Needing More than a Roof

By Lorene A. Roberson

At Positive Tomorrows, teachers and staff grapple with problems that stretch beyond the idea of what a school is supposed to be. UCO students and faculty are finding ways to help.

However, the Positive Tomorrows school in Oklahoma City tries to help students and their families with these basic needs and more. That’s its mission as the only school in Oklahoma that serves homeless children.

The school has a daily capacity of 74 students in pre-K through fifth grade, serving about 150 different students a year. Altogether, they’re a small drop in the estimated 9,500 homeless children in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area and the more than 43,000 in the state. They live in hotels, parks, abandoned buildings, cars and shelters. Or, if they’re lucky, they may be crammed into an apartment, staying temporarily with relatives or family friends.

“Seeing kids and their families bounced repeatedly from shelter to shelter is heartbreaking,” said 2016 Central alumna Ericka Kennedy, the school’s extracurricular and after-school program coordinator. “You can’t build your life when you are worrying about food, shelter and other basic needs.”

Kennedy, along with students and faculty from UCO’s Department of Human Environmental Sciences (HES), are working together to make life brighter for children at Positive Tomorrows.

Why Not?

Tucked into a neighborhood that’s crumbling in some parts while also experiencing urban redevelopment, the Positive Tomorrow’s school location is confidential. The program depends heavily on other nonprofit organizations, for-profit organizations, corporations and individuals to meet its mission of educating homeless children and their families.

Kennedy’s job is to find after-school projects for the students. She remembered seeing what she calls “awesome paper mannequins” in the halls of Central’s Human Environmental Sciences building when she was working on a degree in family life education. She wondered if her students couldn’t make paper dresses out of unconventional materials.

So she turned to Susan Miller, Ed.D., UCO professor of fashion marketing, to see if she would be interested in showing the Positive Tomorrows students how to recreate the paper clothing.

Miller saw the opportunity to take the idea further. Why not turn Kennedy’s request into a professional project for all HES students — not just fashion marketing majors? So, Miller approached Phi Upsilon Omicron, a national honor society for HES students.

And thus, the idea of simply making paper dresses in Positive Tomorrow’s after-school camp became a major initiative for the student organization. Family life education majors, nutrition majors and fashion marketing majors all took part.

Marcos Rodriguez, a fashion marketing senior and vice president of the organization, agreed to lead the effort.

“These are kids who don’t often feel they can achieve their dreams. So much of their family life revolves around survival, so dreams can seem extravagant,” Rodriguez said. “We wanted to encourage the kids to follow their dreams regardless of their circumstances. The kids are all absolutely capable of accomplishing great things.”

Unusual Beauty

The UCO students worked on the project for more than two months, eventually deciding to create three stations, each corresponding to a learning situation:

• Fashion marketing students would help kids express creativity;

• Family life education majors would show how to cope with stress; and,

• Nutrition majors would teach healthy snack habits.

They developed a three-day camp, March 13-15, which they orchestrated during the regular after-school program at Positive Tomorrows. About 25 kids in third through fifth grades participated.

Kennedy said her young students “went to town” on the project.

At the fashion marketing station, youngsters sculpted Christmas wrapping paper into dresses, which Miller calls a form of art. “In my classes here on campus, I have students create dresses and costumes from other mediums such as vinyl banners, plastic and cardboard. It is a way of expressing creativity through the use of paper instead of fabric,” Miller said.

Family life education students showed the students how to create an emoji stress ball using a balloon and a dab of flour. They then played a game where they imitated animals displaying emotions.

Twister, a board game noted for using people as game pieces, had a different twist put on it by UCO’s nutrition students. They decided to call out food groups instead of colors. They also had their young charges plan healthy meals by placing food

— made from felt — onto plates.

“The kids were so happy. It was incredible, and it was great to see each child encouraged and supported by UCO students,” Kennedy said. “Our kids really needed this creativity — and what better opportunity to provide that than with a chance to work with college students?”

Miller, now in her tenth year of working with Phi Upsilon Omicron, said she is proud of her Central students. Funds for paper dresses and nutritional foods came from UCO’s Fashion Troupe and Nutrition Club. Central students also reached out to the on-campus Barnes & Noble, which donated 25 new books to Positive Tomorrows.

Watching the children each select a brand new book brought “tears to her eyes,” Miller said.

Positive Tomorrows staff members are looking forward to fall 2019 when they will move into a new 36,000-square-foot building just a few miles away from their current location. The school then will be able to serve 125 students from pre-Keighth grade. The new building is the result of a $10.2 million fundraising campaign, said Susan Agel, the school’s president and principal.

Kennedy also has found a home in Positive Tomorrows.

“This was my first job out of UCO. I was fortunate to find a job that I fell in love with,” she said. “I don’t see working with these kids as a sad story or them having a sad life. I see my job as bringing smiles to the kids and their families. It’s incredible — it really is.”

— Lorene A. Roberson is a former UCO employee and now friend of UCO’s College of Education and Professional Studies.