Faith in the (Drawing) Process: Cultural Arts at Unleashing Potential
Program: Enrichment Camps
Faith’s dream is to be a famous artist. She is very talented at drawing, and particularly enjoys painting.
In Unleashing Potential’s summer enrichment program at Church of the Master, the leaders have helped her find her voice in that. This summer, the focus at Church of the Master has tended toward STEAM – science, technology, engineering, cultural arts and math. Faith has enjoyed those activities, and she’s especially loved the hands-on activities.
“The teachers really support what I do,” she said.
Unleashing Potential’s leaders incorporate the children’s interests into their curriculum. At the heart of the summer enrichment program, the leaders want to give children exposure to new concepts and possible future career paths, so the children can apply themselves toward their own dreams. It’s not just about planting seeds toward a specific subject. Rather, the leaders want to leave impressions, encourage the children to think and communicate more effectively, and, above all, have fun.
So, when they noticed Faith always drawing during class, they thought of ways to lean in. Through our partnership with St. Louis Christmas Carols Association, we secured a generous donation toward art supplies.
“I was like ‘Oh my gosh, that’s a lot of art supplies,’” Faith said.
Faith took full advantage. In fact, she found out that it was the birthday of one leader she’d particularly connected with, and she drew a portrait of that leader to give as a birthday present.
“She is really good at drawing,” the leader said. “She gave me a picture of myself for my birthday, and it was really sweet.”
Findings from longitudinal studies demonstrate that arts education leads to more schooling and higher incomes (National Endowment for the Arts). Yet many African American and Hispanic students lack access to quality arts education compared to their White peers (US Department of Education, 2018). Our program at Unleashing Potential has enabled students like Faith to let their imaginations lead them to be anything they dream to be.
Faith still has a long way to go to become a famous artist, but hopefully this summer has helped to inch her trajectory in that direction!
*Actual student/name has been changed to protect child’s identity
