Week of Feb 11th

This week I led a discussion with the boys on the Haiti situation. We talked about what happened, what our response should be as individuals, and as a nation with the capacity to help others. In an effort to get the boys to think critically, we also talked about the pros and cons of helping other nations verses using the money to help people here in America. I was pleased with the insights they offered.

Journal Topic: What are some ways Crossover can help the situation in Haiti?

Apology

I apologized to the kids last night for the confusion of the KSU event. Frankly, I have no idea what happened and why the event was canceled. I am having conversation with our leadership team to resolve the breakdowns so this doesn’t continue. I’ll do my best to make it up to the boys.

KSU Basketball Game Saturday

The boys were given permission slips for the KSU basketball game tomorrow night. This is the public education night I mentioned previously. The groups will be recognized at half-time of the game. For the few who were absent or who managed to make it home without their forms, another copy is attached for downloading.

KSU Permission Slip

Week of Feb 4th

This was an unusual day. I was scheduled to lead the group in a discussion on the Haiti situation on Thursday. At 3:50 a teacher made me aware of a student crisis that kept me busy until 6:20. Because we didn’t have a speaker, and the other leaders were unprepared to lead in my place, I felt it best to send the boys home. Thankfully situations like Thursday are rare, but being the counselor means I have to step up when they do occur. Thank you for your understanding.

Awtrey to Help with Art Project

The TRAX Art Project (TRAX) is a multi-panel mural art project collaboration between the CrossOver Mentoring Group and The Art Station - Big Shanty. This project will give students of CrossOver Mentoring Group opportunities to make a significant contribution to the development of the community in which they live through art. The mural will simultaneously depict historical information about the City of Kennesaw and the history of students in the CrossOver Mentoring Group.

TRAX will connect youth to the community in ways to increase their self-esteem and their level of art and history competency while at the same time improving the quality of life within the community as a whole. TRAX allows the students of CrossOver Mentoring Group to learn about the history of Kennesaw and to express their personal connection to the area through art. Train tracks are historically significant to the Kennesaw area, and their image also calls to mind the idea of a journey through time and space. Many of the students who participate in CrossOver Mentoring Group have come to Kennesaw, both physically and emotionally, from other places and situations. So while they learn about the journey (“TRAX”) that brought people to the Kennesaw area and helped it grow, hopefully they will find parallels and “ties” that connect with their own life stories.

TRAX is also intended to help the participating students and the public audience shed those popular misconceptions that art should only look a certain way, only be done by certain people, and is only accessible to special segments of society. A majority of the content of the mural will be decided by the students, but the format will be simple. At least three vertical strips of canvas will be assembled horizontally into one large stylized image of numerous train tracks—embellished with words, images, collage, and mixedmedia— so that the canvasses will form different images if hung together or separately.

This will give the students a chance to learn about abstraction, negative space, and the unique challenges of multi-panel pieces. The format will also make it easier for multiple students to work on a segment at one time, and, once the traveling exhibition is over, each group of participating students will be able to take a panel of the work back to their home school to hang as a permanent installation.

This Grassroots Arts Program is supported in part by the Georgia Council for the Arts through appropriations of the Georgia General Assembly as administered by Georgia Family Connections Partnership, a GCA certified Grassroots Regional Partner.

Our partners include The Cobb County School District – Success For All Students, who supports most of the operating budget for CrossOver Mentoring Group; Big Cat Records, LLC, Cobb- Kennesaw Senior Center, Kennesaw Community Center, Kennesaw State University, Mt Zion AME Church, and each of the CrossOver Mentoring Group Schools will allow us to exhibit TRAX at their facilities. Our collaborative partner, The Art Station – Big Shanty, will allow us to use their facility to create and unveil the original exhibition of TRAX.

TRAX Project Schedule

Aquarium Trip Set for 1-30-10

We have tickets to the aquarium on January 30th.  The group will meet at Awtrey at noon, eat lunch, then travel to the aquarium.   Click the link below to download a copy of the permission slip.

Aquarium Permission Slip

Week of Jan 21st

With the school dance originally scheduled for tonight, we thought we would have to move our meeting day.  When the dance was cancelled, we followed back up with our scheduled speaker, a professional saxaphone player, but he was unable to attend. 

In place of the speaker, I led the group in a discussion from a curriculum we are considering using with the programs.  The lesson was on decision making and it revolved around three case scenarios.  In one case, a person stole money not realizing she was being video taped.  In another case, the person was hanging out with someone who had pot and the group was caught.  In the final case, someone was playing with a handgun found in a drawer at home and someone was accidentally killed.  The discussion was lively and the guys impressed me with their insights as we talked about these situations in theory.  Once we started talking about situations I have seen them in here at school, they were less clear on what the "right thing" to do actually is in a given situation.  It just proves how difficult decision making can be when you are in the heat of the moment.

Journal Topic: How can I show others the respect I want them to give me?

Ms. Beryl leads a discussion on an upcoming

community service opportunity.

Upcoming Calendar Items

We are working on lining up an outing for this month.  Hopefully I'll know something soon.  In the meantime, here are two events to put on your calendars:

• January 28th - No meeting due to the early release schedule
• January 30th - Aquarium Outing.  More details to follow.
• February 6th - Crossover Night at Kennesaw State University.  The boys will watch the game, be introduced at half time, and we are working on being able to tour the athletic facilities.

Week of Jan 14

It was a long lay off with all the holiday and snow breaks, but we are finally getting back on track.  On January 14th we had Jonathan Boisjolie of the High Museum of Art speak to the boys.  Jonathan holds a degree in Arts Administration from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, and has worked with cultural organizations in all genres of the arts throughout his career. Prior to joining the High Museum, he worked in the Group Travel industry as a Tour Operator.  I was impressed by the level of interaction between he and the boys as they discussed the various art works in the Powerpoint presentation.  Michael especially surprised me with his art knowledge.

Journal Topic: Why is it important to have an understanding of, and an appreciation for art?