Bloomfield College News & Events - BLOOMFIELD COLLEGE'S PROJECT GRAD SUMMER INSTITUTE HELPS NEWARK STUDENTS CONNECT WITH THE WORLD

July 16, 2003, Bloomfield, NJ – This summer, 40 students from Central and Malcolm X. Shabazz High Schools in Newark are participating in Project GRAD’s Summer Institute at Bloomfield College, where they are exploring current events to get a jump start on their future. Through this month-long intensive program, the students are learning to see “Life as a Work of Art” as they are guided through arts, humanities and mathematics courses structured around today’s headlines. The courses are taught by Bloomfield College professors, with the Newark Star-Ledger serving as the daily ‘textbook.’

“This is not your standard summer program where students sit in the classroom and study,” says Ken Cowles, Project Manager for Project GRAD Newark. “We’re taking current events and turning them into a full curriculum. It’s very hands-on and interactive.”

Every Monday through Thursday in July, Bloomfield College’s Westminster Arts Center is buzzing with activity as Project GRAD students engage in a variety of projects. Students may be manipulating digital images and retelling news stories using the latest PhotoShop software, mixing the sound of their world into an audio collage in the music studio, or shaping ideas by painting a mural in the gallery with visual artist and performance poet Jerry Gant. In the College’s Robert V. Van Fossan Theatre, students may be honing their improvisational acting skills or learning Capoeira, a Brazilian art form which blends dance, martial arts and music.

The program teaches students to create art and tell stories individually and collaboratively, instilling a sense of teamwork and trust. According to David Rosenak, Bloomfield College’s Project GRAD Summer Institute Program Director, “Students are guided in making connections in their stories between themselves and the world.”

These stories are shared during daily assemblies, and will be shaped during the four weeks of the program into a production to be presented at a closing ceremony on Friday, August 1.

“We want to send the message that the learning process begins with self-awareness, which then grows into an understanding and connection with the rest of the world,” says Rosenak. “Once students grasp this concept, and begin to engage everything they do – even the most ordinary task, as a work of art – they are on their way to treating their own life as a work of art.”

Project GRAD Newark is an innovative early college outreach program that works with teachers, administrators, parents, community leaders, colleges, university and businesses to increase the number of students entering and succeeding in college. Project GRAD guarantees scholarships to all students who participate in two summer institutes and graduate with a 2.5 grade point average or better.

Bloomfield College was the first higher education institution to reach out to Project GRAD Newark and offer to become a partner. In addition to serving as a summer institute site, Bloomfield College matches the $6,000 scholarship for those students who are accepted into the undergraduate program.

Visit the Project GRAD Website at www.projectgradnwk.org.