ABOUT US
Vela means “come out and shine” in Xhosa
and “candle” in Spanish.
The VELA Scholars program provides Amherst Regional Middle School (ARMS) students with learning and enrichment opportunities after regular school hours beyond what might otherwise be available to them. We work hard to increase students’ confidence, social, and emotional well-being, as well as their academic performance. By working with teachers, interns, community partners, and other students in the classroom and beyond, VELA hopes students will:
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Increase core competencies and comprehension in academic subjects
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Engage in intellectually stimulating and personally interesting projects and activities
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Prevent the loss of recently learned skills and knowledge
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Feel a greater connection to ARMS and the local community
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Have fun while learning!
A Partnership With The Collaborative for Educational Services & Amherst Regional Middle School
Summer Academic Classes
Our Approach:
Our summer programs use a style of learning known as “experiential learning.” This style of learning focuses on doing activities rather than passively listening or absorbing information. Students engage with lessons in hands-on ways, like through art, music, and physical activity.
VELA uses a type of experiential learning called “project-based learning.” This term means that students receive creative tasks with well-defined end goals to complete during a given time, whether virtually or in-person. Activity leaders and academic teachers create projects that combine academic subjects with fun experiences.
Experiential learning, specifically project-based learning, has been shown to benefit students primarily by keeping their attention more readily than lecture-based learning styles. Doing a hands-on activity engages more of a student’s mind than just listening to a lecture, and self-contained projects with concrete goals establish direction for students in relatively short amount of time.
Summer 2020 Classes:
Identity Through Art
with Ms. Brittany Clark
Personal identity is a complex topic, one that has become especially relevant in these times, and middle school students benefit from exploring their identities by learning more about themselves and how to interact with the world around them. In this class, students watch videos with stories about personal identity, engage in class discussions, and complete art projects that relate to these issues of identity. Some projects include “graffiti art,” where different sections of the page include different aspects of a student’s identity, “magazine art,” where students use magazine clippings to create a self-portrait, and mask-making, where students create a paper plate mask that represents the identity they present to the outside world. Mrs. Clark fosters intimate discussion without forcing students to share anything with which they feel uncomfortable, and she makes identity concrete through the creation of art.
Leadership Through Expression
with Mr. Tem Blessed
This class explored leadership as it pertained to the students' personal lives and communities. Mr. Blessed posed thought-provoking questions in which students may share in class or respond in journals. Each week we discussed a different theme from family and community to global issues. We had many thoughtful conversations about the adversities this country and this world are currently facing. The students were then empowered to consider themselves as future leaders and what they may do about these issues going forward. Through multiple discussions, students were able to define which issues they were most passionate about. As a final project, students were asked to express their leadership initiative regarding a current issue in an expressive way through essays, poems, and illustrations.
Math in the Visual Arts
with Ms. Tiffany Thibodeau
Math in the Visual Arts explores the connection between mathematics and art. We learn about mathematical concepts that underlie different artistic works and methods. For example, we look at the connection between lines and curves, geometric shapes and modernism, and trigonometry and forced perspective. Using these explorations as inspiration, we create our own pieces of artwork that demonstrate mathematical concepts using a variety of mediums from pencil and paper to photography to found materials.
Multimedia Storytelling and American Monuments
with Mr. Michael Lawrence-Riddel
In this class, students explored the nature of multimedia storytelling projects and hinged their assessments based on material about American monuments. Students debated and discussed the complex question: who and what should we memorialize? This question led students to interrogate the public monuments in their hometown, public monuments in the South, and public monuments to the oppressed. Through these discussions, students upturn previous definitions of heroism and redefine what it means to be a hero in America. Concurrently, as students grappled with these big, often philosophical questions, they watched documentaries about figures in American history. Students then made their own documentaries about figures of their choice. With editing and production assistance from Mr. L-R, students left the class with a short documentary written and artistically directed by them.
Storytelling Workshop
with Ms. Ingrid Hopkins
Storytelling is a great way to improve student’s writing and reading skills while also building confidence and public speaking abilities. In this class, students listen to true stories told live and find inspiration to recall stories from their own lives where they took a risk or faced a challenge among other themes. They bravely share their drafts and listen to each other's personal stories to offer feedback and support as a group. Ms. Hopkins fosters a welcoming and encouraging environment where students improve their writing by working on skills such as setting the scene, adding descriptive words and imagery, describing the moment of conflict, and reflecting on how it left the writer feeling.
Understanding through Modeling and Data Analysis
with Mr. Jonathan Newman
Modeling and data analysis allow students to conceptualize problems in new ways. In this class, students learn how to utilize an architectural modeling software called Sketchup to scale and build blueprints and models. These creations exemplify students’ understanding of home building and illustrate expressions of their creativity. On the side of data analysis, students explored the question of whether Boston is a racist city by analyzing given data in multiple ways and then drawing conclusions from them.
Climate change impacts and solutions
With Mrs. Jensen
Climate change is a serious issue that continues to affect the younger generations more so than any other generation on Earth. In Mrs Jensen's class, the students were shown interactive videos that taught them the causes and effects of climate change on our planet. The students did role play using real world scenarios and people that are seriously affected by climate change. The goal of these types of activities was to leave an impression on the students whilst making it an activity that they would enjoy. For the final project of the class, the students drew pictures that told a story; The first picture was of a real scenario that contributes to or is affected by climate change. The second picture was of the solution they believe could fix or aid this problem. With the information taught in this class, we watched the students learn and begin to critically think about what they want to do and who they want to be in the future that can help themselves, their generation, and the world around them in combating climate change.
