It’s the fourth annual Discovery Theater Day at the College of Saint Benedict (CSB) and one group of Discovery Community School students are on a scavenger hunt. However, these students get a surprise right away. The stage they are standing on begins to lower them down under the stage where many of the props are stored.
“Find something that would be used in a dentist’s office,” says the instructor.
Students scatter about bringing back items they believe would be used in a dentist’s office. Subsequently, other items are found like statues and items that would be used on stage for a scene of “Shrek.”
Discovery Day is about students learning that science, technology, engineering, art and math (STEAM) are all incorporated into theater while getting a small taste of what it’s like to be on a college campus. Students experience six different stations: costume design, mask and puppet making in the design studios, movement in the dance studio, and sound and technology while on stage.
This is Chad Emery’s first time attending. Emery is a physical education teacher at Discovery.
“It’s [theater day] really neat. Any number of these kids may not have been on a stage or have seen a play. And, it’s right here and available in their own backyard. This day is outside the norm of everyday life and it gives them another creative outlet,” states Emery.
Students ride the stage back to the top to work with sound and lighting. The lesson shifts to different types of sensory.
Lights are dimmed and the students point with their fingers in the direction they hear the sound coming from while on stage. The conversation leads to acoustics and how sound waves travel and are heard in the audience.
Quickly, the students are learning how STEAM is incorporated into theater.
Wyatt Kemper, a junior at St. John’s University, is a student volunteer for the day. Kemper was in musicals and plays in high school and is taking an acting class as an elective. Today, he is assisting the Discovery students with their puppets and masks.
“Theater is a nice way for kids to have a creative outlet, be creative and have the freedom to do what they want,” says Kemper. “It’s a building block. Creativity helps students learn instead of just concrete thinking. Studies have shown that the brain is more active when they are creative.”
Some of the puppets the kids are creating range from a black cat, ninja, cheetah and just “a lady dressed pretty.”
One student, Asad, is so excited about receiving a [CSB] bag to put his projects in, he exclaims, “I can’t believe you gave us bags from St. Ben’s. We’re famous!”
Many other college students volunteering are elementary education, theater or math majors. One of those students is senior Beth Cassidy. Cassidy is completing a double major in math and theater and this is her third year volunteering for Discovery Day.
“It’s so fun to watch the kids come through. We’re at a point now that the we’ve been doing it long enough that we have fifth-graders telling the fourth-graders what they are going to be doing and third-graders who are looking forward to getting there,” says Cassidy. “It’s really fun to watch them come in with all that excitement.”
As the students move to the dance studio, they are introduced to movement.
Assistant professor, David DeBlieck, teaches dance at the CSB.
Students arrange themselves in a circle and DeBlieck begins his session with the importance of tuning your bodies, much like an instrument. Muscles need to be warmed and stretched.
Movement and dance is expressing language through your body without using your voice. Facial expressions along with body movement can show meaning such as happiness, sadness or anger.
Taking turns, each student picks a favorite dance move for other students to mimic.
DeBlieck then teaches the kids a dance to music, learning that rhythm is an integral part of dance. And, yes, rhythm means math! Math is a large part of dance, counting to the beat while using area and space.
The last workshop of the day is a collaboration of all the teams performing on stage. Each group of students is assigned a portion of the story “The Pied Piper.” Kids use their bodies to become characters and props to portray their designated scenes on stage. The story unfolds as each group acts their part on stage.
Mark Mortrude, education department student advisor and director of partnerships at the College of Saint Benedict explains, “We bring them out to the Benedict Arts Center for some experiences in theater… It’s just a whole venue of great opportunities for kids to have some fun, but also learn some things.” He goes on to say, “We’re trying to introduce the idea of going to college early on and we hope that it becomes a fond memory for them that will cause them to want to go on to that higher learning.”
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