeper into themselves and extracting more artistry. I’m looking forward to the rest of the semester and enter their worlds of poetry, prose, short stories. And, perhaps, joining the students on their revelatory path will help to unearth more creativity that’s still dormant in me.

Looking Back to Move Forward

As Avalon students embark on their final mural projects of the scholastic year, one particular student is enthusiastic about completing the Hawaiian Avenue Elementary School piece.

Valeria Torres has spent her life in and around Wilmington and the Harbor Area. Some of her fondest memories revolve around the fun and innocent times she had at Hawaiian Avenue on the West side of Wilmington. She was obviously one of the first students to volunteer, then, to go to Hawaiian and provide a colorful mural as part of the Murals for Motivation class. I could see her reminiscing about her time at the elementary school the minute she stepped onto the small campus, and it was a heartwarming moment to witness.

Valeria started off thinking that the murals class was going to be like any other class at Avalon – a mandatory way to catch up on credits and raise her class status. As time progressed, however, she began to see that with each change made to a wall at our worksites, came a changeValeria mixing paint for herself and other students on the worksite. in her outlook on the class. While she does admit that murals are hard work, she also confides that they are a fun (and legal!) way of sharing her artistic talent with her community.

Along with excitement for the class, Valeria has acquired an appreciation for what community service can be. She no longer sees community service as merely a way to deal with court appointed punishments; it has transformed into a way for her to give back to the children in her community, at her alma mater, who look up to the cool high school students coming onto their campuses each week to paint them a special work of art. She hopes to provide a mural for Hawaiian that instills pride in students, and hopes that these younger kids will pay forward the community outreach that they see the Avalon students completing on their campuses.

 Avalon students posing after a hard day’s work.

Rosie Parra // YDA Tutor

New Perspectives Through Murals for Motivation at Gulf Avenue Elementary

Great partnerships have always yielded great results. There are some partnerships that are always a winning combination, like chocolate and anything it’s paired with. One of these winning combos comes in the form of Sharefest and State Farm. Together, they have made it possible for “at-risk” students of Avalon Continuation High School to provide their community with works of art that are inspirational to everyone.

Since the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year, students have been teaming up with local artists to visit elementary school campuses in the Wilmington area, plan a relevant work of art, and execute it with aesthetic appeal – all while learning artistic techniques that they can benefit from in their personal and professional lives.

The largest project so far has been a huge two-bungalow classroom sized mural at Gulf Avenue Elementary, on the west side of Wilmington. A handful of Avalon students got together with L.A artist, Arnaud Damasceno, and dreamed up a fantastic, inventive, and encouragingly literate mural for the younger kids at Gulf to enjoy. In about 3 months, students were able to help Arnaud transform the classrooms into a (much) larger than life bookshelf, complete with book ends, some classic stories, and Dr. Seuss’ Lorax – certainly a topical addition because of the film hitting theaters soon.

Many students were enthusiastic about the project from the beginning, perhaps not realizing how much hard work it would require and instead focusing on the delicious pizza they would be eating at the end of each session. They soldiered through the job, however, and by the end of the Fall semester had almost completed the mural. Perhaps the most enthusiastic student was a young man by the name of Elvis. He certainly ended up being king of the murals class. In a short interview with Elvis, he told me that he “didn’t think it would be as laborious, but [his] appreciation for murals was strengthened after so much work on this Gulf mural.” The students weren’t the only people learning, however, when it came to the class.

Although Arnaud was the instructor for the murals class, he ended up learning a few things from the Avalon High students as well. Specifically, Arnaud said he learned to be patient when it came to showing the students how to create, and he learned how to effectively employ collaboration in order to complete different parts of the project simultaneously. The experience is certainly one that I enjoyed being a part of, and I feel I learned the incredible sense of community achieved from creating together; after all, quite a few people will be able to view the art piece.

The mural is definitely in a prominent part of the elementary school’s campus, which means our work of art will be showcased to the surrounding neighborhood. I know the Avalon students feel a sense of pride when reminded that it is their project that is helping to beautify the school, unite the student body and surrounding community, and provide a source of inspiration for the students who grace Gulf Avenue’s campus. Hopefully, years from now when the students are casually walking or driving by the school, their work will still be on display and they can point out to people just how much hard work went into this beautiful, inspirational masterpiece.

 Click here for more photos >>

Written by Rosie Parra // YDA Tutor