Teen Leaders Soar at Adams City Middle School!

The same kids don’t always show up. Sports and other after-school activities sometimes get in the way. There isn’t a lot of extra cash floating around for supplies.

But not one of these obstacles kept the Teen Leaders after-school leadership group at Adams City Middle School from completing an amazing CAPS project to boost school spirit and community pride among their peers.

Advisor and YMCA after-school coordinator Susan Leiserson attended the CAPS Fall Follow-Up Training to get ideas for how to structure an awesome after-school experience for her Teen Leaders group. In her very first year using the CAPS process, Ms. Leiserson guided the Teen Leaders in the creation of a huge glass mosaic celebrating the Adams City Middle School mascot: the eagle!

With leadership from a few consistent participants, the group managed to conduct a school survey, select the issue of “lack of school spirit,” connect with local artists to conceptualize a public art project, raise money to buy materials, design the mosaic and complete it!

The students originally wanted to place a statue of an eagle at the school. With advice from local art galleries like the Platte Forum, though, they realized that not only would the statue be too costly, but that it wouldn’t allow for a lot of student participation.

Instead, the students followed the suggestions of local artists and instead designed a mosaic to hang at the school. They wrote a mini-grant to FrontRange Earth Force and another grant to the Denver Foundation, raising $750 for glass, wood, and other materials. Meeting four afternoons a week for over an hour each time, the students placed piece after piece of colored glass by hand until the mosaic was complete – and it was a sight to behold!

Six of the most committed of the group attended the Annual Youth Summit to show off their hard work. Though the mosaic itself was too heavy – and fragile! – to bring as part of their presentation, the students nonetheless conveyed to their peers the magnitude of what they had accomplished!