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15 Years of Alternative Therapies
Since Pathways first opened its doors, the arts have been an important part of our students' experience. For Pathways young people, the arts are a powerful tool to learn about themselves and their world. Music, drama, poetry, and dance offer alternative means of self-expression, which opens a door to self-understanding. At the same time, the arts provide creative motivation for learning in language arts, social studies, and science.
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Visual arts |
In the 1996-97 school year, Pathways formalized the use of the arts in our schools and created the Alternative Therapies Program, which was "designed to enhance the various therapeutic elements Pathways Schools offer." That year, Pathways received two Maryland State Arts Council grants to fund workshops in writing and visual arts, and offered a fine arts elective course for credit that included individual drawing, painting, and sculpture. The Alternative
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Dance |
Therapies Program has flourished ever since. Pathways has applied for and received four or five arts grants every year from both the Maryland State Arts Council and several county arts councils and the Washington Post. More than 50 artists have worked with our students, offering workshops in everything from mosaic, fabric art, mask making, sculpture, mural arts to drumming, drama, modern dance, and hip hop.
Stories of the ability of the arts to enhance therapy and learning abound throughout Pathways. For example, in
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Mural arts |
2005, visual artist David Cunningham created "Self-Portrait Pop-Up Albums" with
the students at Pathways-Northwood during a residency funded by the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County. The project began with a language arts component during which students wrote poems that would be the inspiration for their albums. As Mr. Cunningham taught the students the technique for folding paper and layering images in their albums, he was struck by the commitment of the young people to their creative work and by the diversity of approaches. Some "exhibited a reserve and an intense sincerity", while others "created passionate works...used color with so much power and understanding."
At the conclusion of the residency, Mr. Cunningham sent
a letter that aptly summed up the value of the Alternative Therapies Program. He wrote, "It dawned on me time and again how vital each student's vision became to me....What a privilege to see the core of these special young people through art."
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Students Experience the "Giving" in Thanksgiving
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Carrying boxes of food into Makemie Hall |
Every year Pathways has a Thanksgiving dinner at each school site with students and their families. These are times to enjoy good food and to highlight the positive parts of our students' experiences at school and at home. This year, Pathways-Northwood students had a chance  to help in giving to others as well as appreciating the good things they have received. Thanks to the generosity of the Kiwanis Wheaton Chapter, 24 baskets filled with all the items for a full Thanksgiving dinner were made available to Pathways families who needed them. On the big day, students unloaded all the goods into Makemie Hall where they were sorted into baskets for individual families and reloaded into cars for
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Food ready for sorting |
distribution. In a creative thank you gesture, the students performed for the Kiwanis members in a show that featured solos with music from each of the three decades since Pathways was founded.
Later, at its Thanksgiving lunch, Pathways-Northwood at Hyattsville took time to express appreciation by giving an award for the work of
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Officer Denault and Mr. Okine |
the Hyattsville City Police Department, which has supported the Pathways program and the community. Officer James Denault received the award on behalf of the department.
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