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Broughal Middle School Project Extensions History of FOCUS Projects |
Healing the Children Project
Marian Johnson has been working with inner-city youth in various locations in the Lehigh Valley and surrounding communities through Talbot Hall Funding, a grant program of the Bethlehem Diocese of the Episcopal Church. Expressive arts are utilized to assist the inner development of each child. The inherent value of each child was addressed and encouraged, so that each person develops more self-esteem and understanding of their life's purpose.
Personhood is the goal, rather than technical expertise in a given art
expression, and all the children and adolescents respond beautifully to
Marian's guidance. As Marian defines it, personhood is the process of becoming
honest, loving, strong and open to others point of view while contributing
our unique talents and gifts to the world community. Through Marian's programs,
the children are becoming more of their very best through these activities.
Since the Summer of 1997, Marian has been teaching expressive arts at The Welcome Place in Bethlehem, PA which is part of South Bethlehem Neighborhood Center. The Welcome Place is directed by Ms. Diane Ramos and is an after-school program for South Bethlehem children ages 6-12 that services over thirty children. Student interns from Liberty High School assists Diane and her staff. The children wrote their own songs and painted wall murals during the summer program, as well as doing creative dance and movement.
1997 Christmas Play
Every Friday, beginning in the Fall of 1997, Marian came to play with the children of Welcome Place. Much excitement grew as preparations were made for the Christmas play. In December, the children presented the Christmas Play which they helped to write, design set decorations, make the costumes, stage manage, act the parts and sing all the songs. The student interns assisted in all aspects as well. Over thirty children participated and every child was treated with great importance, regardless of the size of their role. A professional pianist and her daughter were guest musicians, Parents and some of their school teachers attended. For many of the children, this was their first stage performance and they were very proud of themselves and their hard work. The play was a huge success!
Spring Talent Show
The Spring Talent Show was a big success! The children chose their expressive talent and we practiced for many weeks developing appropriate stage presence and behaviors. We had solo singers, singers with back-up dancers, Spanish dancers, musical trios with guitar, drum and piano, cheerleaders, athletes and more! With Marian's support and guidance, each child or group decided what their talent would be, what music they would use and what their costume would be. We held the show outdoors with a complete professional sound system. The chairs were set up for our audience of parents and friends and we had our own outdors concert! The children were very excited about this show, took ownership of their parts and presented a really terrific show! This program marked the end of Welcome Place for the 1997-1998 school year. After the show, we had refreshments and said our goodbyes until the summer camp begins.
The second site is at the Broughal Middle School in Bethlehem, Pa. In 1994-1995, Marian had done some very successful group work with teenage boys at Broughal through Valley Youth House. In the Summer of 1997, Marian approached Dr. William Feigley, school guidance counselor, about applying for a grant to work with him and his students in the comming academic year. Dr. Feigley stated that he had planned to call Marian to develop a program for adolescent girls. He felt that because both guidance counselors on staff were males, that a positive female role model and group facilitator was especially needed by the female students of Broughal Middle School.
Since October of 1997, Marian held two to three personhood groups per week for adolescents. In the Fall of 1997, the seed monies for the program were offered through the kindness of Dolly and Lee Butz. In January 1998, the funding came from the Talbot Hall Grant. The school day groups were for 6th and 7th grade girls during their activity period; the after school program was held on Wednesdays and was open to boys and girls. Personal understanding and peacekeeping methods dominated the discussions, using expressive arts such as dancing, aühotographic and poetic interpretation as the medium.
Painting paper wall murals, acting out their favorite talk shows complete with audiences, learning Native American approaches to problem solving, mirror dancing, face-painting, bead-art making and interpreting poems and pictures of the world's children were some of the activities. The girls showed tremedous personal growth and resolution skill development, they became friends with each other and crossed their seeming cultural differences. Many of the girls also made marked academic acheivement during the second semester of the 1997-1998 school year. The boys who attended the after-school program benefitted tremendously, too, and stated that they felt better about themselves as a result of being part of the group. Many weeks, students who were passing by after school would drop in for a snack and find out what activity was taking place.
All of the youth who participated in the Broughal Middle School Project said that they wanted Marian to become a full-time teacher at their school because she really listened to them regarding their school and home concerns. They felt comfortable to talk in the group and felt safe there with her and with each other. They stated that Marian's main message was to believe in themselves and that they wre learning to do just that. The students asked for a summer program and we are currently seeking a grant funder for that purpose.
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