FARMINGTON – SAD 9 has been awarded $450,000 to pay for an after-school and summer arts program for Mount Blue Middle School students for three years.

Seventh- and eighth-grade students will work with artists, Mount Blue Middle School teachers and University of Maine at Farmington students in active, individualized, arts-based projects related to classroom curriculum in reading, writing and mathematics. For example, a student might apply geometry theory to a drawing project, or learn about volume and area as part of a sculpture project, or discover more about a character in a novel through a dance exercise.

Each year it is expected that up to 140 students will benefit from the program, titled Creative Learning: Unlimited Excellence, or CLUE.

School administrators and teachers will work with visiting artists and their students to create a learning plan for each student, which coordinates with class work and includes arts experiences as one element of the plan. UMF students, guided by university faculty, will observe and assist during the classes, and Anne Geller, director of the Foothills Arts Center, will provide liaison between the artists and CLUE.

The program is open to all Mount Blue Middle School students, and teachers will distribute brochures in September.

Transportation will be available through the regular school shuttle bus system.

The collaborative alliance of UMF, SAD 9 and the Foothills Arts Center resulted in the award of $150,000 annually from a 21st Century Community Learning Grant, part of the No Child Left Behind initiative of the U.S. Department of Education.

CLUE welcomes parents to participate in this active learning community. Parents interested in serving on an advisory board are invited to phone Project Director Wendy Oakley at UMF, 778-7197 or UMF Administrative Assistant Pat Starratt at 778-7284.

For more information about the program, phone Oakley at 778-7197.

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