Monday, May 19, 2003

WRITER: Michael Childs, 706/542-5889, mchilds@coe.uga.edu
CONTACTS: Pamela Taylor, 706/542-1640, pgtaylor@uga.edu; Janna Dresden, jdresden@hotmail.com

CLARKE ELEMENTARY STUDENTS TO LEARN FROM
UGA ART STUDENTS' STUDY ABROAD IN CUBA

ATHENS, Ga. – University of Georgia students participating in the Lamar Dodd School of Art’s study abroad program in Cuba this month will share their new knowledge of and experiences in that country with students in one of the two elementary schools participating in the UGA-Clarke Schools Partnership.

Art professors Joseph Norman and Pamela Taylor left Sunday to take a group of UGA students to Cuba for a Maymester course. The UGA students will visit a few schools and teach art classes in selected after school programs while in Cuba. The group will return on May 30.

As part of the ongoing UGA-Clarke Schools Partnership, Gaines Elementary School art teacher Janna Dresden and Taylor are planning an event at the school on Tuesday, June 3. The UGA art students who went to Cuba will facilitate a few "mini-assemblies" where young students will be involved in dancing, viewing pictures and slides, and creating art with the theme of the art and culture of Cuba.

The two-year-old partnership, which is the brainchild of education dean Louis Castenell and Clarke County School superintendent Lewis Holloway, is transforming the two pilot schools – Chase Street and Gaines School – into community learning centers that operate on an extended 195-day, year-round schedule to better meet student needs.

For more on the UGA Study Abroad program in Cuba, see www.uga.edu/oie.orientation/cuba.htm and www.arches.uga.edu/~newport/cubaprogram.html.
For more on the UGA-Clarke School Partnership, see www.clarke.k12.ga.us/ccsduga.

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