Recently I had the opportunity to listen to an interview with Dr. Tina Seelig, Executive Director of the Stanford Technologies Ventures Program and Director of the National Center for Engineering Pathways to Innovation at Stanford University. Dr. Seelig, who has taught creativity to very bright college students and business leaders around the world, discussed how people can use creativity in their problem solving to generate fresh, new ideas and solutions. This interview intrigued me because, as I am reflecting over my many years at Chance School, one of the great commitments about the Chance program is the value that is placed on the importance of creativity.

When I think about how we acknowledge and develop creativity at Chance School, these philosophical values and statements come to mind:    

• The school believes that each child is a unique individual.
• Learning and experience are inseparable.
• Mistakes are opportunities to learn.
• Play is the work of children.
• The process is more important than the final product.

Knowing and believing how important these statements are in regard to the development of the young child, you can imagine my excitement when I heard the rest of Dr. Seelig's interview.

Seelig addressed the question, "How do you teach creativity?" Children are born with creativity which flows from their natural curiosity and their interest in discovery but the real question is what happens to it. Unfortunately, as children advance through the education system, their zest for creativity has been replaced by the importance of getting the right answers and the fear of failure.  "Environments where failure is not tolerated tend to stymie creativity", Seelig noted, when in fact, failure is an opportunity to learn. "When problem-solving, truly creative people often rethink what the problem itself is" and reframe it. Stepping out of one's comfort zone and doing or looking at problems in different ways can often open up incredible solutions. Individuals who have been valued for their creativity and who have used and practiced their creativity are much more willing to take risks; to try things they've never done before and to tackle problems that do not yet have solutions.

Kudos to Chance School for continuing to value and support creativity in the children. Chance students will not have to learn how to develop creativity in college or in the workplace. Rather, they will have already expanded their creative abilities and been valued for their resourcefulness. Don't we want and need more people with these skills and qualities to work on solving the world's issues and problems?

As another eventful and successful school year comes to a close, we would like to say a big THANK YOU to all the volunteers who served on the Parents' Council! Your commitment and the time and talent you so generously contributed have definitely made this year a great one. Please be sure to come to the Volunteer Appreciation Coffee during morning carpool on Wednesday, May 16. Panera Bread will be set up at the Florida Heights Station with coffee and pastries for you to enjoy while you stay and visit or to take with you on your way to work.

Teacher Appreciation activities will also begin on May 16 with a buffet breakfast for our fantastic teachers and continue on May 17 with made-to-order boxed lunches and gift presentations especially prepared for each teacher.

With summer quickly approaching, please remember to check out the fun Chance Camp schedule for June 18-July 13.  Summer Under the Trees offers creative weekly themes for children age 2 through fifth grade to explore all things outdoors. Specialty camps for tennis, science exploration, and building with Legos are also being offered for children going into grades 1-5. Register soon since spaces are limited.

We're excited to have Melanie Salsbury join Katy Collis as the 2012-2013 Parents' Council Co-Chairs!  If you are interested in chairing a committee or volunteering next year, contact Debbie McCoy, deb@chanceschool.org . We'd love to have your help!

Thank you so much from both of us to all the volunteers, parents, teachers and staff for your support and for all you do for Chance School!  We hope you have a wonderful summer!

Christine Baltas 

cmbaltas@insightbb.com 

472-9288

Katy Collis

kcollis@bellsouth.net 

893-3799

What an exciting year we have had in music! From our Primary classes performing the Kentucky Show, to our largest Chance Chorus ever, to our wonderful Talent Show, this has been a banner year for our Chance musicians! Our Talent Show proved to be extremely entertaining. All students in Grades K-5 participated and a whopping 75% of our students participated in their own individual act or in an act with friends! Audiences were enthralled as we watched students play a wide variety of instruments- piano, violin, guitar, dulcimer, flute, and recorder. Some of our Intermediate boys even performed a Mozart piece on plastic pipes called boomwackers! We had magic, comedy, dancing, and even a fabulous hula hoop routine! And who wouldn't want to see the bravest of our faculty performing an outrageous dance to a medley of oldies? A great time was had by all!

Of course, we are still hard at work in our music classes. K-1 students are playing Orff instruments and learning new songs and dances. With the Kentucky Derby approaching, our Primary students are learning about composer Stephen Foster. We'll be singing Camptown Races, My Old Kentucky Home, and Oh Susanna! Our Intermediate friends are working on their song for graduation, in addition to wrapping up their recorder studies. Most of our Intermediates have earned a black belt this year in Recorder Karate! It has been a wonderful year!

Thank You 

By Debbie McCoy, Director of Development