by Natalie Goodnow, Artistic Associate
Keri Boyd (aka Agent 89) and I have been having a blast visiting all the Courageous Leaders we’ve met throughout the fall semester, touring our four-day interactive performance residency called Courage in Action (CIA) to fifth- and sixth-grade classrooms all over Central Texas and we’re making the rounds of follow-up visits. We always love getting to say hello to our students again, seeing the bright smiles on their faces when they recognize us and how vividly they remember the program they had 6-10 weeks earlier. We’re also always curious to find out just how much headway they’ve made with the projects they began to imagine on Day Four of Courage in Action.
We were particularly impressed by the work of the 5th grade students at Mathews Elementary. One group, committed to the preservation of the world’s forests, created this website all on their own. Check it out!
Another group at Mathews started their “CIA mission” by brainstorming ways to support and publicize a school-wide canned food drive that was already in the works when we visited the school. Under Agent 89′s guidance, they decided to focus specifically on ways to reach out to children who were experiencing food insecurity. They named their working group “Kids for Kids.” After Agent 89 and I departed, these 6 students enthusiastically participated in and supported the food drive and began meeting every Monday and sometimes Wednesdays, during lunch to plan additional projects.
The food drive ended weeks ago, but the students continued meeting every week. They even put together a bake sale to raise money to be donated to the Capital Area Food Bank. The day they launched their bake sale turned out to be a cold and rainy one and they didn’t sell very many of the cupcakes they made, but they’re ready for CIA Step Four: Becoming a Courageous Leader: Evaluate Your Success and Try Again!
We are so proud of ALL of our courageous leaders, and especially these students who have gone above and beyond the call of duty in service to their communities.
