TribLIVE: A tsunami of excitement erupts when Jimmy Mason enters the room.
The no-longer-orderly group of youngsters who had been waiting quietly surrounds the Carnegie Mellon University senior, greeting him as though he were a rock star and clamoring for his attention.
Within minutes, Mason and the kids — students in grades 4 through 8 at the DePaul School for Hearing and Speech in Shadyside — are scrabbling across the floor in a fast-paced game of red light-green light.
Carnegie Mellon program helps children communicate
17 comments:
This is a truely fantastic article and it makes me proud to go to this school where yes we put our selves in ridiculous amounts of debt to obtain a laundry list of skills. I personally have thought in the past its generally easier or well known for technicians with carpentry and other hands on skills to be able to actively give back. Now i am not trying to take anything away from the actors, im just trying to say its great to see the actors able to give back such a valuable skill.
I had actually read this article when it was emailed to the SOD a few days ago. I remember thinking about how cool it was to see this kind of innovation helping a community, right in Shadyside! I'm proud to say I go to a school where people don't mind putting themselves out there for this kind of learning and community in general. I hope I can get to see this in action!
I agree with Sean that I am so happy to see people in our field (and school!!) give back! The people in this building have such big personalities, mostly the actors, I sometimes forget how much consideration it takes to act, the training it entails, and all the skills and techniques you must be knowledgable of. I feel that putting the two traits to good use is something that is great. Its not uncommon to see people in entertainment/ drama, the arts itself use their practice and skill to outreach to the surrounding community, its just great to see it applied with people we might pass on a daily basis. Go CMU- great to hear this is happening with our drama department!
I had read this article before and I to say... I am extremely excited to get involved with this program in the future. This stuff is right up my ally. I am so excited to see tha it is working so well for these kids and that recognition is being given to the wonderful CMU students and faculty involved! I think that the school of drama is an amazing group of students and it is the perfect group of people to be giving back to the community. Although we as a school can be so busy, I'm glad to see that students and faculty are finding time to give back!
It's always cool to see Carnegie Mellon doing something cool. Of course, there are a lot of cool things here, but most of them are just little experiments and things you find around. You know, the casual robot here and there for a class project. It's not EVERY day you see something getting noticed for giving back to other groups fo people. Also I have to disagree with Sean, I think it's very common for performers to give back. A lot of people give back, but it's easy for people to notice it on a performance spectrum because it is an art form which is so accessible. Great to see them using that art form for good!
I also read this article when it was sent out to the SOD a few days ago, and I remember thinking how amazing it is that the skills we learn at Carnegie Mellon can be applied to so many different things. I'm always a little sad when talking to some people who are getting a degree in the performing arts (not necessarily at CMu but in general) when they seem to think that their options after graduation are just Broadway or Hollywood. I think it's important to recognize that the skills we are gaining from getting whatever degree we are getting can be helpful in so many other fields, and can make a huge difference. Furthermore, this article really speaks to the possibilities of what the arts can really accomplish and why they are important.
I first saw this when it was sent out in the Drama mailing list, but I did't really get a chance to read it until now. This is really an inspiring thing. It seems like a great idea to have college kids come in and help because the children will look up to them like an older sibling rather then a scary adult like a doctor. Also it's great to see our friends giving back to the community. So often we lock ourselves in the drama building and don't see the world outside so it's nice to know that when people are actually getting out in the world it's to help other people.
This article really makes me feel proud to be a member of the school of drama. I firmly believe that everyone should share what talents they have in order to better the lives of other people. It's great to see that some of my fellow students have realized this too. While it may not immediately be obvious how the skills we are learning here can help others, this article shows that there always are ways to do so.
This is so cool! I had no idea that the acting program had their own outreach program like Design and Production has Growing Theatre. Clear communication skills are certainly important in all aspects of life, and its really great to know that we have our very own group of students who are teaching and reinforcing those skills to children of this young of an age range. It'll be interesting to see how these kids who participate in this program grow up and communicate as adults.
