It was an honor and a privilege to have developed and carried out a four day STEAM program with the young female adults from Cashman Middle School. It has been well over a year now that we hosted this event and yet the experience of those four days has remained as a very enlightening memory for all who came together for four days of learning and creating.
When we were approached by Smith Center for Performing Arts with a grant from SWIFT, we are were asked, what would you do with grant funds to create a STEAM program. We immediately began to brainstorm and developed a program. We knew we wanted to bring together young girls ages 12-15 who showed great drive towards their education, but who might not have the advantages that other young girls may have due to demographic challenges. We knew that we wanted to share with them how we as professional artists used Math, Technology, Engineering, and Science everyday in the business and as craftsman. We also wanted them to have four days of creating in glass through kiln working, blown glass and glass casting.
When the date was set and word got out of our plans for this program, we received requests to include photography students and music students… Which is exactly what we did! It was a full house indeed and truly a remarkable experience for all!!