School Programs Report 2021–2022

This was another stormy year for students and educators. Through the many ups and downs of a third pandemic school year, the Skirball never wavered in our commitment to creating a safe harbor for students and educators. As we look back on that journey, we find we have stron ger partnerships with teachers and deeper relationships with students. We see now that all those storm clouds also had … a silver lining.

The most valuable lesson we learned this year was how much more impact we have when we build our curriculum in collaboration with the community we serve. We made direct communication with teachers and students a priority throughout the transition back to inperson instruction and field trips. This allowed us to calibrate our school programs to address students’ most pressing social-emotional needs.

The results speak for themselves. More students were part of our school program community this year than ever before.

We kept virtual classroom resources available even as we brought field trips back in-person, because that’s what teachers told us they wanted.

We focused on fun, flexible, immersive storytelling designed to strengthen student resilience, because that’s what students needed most this year.

And when we heard how social isolation and stress were impacting learning, we invested in our most intensive interventions: school-site residencies. These residencies have produced an extraordinary change in student learning and engagement, we hope to continue to grow this model to yet more schools next year.

Ongoing partnership with 10 front-line teachers fostered vital connections to the classroom

Back to School!

Hundreds of thousands of youngsters have gone aboard our Noah’s Ark exhibition since it set sail in 2007, and 100,000 more have visited its virtual counterpart, Noah’s Ark at the Skirball: The Art of Imagination, since it launched in January 2021.

The Art of Imagination was our first online curriculum, so it was especially meaningful when The California Association of Museums honored us with the 2021 Superintendent’s Award for Excellence in Museum Education.

When the in-person exhibition reopened in March 2022, strict health protocols, in cluding masks, did nothing to dampen the excitement of our visitors. Having made it through the deluge of a pandemic, the schoolchildren claimed bragging rights as resilient mini-Noahs.

They relished spending extra time outdoors in a new garden with kaleidoscopic sunlight and in a breezy amphitheater echoing with live music and stories.

Inside, young visitors felt the joy of safeguard ing others as they snuggled with handcrafted animals in a new nursery. New woolly storm clouds rumbling with thunder and flashes of lightning provided another kind of sensory experience.

Our Archaeology Dig welcomed back sixthgraders, who delighted in warm sands slipping through their fingers in search of artifacts. Visitors to the Dig and Noah’s Ark adhered to safety protocols without a single case of Covid transmission reported.

Our campus is once again the unparalleled destination for immersive education and wideeyed wonder. In the spirit of Noah: l’chaim.

“I learned how things from the past carry through to the present— the old oil lamp is like the flashlight on my phone!”

—Eric, sixth-grader, Grant Elementary School, Hollywood

—Dolly Sanders, teacher, Grant Elementary School, Hollywood

“The Skirball gets how young brains fed on technology are wired. They use storytelling—look at the kids leaning in! You gotta love this place.”

“I saw a lot of growth in my students’ creativity. Now many of them can independently create something— their confidence grew. ”

—Sarah Zia, teacher, Lassen Elementary School, North Hills

“Learning about wildlife and native plants changed my life.”

—Alex, fifth-grader, Stonehurst STEAM Magnet School, Sun Valley

To Dwell in Community

The centerpiece of this year was our residency program, which enabled students to repair the world—starting at their own school.

Over five weeks, the Skirball’s full-time educa tors, Danielle Groak and Carmen Velasquez, met with young learners, culminating in an ambitious project meant to develop commu nity leadership. Each week they examined a different lesson, including community council and collective action, from the virtual Noah’s Ark curriculum.

We held the program at three Los Angeles County public elementary schools, with our educators taking into account cultural, lan guage and learning differences as students discovered the joy and impact of leadership. The projects featured visual arts, storytelling and a theme of Build a Better World.

Grade-schoolers at Stonehurst STEAM Magnet School in Sun Valley yearned to see something blossom after a dreary pandemic season. We followed their lead, helping them plant a garden of low-water succulents.

Second-graders at Suva Elementary in Bell Gardens put down virtual roots through words and drawings about lush greenery. It was a vital lesson in using imagination for self-advocacy.

In North Hills, Lassen Elementary students showed how individual actions can make a big impact by connecting small drawings to form a mural depicting youth-led change. They went on to clean up the playground, and motivated younger schoolmates using sock puppets to help keep campus clean.