This is beautiful. I had no idea that this existed as a class for performers. Very much like Growing Theatre Outreach is for DPs, this class seems like it would benefit the actors even more than it would the young children. I'm a firm believer that you will never regret helping others, especially if it's with skills that you enjoy doing. This class seems the prime example of this. I'd imagine that its also challenging for the actors to try and communicate skills that, to them, are so second nature they might be hard to describe, especially to a group that is hearing challenged.
I think this idea of helping middle- and elementary- school children with and without hearing difficulties is so great that makes me proud of our school even more. And also I can think that no other students can do better than drama students in this particular area, since clarity in speech is what drama students mastered in. Also, it is amazing how students can help community with the area that they are great for. I think not only kids will get so many things out of this program, but also the students will also get from this process of helping: feeling of accomplishment and gratification. I am so glad to see how CMU drama's faculties and students are engaged together to give back.
It's always nice to read a story about how people help others. Of course, this article is even nicer to read because it is talking about our own Carnegie Mellon students helping the hearing impaired. This program was such an awesome idea because it takes students talents and allows them to use them in a way that is fun and productive at the same time. Giving back is always important and in this case it's a win/win since the ones helping, also get credit hours. In the fast paced and always busy world of a Carnegie Mellon student, I'm sure this is a very nice change to an otherwise pressure filled day.
This article makes me really want to take class with Natalie! It's so great that some of our classmates are able to take the skills they've learned in their first years here at CMU and use them to help disabled (but determined) kids with those skills as upper-classmen. This program seems like ana amazing one, and I wish that more programs like it exist. As a participant in Growing Theatre, I see how important it is for kids to have young adults to learn from, work with, and look up to. Just putting in an hour or two a week to help these kids can make a huge difference in their lives. As Cat mentioned, this article brings to mind a great number of opportunities that we may have after graduation- even if we go on to be in professional theatre, who says we can't help kids on the side? We are learning a multitude of valuable life skills in the School of Drama that can apply to many areas of life, not just to theatre, and that we can pass on to those who will come after us. Congratulations to Natalie and her class for their success with this fantastic program!
Bravo to all of the CMU Drama students involved in the My True Voice program. I think it's so great that in addition to hosting one of the top theatre programs in the country, the SOD is so focused on outreach through My True Voice, Growing Theatre, and other programs. You might think that we would have no time for these, but I argue that it's programs like My True Voice that help make our school so successful. By training students who understand the craft and also know how to use it to help the community, we're really training top-notch artists to take over and change the world.
What a wonderful program. I know that one of my most valued skills is my ability to communicate verbally. For people with hearing loss it can be very hard not just to listen but also to speak. Some much of what we do and are around in our daily lives can only be shared but spoken langue and thus it is super important that we all try to be the best communicators we can be. When I was little I was unable to say my "R"s. But with the help of a speech therapist I was able to correct my pronunciation in a few months. I think that as a young child working on speech skills with a group of my peer while playing fun games with friendly college skills sounds amazing. I hope that CMU keeps this program up. I wish I was able tot take speech class so that I could take part.
It's remarkable to see just how theatre can help anyone. I love how this is truly a win win situation like it said in the article. The students receive the ability to learn and grow in a fun and creative atmosphere while being able to look up to someone in their own community and the actors get to see a new perspective while working on exercises and showing what they've learned. It's a great situation and it's great to know programs like that have been started and are still being created today. Knowing that there is a way to help out others with theatre besides putting on a show is truly inspiring.
amongst the stress, projects, fights, and aggravations - its always a nice moment when you are reminded why you go here. its easy to get caught up in the going ons of classes and productions and forget about the learning opportunities you have and how you can use what youre learning to give back to the community. thats one of the things that sets our graduates apart is that we are not content with just being well educated in our fields, we are constantly continuing to learn and investing right back into our society. its a great thing to be a dramat here at cmu
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