|
         
It’s
Easy To Help...
CALL
720.565.3898
Project
YES
104 W. Baseline Road
Lafayette, CO 80026
303.926.0306
py_director@yahoo.com
www.Project-Yes.org
|
It
takes some gumption for a teen, or a few of them, to unveil a public
art project, like the Scent Stations – areas that attract
and identify wildlife – at the outdoor classroom behind Lafayette’s
Pioneer Elementary, or the 7- by 60-foot mural unveiled under a
hot July sun at Centaurus High School.
So here you learn to take the stage with a city council member,
the fire chief or, maybe, a famous artist who just improved your
brush strokes with a tip or two.
"They really see themselves as community leaders," notes
a staff member.
When you’re new to the community and can’t call
too many people friends, it takes some courage to ask for
help with your homework from another kid, especially when
she doesn’t look like you. It also takes a place to
go after school, like the Youth Center.
It takes brainpower, and some heavy-duty research, to understand
how food, or the lack of it, affects kids trying to do their
homework or parents working long hours, as everyone seems
to do these days. |
Click on image for larger picture |
Sometimes,
it takes a little extra paint, too.
"It just kind of expressed that sugar energy," laughed
Sukey Austin, a program manager, recalling a service-learning project
that kids from Project YES – that’s Youth Envisioning
Social change – did for Community Food Share’s Longmont
warehouse.
After painting cow-spotted banners to identify
the Dairy section and creating a bright, mega-carrot sign to hang
above the Vegetables area, youthful energy resulted in a candy-bar
laden banner for the Fats & Sweets section.
They painted it twice, reflecting their natural interest in the
subject, or maybe a little sugar rush from the "primary"
research they had done. Why rely on the work of some academic, when
you can do it yourselves?
Perhaps more than sugar, it’s a natural curiosity about the
environment that leads to the red fox sign Eugene made for the scent
garden or a sense of style, color and human kindness that led Felicia
to create a purple flower with yellow petals on a mosaic tile adorning
a Lafayette playground designed for wheelchair users.
"You’re doing something that has to be done … (and)
you can help out," said 13-year-old Marissa, summarizing the
importance of the community-focused art, learning and service projects
she and nearly 550 other kids, ages 11 to 19, undertook last year.
|
