JHS English teacher, Betsy Rowe-Baehr, sits with students on a giant, iconic Ampitheater bench. Submitted photos

Lectures, art exhibits, acting troops and poetry were just some of the amazing experiences that twenty Jamestown High School students in Betsy Rowe-Baehr’s and Barbi Price’s English 9 classes had the opportunity to experience this summer at Chautauqua Institution.

JHS students visited the Institution on Education Wednesdays to continue a poetry workshop experience they had participated in last spring. Teaching Artists, David Hassler and Sony Ton-Aime, from the Kent State Wick Poetry Center, spent four days in Jamestown High School in May.

“As a result of the success with our students, Chautauqua agreed to host us on two Education Wednesdays to promote more awareness and access to the Poetry Makerspace and the ‘Stanzas on the Plaza’ event, which is an open mic poetry reading on Bester Plaza,” said Rowe-Baehr. “The live performances included poems that JHS students had either memorized for the Poetry Out Loud competition, found from established poets that they liked, or wrote during the spring workshop. It was not always their own poetry but it was to celebrate writing, and often the students offered their own personal poems for performance.”

While at Chautauqua Institution, JHS students had an opportunity to flex their creative muscles at the Poetry Makerspace, a partnership with the Wick Poetry Center located in the historic colonnade building on Bestor Plaza. The technology-infused interactive exhibit included both analog and digital engagement tools that invited guests to create poetry from core texts selected to complement each week’s theme and arts programming. Using a poetry device similar to “Found Poetry” and “Blackout Poetry,” an application called Emerge enabled novice and established poets alike to create poems by selecting words or phrases in text that most appealed to them. They could then share their poems on social media, on video, or even on a postcard that was printed on location.

“Watching our students engage at Chautauqua Institution this summer was wonderful,” said Mrs. Price. “Chautauqua is a tremendous cultural resource that many of them don’t take advantage of; the kids were enthralled by the lectures, the art gallery, and the creative community that lies less than twenty minutes away from their homes,” said Mrs. Price. “Chautauqua Institution’s community outreach has been exceptional this year. From offering Kennedy Center Workshops to welcoming our students and staff on the free Education Wednesdays, Chautauqua clearly made an effort to be a gateway for our young people.”

Tenth grade student John Carlson added, “The visits to Chautauqua were great learning experiences. We found our own voices at the Poetry Makerspace and reconnected with David Hassler and Sony Ton-Aime. We wrote our own poetry and performed it with other Chautauquans. Mrs. Price gave us a tour of the art galleries, and we heard an interesting lecture. Every Jamestown High School student who has the chance should visit this amazing place.”