A recent editorial in the PJStar Forum, which spoke to how wonderful the March 18, Trewyn Middle School Fine Arts Night was, got me to thinking about how you seldom ever hear good news reports about what is going on in our schools.
Unfortunately D150 missed another opportunity to illustrate the "good things" that we keep hearing about happening in the schools. This was an opportunity for free advertising. A simple p.r. effort to showcase a school that is constantly reported on as being "troubled", would have been worth the time for Trewyn's image. I think the media would be interested in showing the positive side of schools, but first somebody has to notify them.
These special events at schools are a chance to sell the District to citizens. The editorial, by Jim Bateman of Community Builders, described the event like this:
Unfortunately D150 missed another opportunity to illustrate the "good things" that we keep hearing about happening in the schools. This was an opportunity for free advertising. A simple p.r. effort to showcase a school that is constantly reported on as being "troubled", would have been worth the time for Trewyn's image. I think the media would be interested in showing the positive side of schools, but first somebody has to notify them.
These special events at schools are a chance to sell the District to citizens. The editorial, by Jim Bateman of Community Builders, described the event like this:
"Trewyn's Fine Arts Night was the culmination of a nine-week after-school and Saturday-morning pilot arts program sponsored by a grant received by Community Builders Foundation from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, and the Community Foundation of Illinois. Thanks to the outreach of ArtsPartners, the students were led in their endeavors by Susie Somerville Brown and Matthew Garrett, both excellent artists, who willingly volunteered their time and talents to bring the arts to students at Trewyn.
The amazing thing is that the whole thing was done on a small budget - just money for supplies. The unpaid volunteers were all professionals in either art or theater. They loved working with the students, and it showed."
The fine art exhibit was a wonderful example of collaboration between the school and community volunteers. This is the type of community involvement that is going to make the difference in D150 - we need to shine a light on it whenever possible.