The First Rule of Project Lit: Be Brave!

September 27, 2018

In the short-term, Mesa Arts Center’s out of school youth education program, Project Lit, works to empower youth to read, write and speak with purpose, helping to move students closer to grade level standards and graduation. In the long-term, Project Lit aims to engage students in a compounded learning experience that helps them move past fears while challenging them to look at adversity not as a roadblock but a puzzle to solve.

In this blog post, Project Lit Program Founder and Manager Tomas Stanton takes over to share a story of his life’s work in creating enthusiastic, lifelong learners who approach the world though a critical but compassionate lens.

“Three years ago, our spoken word poetry program Project Lit entered into partnership with a local junior high school, which was a feeder school to four of the high schools that already hosted Project Lit.

On our first day of holding Project Lit at this school we had close to 40 students show up. This is a large number compared to our normal class size, which is 15 to 20 students. Out the 40, four young students really stood out. This wasn’t just because of their talent as young writers, it was also because of their enthusiasm and dedication.

At the conclusion of our 25-week residencies we host a City-Wide Youth poetry festival. This festival provides all the students from our program an opportunity to come together in celebration of their hard work.

When I mentioned this event to my young poets they asked if they were going to be the only junior high students there. My answer was yes.

For the first time, I saw this group of fearless middle schoolers students retreat. When I asked what was wrong, they informed me it was because they didn’t feel comfortable sharing their work outside of their school. Additionally, they were afraid that they were going to be the youngest poets there.

Now, I’ve learned that this is a normal reaction to publicly sharing your work outside the comfort of your community. I told my students that they didn’t have to do anything they didn’t feel comfortable doing. But I also reminded them of the first rule of Project Lit: Be Brave!

When the festival arrived, the students showed up with no intention of performing. However, once things got going and they saw how empowered all of the students who performed felt when leaving the stage, they asked if there was still space for them to perform.

And perform they did. I am proud to say that not only did they share their poems, they were also some of the most powerful performers to take the stage that day. It was so amazing to see how the older students took these junior high kids under their wings and made them feel a part of the greater community.

Today, those once-upon-a-junior-high-school students are now sophomores at Mesa High School, and not only did their team win the City-Wide Youth Poetry Festival, they also played a major role in ushering in the next generation of young poets to the family. And this is what Project Lit is all about, creating brave, compassionate young learners who are ready to build up those around them and take on the world!”

To learn more about Project Lit, visit www.mesaartscenter.com/projectlit or contact Tomas Stanton directly, at tomas.stanton@mesaartscenter.com.

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