ArtSY program empowers students to connect with open spaces through art
Did you know that six schools are within walking distance of the Southeast Greenway? This summer, Sonoma Land Trust piloted the ArtSY for Parks (Art, Science and Youth) program to empower middle school students who live near the Santa Rosa Southeast Greenway.
The students learned how to use artistic expression, including painting, sculpture, and creative writing, to communicate the importance of land conservation and open spaces in their neighborhoods. They explored topics such as conservation, environmental justice, and urban heat islands, building a foundational understanding of the importance of nature.
The pilot program included eight students who attended Spring Lake Charter and Herbert Slater Middle School, which are in close proximity to the future Greenway.
Each week, the group developed new skills to help them artistically express what they had learned and deepen their connection to the environment.
At the end of the program, each student created a piece of artwork to express the significance and positive impact the Greenway could bring to their community. One of the students in the program, Elly Somnavong, read her poem, “Haven,” at the celebratory opening of the Southeast Greenway earlier in December.
Haven
A perfect haven,
A place for any and all to come to whenever;
Filled with beautiful nature,
Avoiding the chaos of the modern world.Somewhere for them to be themselves
Somewhere for all kinds of people to reset their minds;
Easing their worries and giving them a space to be away from their troubles.
Small places like this do exist but they are vanishing faster and faster as time goes on.Companies remove the land and renovate if for “better usages”
But all they are doing is making the lives of everyone else harder.
People need these green spaces.
Without them communities will lose out on so much.Will you lend a hand and help make places like this?
The Santa Rosa Southeast Greenway will make this dream a reality.
A project fifteen years in the making.The project that will grant people a perfect place to be alone.
A place to be themselves, to hide away from the world.
A safe space to clear their minds and make new memories
Memories that they will remember and cherish,
Instead of shut out of their heads and shut down into panic.People need green spaces to better their health, both mental and physical aspects.
Green spaces give things to people,
They give things that no money-grabbing mass producing company can.
Green spaces help the world and everything in it.So please, lend a hand and help out!
Every bit, every little bit helps.
Spreading awareness, giving time to help others, supporting local efforts, anything.
Any efforts at all are contributing to the community.
All those efforts, no matter how big or small
Those efforts are helping to give hundreds of people a perfect Haven.By: Elly Somnavong