Working together in real life—or, as the kids say, IRL—had a profound impact on their well-being and education. We will continue to dwell in community, a foundational Jewish belief, helping young people become the change they wish to see.

“I felt really excited to learn. I learned that I need to have a big heart and care for people that need it.”

—Julianna, second-grader, Suva Elementary School, Bell Gardens

What Do You Carry with You?

This was the question that we asked students to ponder in a brand-new virtual curriculum based on our core exhibition Visions and Values: Jewish Life from Antiquity to America, which explores the central Judaic tenet that every person has value and must be treated with kindness.

We invited teachers to free Visions and Values curriculum training and creative workshops, where we shared how to use storytelling and examples of common cultural experiences, like food and textiles, to stitch together family histories.

The virtual curriculum includes the family history of Reva Nebrat, a young Jewish girl who fled Russian pogroms and immigrated to the United States in 1920. Reva’s story lives on through her niece, Paulette Nebrat Greenberg, one of the Skirball’s very first docents, and was brought to life in the virtual curriculum by current docent Fran Kubrin.

Reva’s story reflects the challenges and brav ery in refugee and immigrant journeys, and encourages listeners to harvest the courage and pride in their own family tree.

Our docents’ role in carrying these stories forward to the next generation reflects the Skirball’s belief in the power of intergenerational exchange and the value of honoring memory.

“The workshops helped me integrate creativity into the curriculum—you even hand-delivered the materials. Thank you for helping me be a better educator.”

—Martha Cervantes, teacher, Suva Elementary School, Bell Gardens

“Every one of my kids included the Skirball in their culmination speech. They call you their Skirball family—you’re mine too.”

—Shannon Garrison, teacher, Stonehurst STEAM Magnet School, Sun Valley

Your support carried our programs to more students than ever.

We heard from teachers that our lessons were lifesavers for many children overwhelmed by loneliness.

Thank you for bringing Jewish stories and cross-cultural connection to so many school children and teachers throughout this tran sitional year.

The Roslyn and Abner Goldstine School Programs at the Skirball Cultural Center are made possible by generous support from:

The Herb Alpert Foundation

Attias Family Foundation

Howard Banchik

The Capital Group Companies

Joan and Jerry Doren

Evelyn and Norman Feintech Family Foundation

The Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation

The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation

John and Marcia Goldman Foundation

Roslyn and Abner Goldstine Hellman Foundation

Myna and Uri Herscher Family Foundation

Mark Hughes Foundation

Marcia Israel Foundation

Marlene Louchheim

Melanie and Richard Lundquist

Ralph M. Parsons Foundation Resnick Foundation

Specialty Family Foundation

Steinmetz Foundation

Dwight Stuart Youth Fund

Flora L. Thornton Foundation

Philip and Alyce de Toledo Fund

Winnick Family Foundation

Boyle Heights artist Stephanie Mercado illus trated heirlooms and artifacts carried over centuries and bor ders to bring Reva’s story and the Visions and Values virtual curriculum to life.

Onward!

Another silver lining: the lessons we learned this year will continue to enhance our school programs.

We will continue to expand online lessons now that hybrid education—a mix of live and virtual—is here to stay.

We will continue to offer more tours of Noah’s Ark, the Archaeology Dig and special exhibi tions, which always sell out in days!

We will continue to engage schoolchildren of all abilities in academic and social development.

We will continue to support teachers with new curricula, professional training and live events. We will continue to innovate with visual arts and storytelling to meet educational needs within local communities.

We will continue to establish new learn ing opportunities. Even this school report provided a chance for a young writer, Eva Ortega, editor-in-chief of the newspaper at Pasadena City College, to sharpen her skills as a member of our editorial team. We wish Eva well as she continues her studies.

“I’m excited to see more students soaring like birds from Noah’s Ark, and discovering connections between the past and present at the Dig.”

—Rachel Stark, Vice President of Education and Family Programs

Text by Joan Harrison and Eva Ortega; design by Vesna Petrović; illustration by Stephanie Mercado; and photography by Lindsey Best, Mercie Ghimire, Timothy Norris, Halline Overby and Maria Romero.

2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90049 (310) 440-4500 skirball.org

OUR MISSION

The Skirball Cultural Center is a place of meeting guided by the Jewish tradition of welcoming the stranger and inspired by the American democratic ideals of freedom and equality. We welcome people of all communities and generations to participate in cultural experiences that celebrate discovery and hope, foster human connections, and call upon us to help build a more just society.

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