Guest Columnist – Ron Demele brings twenty years of experience from the art field to the Eisenhower Project. He was a film education instructor at Shasta College and was the former Director of both the Trinity County Arts Council and founder of the Lee Family Ranch House folk Arts Visitor Center. He was also instrumental in the implementation of the ongoing Local Arts Education Project of Trinity County Schools, working with a broad community effort to bring the arts into the local schools curriculum. Before coming to College of the Siskiyous last June, he spent time in Dublin, Ireland where he was a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar at the University College of Dublin, and received his Masters degree in Film.

This past summer College of the Siskiyous welcomed Ron Demele, Coordinator for the Eisenhower Arts Project "Enriching Education Through Instruction in the Arts" to the community after the successful implementation of a one year pilot project funded by the California Post Secondary Education Commission. This two-year project funding will allow the expansion of the project to include the successful implementation of new elements of this Art training program for local teachers.

The goals of this specially funded project are to provide training and support to Siskiyou County K-12 teachers to encourage integration of the arts into every subject area. Other goals include increasing student success rates through the use of arts instruction; developing a well-rounded arts program in Siskiyou County schools; and, creating a community awareness of the positive effects the arts have on learning.

Currently twelve schools are participating in the Eisenhower Project with College of the Siskiyous being the host site and providing the project coordination. Participating schools include: Butteville Elementary, Dorris Elementary, Dunsmuir Elementary, Gold Street Elementary, Happy Camp Elementary, Happy Camp High School, Jackson Street School, Mt. Shasta High School, Scott Valley Jr. High, Sisson Elementary, Weed High School, and Weed Elementary.

Teachers from the participating schools attend monthly Teacher Arts Council meetings at COS to learn lesson plan development, discuss new approaches to incorporate the arts into their curriculum, and learn about special resources that are available. Teachers are able to share their knowledge, success stories as well as difficulties they have had with their colleagues and with representatives from Northern California Arts Project (NCAP) who are linked to Chico State University, and provide technical support in the Arts.

Last summer twenty-three teachers received certificates from the Summer Arts Institute for participating in art workshops as diverse as clay tile making and ballet. These teachers exemplify the effort required to incorporate the arts into the everyday teaching knowledge of Siskiyou County teachers.

The same teachers have now embarked on a mentoring program within their schools so that other teachers may benefit from the same type of training. By having mentors at each school, this ensures a better teaching approach of the arts at each participating school. The recent acquisition of equipment in the Eisenhower Lending Library will allow teachers the opportunity to expand their teaching methods and use new learning tools in the classroom.

Learning tools include: books, such as How the Brain Learns ; music, such as classical selections like Vivaldi’s Four Seasons; portable kilns, sound synthesizers, microphones, musical instruments, digital video cameras, and other arts related equipment.

Each school site has committed to match resources for program materials at their school and allow the participating teachers time to receive this specialized training.

Progress of the project may be viewed by visiting the project web site at www.siskiyous.edu/EisenhowerArts. From the Home Page you can visit the Lending Library; see what resources are available, meet the people, view the community projects, go to the Gallery, etc.

Future development of the Eisenhower Arts Project will be explored in the form of Community Arts Projects, where schools will enlist help from community members, volunteers, and artists to create performances, art installations, and events to show and celebrate the classroom successes of students.

For more information about the Eisenhower Arts Project, contact Program Coordinator, Ron Demele at the Weed Campus, 938-5316 or email demele@siskiyous.edu. Or call toll-free, 1-888-397-4339.