Art Lab Program Builds Brooklyn Community Connections

4/20/2007

Brooklyn teens have found an oasis at Brooklyn College's Community Partnership Program (BCCP), at work since 1994 helping teens make the transition from high school to university through programs based both at Brooklyn College and at several local high schools.

And the benefits of BCCP programs are not restricted to high school students. As part of their service learning fieldwork in psychology, Brooklyn College students serve as interns for BCCP programs. These internships are invaluable for students wishing to pursue careers in youth development.

BCCP is a unique network of Brooklyn College faculty, student interns, and staff members who share responsibility for helping both high school and college students to become positive and successful adults.

Exposing high school students to the promise of Brooklyn College is a direct result of reaching out to them in their own neighborhoods. The high schools that BCCP draws from are among the most underserved in Brooklyn, including Bushwick, Erasmus Hall, George Wingate, New Utrecht, Paul Robeson, and Prospect Heights.
"Our use of the arts and technology as well as our commitment to developing relationships with young people and to the concept of 'network' makes us unique," says BCCP Director Diane Reiser. The BCCP approach to youth development-college preparation, academic achievement, and camaraderie-has been a springboard to success for many high school students.

College student interns also profit from the experience: "Eight of our full-time staff of eighteen were originally service learning students, and they are all graduates of Brooklyn College," says Reiser. One successful Brooklyn College graduate, Nixon Mercidieu, began his service learning fieldwork with BCCP at Bushwick, when he took a course at BC with Professor of Psychology Nancy Romer. He has since earned a master's degree in industrial and organizational psychology, and has been employed by BCCP for the past five years.

"What I'm most proud of," says Reiser, "is that BCCP has successfully created a network that allows young people in Brooklyn to experience Brooklyn College in their community and at the same time become part of the BC community." Students may also take a course on how to prepare for the SAT.

The newly created hub may not be a utopia, says BCCP Director of Network Programs, Steve Ausbury, "but our numbers are growing, and we send more and more high school students to college."

Each weekday, the Art Lab offers a broad range of activities for teenagers eager to spend their time and energy positively. "I always find something to do," says Balsone Sylvain, a student at the Brooklyn College Academy. "We have basketball tournaments, learn how to set up Web sites at the computer lab, and sometimes play music."

"Eventually we will have an exhibition space for working artists," says David Goodman, the Art Lab site director. "I want the students to come in and see what a real exhibition space with working artists is like. It will be a space for both artists and students to display their work."

"The Art Lab definitely gives you a lot of options for finding your talents. You can explore your artistic or your intellectual side," says Brooklyn College student and BCCP intern Lusana Ahsan.

For BCCP Director Reiser, the way the program joins together high school and college students is what really counts: "The fact that we use college students in all of our programs makes our connections strong," she says, "it's the connections that are significant."

For more information about the BCCP, please visit their Web site.