BALDWIN PARK – Students from Baldwin Park Unified’s Cornerstone program joined together Oct. 30 to create beaded bracelets, pencil sketches, colorful tissue paper flowers and side-walk chalk creations.
Twenty special education classes from Olive Middle, Foster, Central, De Anza, Pleasant View, Margaret Heath, Kenmore and Vineland elementary schools delighted in an abundance of art-based activities during the third annual Community Advisory Committee (CAC) of the East San Gabriel Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA) Festival of the Arts.
“It’s my first time at the festival and I love that I got my face painted,” Kenmore Elementary first-grader Donovan Vargas said. “This field trip is so awesome.”
More than 850 students from across the region attended the event, which included displays of student art work, a live performance and a series of stations allowing students to engage with a variety of interactive art.
Baldwin Park Unified was among 10 school districts and six charter schools to take part in the morning-long celebration of the arts organized by the CAC, a parent advisory group.
“SELPA’s Festival of the Arts is by far the best event that we attend all year,” Kenmore Elementary special day class instructor Melissa Swailes said. “There are so many activities for students to do and it engages them in a deep way that makes this all worth it.”
Halloween-inspired stations included plastic pumpkins filled with mystery objects for students to identify by touch and a “Ghostbusters” dance-along. A few administrators and student volunteers dressed up as iconic characters like Wonder Woman and Batman.
East San Gabriel SELPA launched the Festival of the Arts in 2015-16 to provide a venue for students to share their art and to inspire new ways of creating art.
"This is a wonderful event that celebrates the talent and artistic ambition of our students and their teachers,” Baldwin Park Unified Superintendent Dr. Froilan N. Mendoza said. “We are thrilled to be involved and to help bring our visual arts students and community partners together.”
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BPUSD_SELPA_1: Students from Baldwin Park Unified’s Central Elementary joined more than 850 students from across the region to explore an abundance of arts-based activities during the third annual Community Advisory Committee (CAC) of the East San Gabriel Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA) Festival of the Arts on Oct. 30. Baldwin Park Unified was among 10 school districts and six charter schools to take part in the morning-long celebration of the arts organized by the CAC, a parent advisory group.
BPUSD_SELPA_2: Students from Baldwin Park Unified’s Cornerstone program joined together Oct. 30 to create colorful paper cutouts, pencil sketches, tissue paper flowers and side-walk chalk creations. Twenty special education classes from Olive Middle, Foster, Central, De Anza, Pleasant View, Margaret Heath, Kenmore and Vineland elementary schools attended the third annual Community Advisory Committee (CAC) of the East San Gabriel Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA) Festival of the Arts.