The Village Trimester 2 Programs

Know Your Role: Encompassing a wide variety of topics such as conflict resolution, etiquette, and even goal setting, Know Your Role affords the student an informal but educational opportunity to explore their own personal development among their peers. Activities such as role playing, event planning, rap sessions, and college trips are some of the ways this end is achieved.

Academic Remediation: Projected start date: March 1st. Students have yet another chance to finish up homework or work on projects during EducationWorks’ program time after school. All remediation instructors are to be WWHS faculty.

Hip Hop Dance: Students come together to discover the more educational aspects of this part of our cultural heritage. Through the instruction of choreography and exploration of different styles of Hip Hop dance, students are instructed on the important historical nuances of this 21st century artistic expression—and they do plenty of dancing too!

Making the Band: Diddy did it, now we’re doing it too! EducationWorks will be reaching out to the music community of WWHS to create a vocal band. Students will learn musical collaboration, performance, and perfecting the subtle details of diverse musical styles through their participation in “The Band”.

Wepa! Programa de Bachata y Merengue: Students learn the intricate technical, emotional, cultural, and historic details surrounding these intricate dances through choreography and technique workshops. (Instruction primarily Spanish with some English to include non-Spanish speakers)

Project Open Mic: A program designed to reach out to the artist/talent community of WWHS and aide in developing their open mic style crafts into a culminating performance (an open mic). Such artists as rappers, poets, singers, etc. will come together in a workshop-style lessons to achieve this aim.

Movie Night: A nice treat on a Friday afternoon, Movie Night is an alternate option for students to relax and enjoy a fun, but culturally and educationally relevant film. Short discussion on the theme of the movie may proceed, and students are asked to identify certain topics within the film.

Triangles: Triangles incorporates all genders, orientations, races and creeds into the creation of a short documentary on the exploration of the LGBTQ identities. Students come together to discuss self descriptions, supportive allies, equality and awareness.

Cypher Elite: A program targeting all aspiring rappers and emcees. It is designed to teach and foster songwriting structures, free-styling techniques, and stage performance along with providing an intro to music production.

Fashion Club: A student-led, EducationWorks-facilitated program, Fierce! gives several talented students the opportunity to lead their own program revolving around their favorite topic: fashion! These student leaders will teach other students how to sew their own clothing, assemble an outfit, as well as plan and participate in their very own fashion show.

"One Mic, One Night" A Success!

Thank you to all the students, faculty, and parents that made this night such a success!

Student Performers Included: Durand Coles, Keith Bennett, Sasha Carrero, Tiara Roberson, Daisey Smith, Jamir Jordan, Tiara Miller, Jasmine Carter, Andrea Bullock, Ahniyah Upshaw, Eric Green, Scarle Bello, and Carletta Cutts

Special Guest Performers: Craig Bazan and Sandra Turner Barnes

Emcee for the Evening: Former Def Jam Poet "Black Ice"

"I Am" Intro Video for One Mic, One Night event on 1/28

This will be the intro video for our upcoming "One Mic, One Night" performing arts showcase on January 28th, from 7 - 9pm at the IDEA Arts Theatre in the Susquehanna Bank Center. Our kids have been hard at work preparing for their performances--we're excited to show off what they've come up with!

New Staff at EW's The Village at WWHS

We're proud to welcome new program assistant Justin Feliciano to the staff of The Village! Justin is a native of North Camden, a self-described sports fanatic, and a great addition to the EducationWorks family in East Camden!

Krump Skit - Sneak Peak!

Our Hip Hop dance students performing a rough rehearsal of their "Krump Skit" that will be a part of their faculty performance on February 10th--enjoy!

"This is NOT the school store" by Marsi Maxwell

One of our Hip Hop dance students, DeDe burst into our office one day demanding pretzels, pencils, notebooks, etc. inspiring Marsi to respond kindly--in song!

"Real Rap" with Marsi

After just a few months of programming, The Village is coming together to present an amazing set of performances for family, friends, staff, and the community. Our students have worked hard learning new dances, new writing techniques, and building characters for the stage. With a tenacious appetite for the performing arts world, our villagers have risen to the challenge and it warms my heart to see them harvest the fruits of their labor.

Hip hop dance: From crumping to b-boying, creativity is flowing from the hands and feet of our dancers. Choreography taught in steps and skits designed to enhance performances provide the back drop for an electric show. These teens hungry for the beat learn and develop their ideas to hardcore Baltimore club dance beats and other hip hop classics, while Chase and I provide our own “we wish we could dance as well as you do, can’t stop us from cranking out where did that come from dance, and yes we love you enough to look like dancing fools techniques” to their warm ups and warm downs.

 

--List of Some Students Participating: NIjahuana Harris Cherlande Beaujour Lakeisha Williams Natori Johnson Cheree Gibson DeQuan Chambliss Eric Green Allea Anderson Jarell Clark Carlos Mantilla

Raymond Delgado Enes Green Denise Williams Melissa Dejesus Kenny King Dionna Blackson Tamira Chambliss Janielle Jones Juan Mantilla

Poetry: Everyday students arrive in our office at various times, mostly during the “Finish Your Plate” program to provide us with their newly written poems. Chase excitedly posts their work on our filing cabinets like a proud parent/teacher! It is rather sweet.

Their work is fresh off the pages and streams ink into my heart with verses and rhyme steeped in heartbreak, chaotic energy, and the need to emotionally understand the world around them. Our villagers take the time to write lengthy poems and songs as their way of dealing with their strife and I wholeheartedly appreciate their openness to share with us and in knowing that we also use these techniques to work through our own issues. These youth are onto something special and I can’t help but take joy in helping to lay the groundwork of their success.

--List of Some Students Participating: Gloria D. Vega Natalie Marcellus Sasha Carrero Carletta Cutts Tiara Roberson

Allea Anderson Jaralyn De Jesus Alvail Halladay  Andrea Bullock Olivia Taylor

Acting: What a crazy and hilarious group of awesome folks! The villagers take a very dedicated approach to learn new ways of coming out of their shells and reaching out to their peers by pulling close together to form a tight knit group of actors. With the leadership of Vanessa and Craig, these students are learning acting techniques that will allow them to grace the stage with confidence and a positive self image. From writing their own monologues and participating in interactive learning strategies, these students surprise me with every over indulgence of “act”ion taken on. I’m “stoked” for their performances in January.

List of Some Participating Students: Hichanell Ovalles Scarle Bello Alvail Halladay Nijahujuana Harris

Cheree Gibson Allea Anderson Guillermo Reyes Denise Williams Daisey Smith

Reaching out to the Latino community--Latino Heritage Month: Who would have thought that I would have the opportunity to work and support my culture through dance. If you ever saw me dance, you would understand why I’m saying this. The Latino and Hispanic students came together and created bachata and meringue dance routines that wowed the audience. They were proud of themselves and after a month of rehearsals, costume changes, dancer replacements and an all out love for the music/dance, these students rocked the stage. Still to this day, they come and ask when will they be able to dance on the stage again. I’m proud to say we will be offering instructional bachata and meringue dances in our 2^nd trimester of programming. What?! Yeah!

In closing: There is so much more that I could write about our program. “The Village” has been a joy to create and to implement with Chase. With every obstacle, a beautiful solution is born. Every day we learn something new and create a new partnership with a community member. Woodrow Wilson is where we call home this year and we are proud to meet and work with our new family. Stay tuned for more “Real Rap” with Marsi.