"Jamaica Gateway Teacher has The Right Stuff"
Why masks, beads, eggs, shields, and tea are valuable teaching tools
by Anna Copeland Wheatley
January 18, 2005

When Robert Croonquist joined the English faculty at Jamaica High School in 1984, he wanted to give students an understanding and appreciation of different cultures. He was in luck. Jamaica was one of the first schools in the New York City public school system to implement a Gateway program in 1986. With the aid of Elisabeth Iler and Dr. Morty Slater, Gateway’s founders and co-directors, Croonquist developed a series of workshops that he is now spinning into its own non-profit, Youth Arts New York (soon to be up at www.youthartsnewyork.org). Croonquist recounts: “it was unusual for a math-science program like Gateway to emphasize not only the rigorous study of science, but also the rigorous study of all forms of knowledge. When we started, I remember Liz Iler saying that there is no good science without good humanities.”

The workshops approach a topic using a combination of art, anthropology, history, literature and whatever else seems appropriate. They are conducted after-school throughout the year, give students access to leading specialists and start students on a journey of self-discovery. The Mask Workshop is facilitated by Vermont mask maker Gabriel Q. Gabriel, a master of the Venetian style mask, a puppeteer and an environmentalist. Each student decorates a mask to represent an element of nature that will serve as guiding principle throughout the year. The Beading Workshop is facilitated by Shoshone beader Clyde Hall, a spirit giver and tribal elder, and Laine Thom, a Native American naturalist and curator for the National Park Service in Grand Teton National Park. Students make deerskin pouches decorated with glass beads and are taught the value of individual creativity and an appreciation of how all elements in nature are interconnected.

In the Decorative Shield Workshop facilitated by the award-winning costume designer, Debra Bauer, students discuss the concept of hero, and each designs a shield to symbolize the students’ awareness of their role as protectors or stewards of the world. In the spring, students participate in a Decorative Eggs Workshop led by Paul Wirhun, one of the world’s leading practitioners of the Ukrainian art called pysanky. Just as the shield represents the hero’s battle to defeat evil and disharmony, students learn that the decorations on the egg symbolize the gift of life the hero brings back to the community. Another one-day workshop that focuses on the harmony of humans and the environment is the traditional tea ceremony at the Urasenke Chanoyu Tea Center in Manhattan. Mr. Yamato, a Japanese tea master and master of the Samurai sword, gives students a tour of the Tea Center and then hosts a tea ceremony for the students.

These workshops are an example of the innovative educational experiences that Gateway students at Jamaica High School have enjoyed for the past 15 years. Budget cuts and changes in the public school system, however, have proven to be an entrepreneurial spur to Croonquist to expand the program of workshops to schools throughout the city. “For years, we funded Robert’s programs,” muses Gateway’s Iler. “But we were giving him the fish. Now, we have given him the fishing pole.” Croonquist would agree: “Youth Art New York takes a long-term approach to its mission. The goal is to create generations of students who embrace their responsibility as stewards of the natural world and recognize the beauty of both science and art in the pursuit of knowledge.”