Program gives art students a chance to spread talent

Art comes in all forms: paint, paper, crayons, glue, markers, glitter, clay, puff balls, feathers and egg cartons. For students with special needs at Neshannock High School, art comes in the form of two SRU students.

Senior Meghan Kennedy, 22, a fine arts major with a teaching certification, and junior Brittany Fairchild, 21, an art education major with special education minor, bring art to special needs students two days a week through an art department internship at Neshannock High School.

Both students work at the high school on Mondays and Wednesdays with Michele Lagnese, the art teacher there. They work with a variety of disabilities, including Autism, cerebral palsy and mental retardation, according to Lagnese.

She said the art program is exciting because through the arts, the students come alive. The special needs students are sensory oriented, she said, and the morning starts off slow. But by the end of the class, the students are more energetic.

Kennedy said that Monday she had the students make Mardi Gras masks from templates, tissue paper and glue. On Wednesday, the students took egg cartons, googly eyes, markers and foam shapes to make Chinese dragons in honor of Chinese New Year. Next week, she said the students will dip marbles in paint trays to roll around on paper.

The internship was set up by an associate professor of art, June Edwards, and art department chair Tom Como in 2008.

The two students went to the high school and met with the superintendent in order to set up the program, Edwards said.

"We started with student [interns] that were hand-picked," she said. "We picked students who like working with special needs [children] and are in art education. We would like the possibility of having more students [in the program]."

The students are picked through a discussion among the faculty, Edwards said.

Fairchild said she heard about the internship from Edwards.

"I had her for design, and Meghan and I both went to a Pennsylvania Arts Education conference and [Edwards] asked us if we wanted to do [the internship]," Fairchild said.

Not just any student can be picked.

"They have to be perfect for the internship," Edwards said. "I have approached several people. I'm really waiting for the day when I have more than two students who are interested."

Kennedy heard positive feedback from previous interns before she became involved in the program.

"I talked to a lot of previous girls," she said. "They were giving me advice. June Edwards was also helpful in letting us know what the kids would be like."

Edwards said that it's beneficial for art students to get involved in the program in order to have more to offer potential employers.

"For getting a job, any student who's graduating, having a degree is good, but the experience is what sets you apart from everyone else," Edwards said.

Lagnese said that training in special education is needed in order to include everyone in the classroom.

"I think it's important in all fields to be aware of the special needs population," she said. "They come across as handicapped, but they just need adaptations. The arts heighten the senses of the kids and they get excited."

Including special needs children in the classroom with nondisabled students is something that is becoming more practiced.

"With inclusion, there are going to be kids with special needs in my classroom," Fairchild said. "I know not to be overwhelmed."

Fairchild said she got involved with the program because of her minor.

"For me, I have a special education minor," she said. "I've been learning about it and here I get experience before my student teaching. I kind of know what do to."

But Fairchild doesn't think her experience with the program will carry on to her career goals.

"I want to get my master's and get into higher art," she said. "I'm into painting, design and ceramics."

Kennedy plans to apply what she's learned in the program to life beyond her college education.

"After I graduate, I'll do my student teaching," she said. "I'm really going to try to find a teaching job-at any level-to include what I've learned from this experience. I've been given awareness."

The interns create their own projects by finding ideas on the Internet and lesson plans from Edwards, and then present the projects to the class

The experience of working in the classroom is something the interns haven't done prior to the internship.

"I really haven't had the opportunity," Fairchild said. "I've never really had hands-on experience. I was kind of nervous. After a couple of weeks, you get into it and you get more comfortable. It's not as weird."

For future interns, Fairchild and Kennedy have a few words of wisdom.

"You have to be open-minded," Fairchild said. "You want to be in control, but it can't be 100 percent structured. Our first project was big and elaborate, but you're not going to be able to do that. You need to think on your feet."

Kennedy passes on similar advice.

"The best advice would be to talk to people who have done it before," she said. "See what works with the kids and projects. You might have to cut everything. I would tell them to play music because it keeps the kids alert.