Forest Whitaker Joins Findley Students for a Long Distance Lesson
A Findley student asks Academy Awarding winning actor Forest Whitaker, appearing on the small screen via Skype, a question.
In observance of National Conflict Resolution Day, 4th graders at Findley Elementary School swapped thoughts on the topic of peace with Academy Award winning actor and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Peace and Reconciliation, Forest Whitaker this morning.From half a world away working on a film about apartheid in Capetown, South Africa, Whitaker reached his friends at Findley via the magic of Skype.
After a rehearsal of sorts instead of breakfast, the whole group took a collective deep breath. Several excited kids peeled off for last-second bathroom breaks. Then, right on schedule at 9:00 A.M. Des Moines time and 4:00 P.M. Capetown time, the connection was made.
Forest and Findley have been getting to know one another since last spring when the school was one of eight nationwide selected by the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities to participate in a new arts education initiative to help turn around low-performing schools, developed in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Education and the White House Domestic Policy Council. Turnaround Arts is a public-private partnership designed to narrow the achievement gap and improve student engagement through the arts.
Research demonstrates a strong correlation between access to arts education and better grades, increased creativity, higher rates of college enrollment and graduation as well as higher aspirations and civic engagement. When students participate in the arts they are four times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement, have higher GPAs and SAT scores and show significantly higher levels of mathematics proficiency. They are also more likely to be engaged and cooperative with teachers and peers and are more self-confident and better able to express their ideas. These benefits are particularly pronounced in high-poverty, low-performing schools.
Last year at Findley, 92% of the students qualified for free-and-reduced-price meals. Whitaker can relate. He told the kids that he grew up poor and had to work to convince himself that his dreams could come true.
Findley principal Tara Owens told him that the school’s theme for the year is “Dream Big.”
“Peace starts with yourself,” Whitaker said when he was asked what peace means to him. “It works outward toward other people. Peace is an attitude.”
When nine year-old (“almost ten”) Brianna Shelton asked Whitaker if he likes who he is and being famous he told her that he makes a point of loving himself. He said he has learned to find joy in challenge. “As for being famous, that was never the goal. I just wanted to become an artist,” he said. “My job is great because I’m always studying and learning for the parts I play.”
One offshoot of the Turnaround Arts program at Findley is a popular Drama Club that meets weekly. Theater students from Drake University come over to work with the students. 65 kids in grades 2-5 are actively involved. By the time Whitaker comes to meet them in the flesh next May, who knows what they’ll have to show him? In the meantime Findley and Forest agreed to keep in regular touch. Owens told him to “call” anytime.
After they hung up it was time for a late breakfast for the 4th graders. And some lively table talk about their faraway, but closer now, friend.
