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COMMUNITY
GILBERT SUN NEWS | DECEMBER 26, 2021
Project Lit helps students find their voices ike a cool, updated, youth-oriented version of Toastmasters, Mesa Arts Center’s educational outreach program, Project Lit, combines poetry and performance to promote literacy. Working through afterschool Poetry Clubs in ten junior high and high schools valley-wide, Project Lit currently helps 143 students to express themselves effectively and develop essential leadership skills. They meet weekly and work with mentors and teachers on projects. Sometimes they even incorporate some hip-hop movement. During a recent workshop at Poston Junior High, the students, under the guidance of performance mentor TJ, experimented with the way that emphasizing different words in a sentence can completely change its meaning. They then practiced reading poems they had written, varying tone and energy
as well, and critiquing each other’s performance for the different attitudes and intentions expressed in the variations. The practice was timely, as they prepared for the annual Unity Festival held earlier this month. It was the first event of the year that would brought students from all of the participating schools together for a poetry slam. Although performance was not mandatory, several students expressed a desire to read their poetry or at least attend. Unlike Toastmaster, there is no required public speaking component to the club. “We try to make it as fun as possible. We try to make it so they are learning these skills through repetition, and practice and just normal engagement,” explained Program Manager Tomas Stanton, who has been with Project Lit since its inception 10 years ago. “Eventually, they get comfortable enough to say, ‘Ok, I want to do this.’ “The goal is that [each student] finds their unique voice and learns what it takes to manage the responsibility of
having that voice amplified for the world to witness,” he continued. Project Lit is less about creating professional poets or writers, although this is obviously a path for them to develop those skills,” he said. “For us, it’s more about creating well-rounded young leaders; to give them a space to develop social and emotional learning; to learn how to engage in critical thinking and critical conversation.” Calling himself “a bit of a nerd,” Stanton hopes that the program will guide students to develop empathy and begin thinking outside themselves to understand others’ viewpoints…”to expand their view of the world outside their neighborhood.” It is his goal to help students see the humanity in others, rather than focusing on the differences. “If you can develop that mindset with these young folks, then when they go out into the world, they’ll be more willing to open themselves up and create genuine interaction with people… They will have
a better chance of making the world a better place.” In addition to the Poetry Clubs, Project Lit leaders conduct four or five immersion workshops in the classrooms during the second semester, working with teachers to introduce as many students as possible to the concepts of the program. “This is an important year for us, because we did lose a year and a half of programing due to COVID, so all the momentum we built up just kinda fell flat,” confided Stanton. “So now, we’re back in person. We did do virtual programming, but the strength of the program is really in the human interactions that we have.” Funding for the program comes from the City of Mesa, through the Mesa Arts Center, and through foundational support and private donors including: Nina Mason Pilliam Charitable Trust, Cardinals Charities, The Steele Foundation, Neely Foundations, Bill Passey, Maria Silva and Thunderbirds Charities. Information: mesaartscenter.com/projectlit.
will help relax participants while conditioning muscles. Open to all levels of yoga experience. Please bring your own yoga mat and water. Open to teens through adults. Non-members $5 Learn To Interpret Your DNA for Your Family History, 6:30-8 p.m. Jan. 18. During this workshop, participants will learn about DNA, how to interpret
their DNA results from programs such as Ancestry.com and 23andme.com, as well as how to use that information to expand their family tree. Participants are encouraged to bring their DNA test results. Free. Make Your Own Superhero, 6:30-8 p.m. Jan. 25. Phoenix cartoonist and self-publisher of the Amazing Arizona Comics
Russ Kazmierczak will lead participants through a workshop designing your own superhero comic book. The workshop will emphasize superhero comics and the evolution of superhero comics as an American medium. By the end of the workshop, participants will have designed their own superhero and will have the knowledge on how to self-pub-
lish their own comic book. Free. The Power of Intention, 10:30 a.m.noon Jan. 29. Certified Yoga instructor Marilynn Igleski will lead participants in the practice of positive affirmation and the setting of intentions as well as a variety of meditation techniques. Bring your own yoga mat. Ages 16 & up. Free.
center there but with the instability there we are approaching it in a different way now. I think we can still accomplish the same thing without the physical center— that’s creating a staffing company that’s going to train and connect them.” In January, the ENTRE Institute is launching Ak’imi Academy, a free programming academy, Shurtz said. “Ak’imi” means “potential” in Amharic, which is the main language of Ethiopia. Potential is directly what inspired this 90-day academy. During his trip, Shurtz met with 40 college graduates, yet not one of them had worked a day in their actual
profession, he said. Some have a fouryear technology degree but are driving cabs, cleaning houses or are unemployed. They spent so much time and money on their education, however, they were unable to actualize their full potential in their environment. Shurtz’s dream of connecting Ethiopia to the rest of the world to let them actually be able to compete in the global marketplace can come true through Ak’imi Academy. The academy will start with those 40 students, as every single graduate Shurtz met applied to be a part of it. The program will assess how market
ready the students are, Shurtz said. While they all have programming or technical degrees, the students must be able to work at a level for companies in the United States and beyond. “They’re going to be working on real world projects and that’s a way for us to assess,” he said. “While they’re doing that, we are already having conversations with United States based marketing agencies and programming and staffing companies to potentially bring on the graduates of our mini academy.” With the work that Shurtz’s team is doing, Kenya, Ghana and other countries
have expressed interest in ENTRE going over there to help their economies too, he said. Shurtz hopes to help as many people in Africa as he can to actually be able to use their education and talents. “All these people have had the worst luck in terms of opportunity and government and everything else,” he said. “They’re just waiting for their chance to shine. So, if we can just connect them to all these opportunities that are out there then I think we can change a lot of lives.” For more information on ENTRE Institute or to begin a course, visit entreinstitute.com.
BY DANA TRUMBULL GSN Staff Writer
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