The Mixture of Art and Academics: How the DWSA Summer School Program is inspiring kids to stay engaged over the summer

The four-week summer school program at Denzel Washington School of Arts is approaching learning in a fresh and innovative way. Teachers from several schools in the Mount Vernon City School District are grouping up at DWSA to teach sixth, seventh and eighth grade students in this Districtwide program. Beginning July 8 and spanning until August 1, students have been mixing culture, the arts and traditional academics. They are beating summer learning loss and having fun while doing it. 

Raisa Turner, assistant principal at Benjamin Turner Academy and coordinator of the DWSA Summer School program, says the education plan outlined by DWSA Principal Andrea Thomas is helping kids thrive. Students stay engaged in the course schedule by learning topics relevant to the current day and linking them to history. This session's topic is the undeniable relationship between the Harlem Renaissance period and the modern-day hip-hop era.

“Ms. Thomas helped to create a curriculum for the teachers where the unit aimed to enable and encourage students to be hip-hop artists, to understand the essential elements of hip-hop culture within the various academic subjects, to understand some of the histories of the Harlem Renaissance, and the importance of the expressive arts and music in culture and history,” said Ms. Turner.  “It is based on the notion that in today’s classrooms are tomorrow’s influential artists and thinkers.”

In Tonya Mack’s science class, students are researching prominent black scientists and inventors such as Mae Jemison, Katherine Johnson, and Lonnie Johnson. At the end of the program, students will be conducting a presentation of their research done on the historical figures. In Jordan Katter’s art class, students engage with the topic by producing recreations of famous jazz and hip-hop album covers. Students are also creating a podcast and musical tracks, learning how to produce and interact with content-creation methods.

Students are also staying active for the summer. In Thomas Fabiani’s physical education and health class, students engage with one another, learning teamwork and getting their blood pumping by playing pickleball, badminton, basketball and other fun games. 

“The DWSA Summer School program aims to engage students over the summer by demonstrating how different subjects can be interconnected and are relevant to real-life situations,” said Ms. Turner. “Up to now, students have shown positive outcomes by engaging in critical thinking and expressing their creativity through alternative methods instead of the conventional approach. Students are crafting their own soundtracks and music, exploring poetry, and mastering the art of blending creativity with technology.”