Final Multimedia Project

Artist Statement

For my final multimedia project, I wanted to add more depth to the topic of success in Hispanic schools while still keeping the same structure. It was a little bit harder for me to get ideas in order to change this presentation when compared to the last one. This is because following the Easter celebration and getting all of my hours in, I wasn’t able to return to the school to continue volunteering because of my busy schedule. So instead of going back to the school to take more pictures, I though I’d focus on the function of art in the surrounding community. I also thought art in the community would be a good aspect to incorporate into my presentation because I had helped out with arts and crafts activities every time I was at Escuela Vieau.

In order to gather images for this new element in my project, I decided to park at Walker’s Point on National Ave, and walk a couple miles in both directions to see what kind of public art I could find. I was successful in coming across about a dozen murals, which were perfect for my project. After taking pictures of these pieces, I was then able to add the element of “Art” into my presentation. In the practice and application of art exists another activity that can help a community come together, giving it hope and colorful images to look at rather than run down buildings.

I chose to assemble my presentation in the order it’s in because I wanted to start out with some facts about the failure rates of Hispanic schools, pointing out the factors that cause them to fail. I then state the things that a Hispanic school can do to counteract these negative influences, all of which Escuela Vieau is already doing. I then show images of the quilt project and Easter celebration, since the main focus of both of those things was family. I also wanted to make visible the fact that all of the teachers that helped out with the after school program, as well as the students, had a great attitude and were extremely happy and welcoming to all of the volunteers. In the midst of the quotes and images of students, I threw in a couple pictures of public art in the community to show that there is hope!

In completing this multimedia project I learned a lot about the Hispanic community and that it’s not that different from anywhere else. Yes, language can be a barrier, but just because you don’t speak the same language another person does, doesn’t mean you can’t communicate. Seeing how Hispanic schools function and the ways they are similar, yet different from the schools I attended, really helped to give me a new perspective on the Hispanic community as a whole. I learned a lot and I would definitely look into doing something similar to service learning again!

Final Project Proposal

For my final multimedia project, I want to expand on the topic of my last presentation, discussing why a lot of Hispanic school's do not succeed and then showing the things that Escuela Vieau does to counteract this. Instead of just focusing on the school itself, I would like to go out into the community, now that the weather is nicer, and just walk around and take pictures and notes on what I see. By doing so I hope to get a better grasp of the experience of living in a Hispanic community, as well as knowing what their culture and lifestyle is like. I feel that if I can get a better sense of the feel of their community, I can then show how that influences Escuela Vieau both positively and negatively. This will allow me to highlight how the school counteracts the negative influences, and embraces the positive aspects of their community and culture.

I might also consider incorporating how art influences the community positively as well (as seen in murals around the community), since I worked mostly with the arts and crafts activity at Escuela Vieau.

Service Learning (Post 3)

It's been a while since the last time I volunteered at Escuela Vieau, since I got all my hours in right away, but I realized I still needed to have one more blog post. So looking back on the experience of volunteering at Escuela Vieau, I feel like I learned a lot and got some great ideas for our multimedia project. I had never really been to an all Hispanic school before, and although it was intimidating at first, it turned out to be a great experience. The kids that I helped tutor and helped with arts and crafts were just like any other kids, except for they spoke a different language and quizzed me on Spanish words that I knew. It was almost like they were just as fascinated with me as I was with them.

Besides just the students, the teachers and helpers that worked with the boys and girls club of Milwaukee had a great attitude from what I saw. The teacher for arts and crafts didn't speak a lot of English, but still made an effort to communicate with me and was excited that I was helping out with their projects. I was planning on continuing to volunteer after getting in all the hours I needed, but with working 30 hours a week and having lots of homework I wasn't able to go back. But I learned a lot from this experience! I've always wanted to work with people that come from different backgrounds and cultures because I love learning about people and cultures that are different from mine, but I was always hesitant to do so and since I'm not very outgoing it was intimidating to me. But now that I have this experience, the next time I get the opportunity to volunteer or work with people from different backgrounds, it won't be as intimidating!

Multimedia Presentation 1

Multimedia Presentation

For Film 150, we had to volunteer at Escuela Vieau, a Hispanic school on the south side of Milwaukee. It was a great experience to work with the boys and girls club, to help tutor the children and help them with their arts and crafts activities. So for my multimedia presentation I wanted to show the things Escuela Vieau is doing to help their students succeed. Hispanic schools are often in rough neighborhoods where not everybody knows how to speak English. There are high drop out rates and high crime rates and many of these schools fail, but Escuela Vieau is different than the typical Hispanic school.

The principle of Escuela Vieau, who recently retired, was the one who started all of the programs and community connections the school has today. It is a known fact that family and community involvement and participation helps students have higher self-esteem and success in school. For my multimedia presentation I wanted to communicate the message that there is hope for all Hispanic schools, and Escuela Vieau is a fine example of the success that is possible when family and community are involved.

Service Learning (Post 2)

After volunteering for about nine hours so far, I am feeling more comfortable working with the students at Escuela Vieau. Most of the students need help with math, which is the easiest for me to help them with, but I have also helped them with social studies, science and writing. It’s interesting to look at the difference in their textbooks, since the math books are all in Spanish, yet the other books are not. In one of the fourth grader’s social studies books the students were learning about Wisconsin’s history, which was interesting to me, since my mom teaches fourth grade at Blakewood in South Milwaukee and a lot of the stuff they were learning about was familiar to me from what she talks about at home.

For the arts and crafts part of the day, the students were done making the quilt squares, and were working on coloring pictures for Easter today. Mrs. Ramirez and I were finishing up writing on the squares that were not quite done yet. It’s funny because whenever I’m with the students they quiz me on the Spanish I know, which isn’t much, and today Mrs. Ramirez told me that the kids speak mostly Spanish at school and I should learn it. I have noticed that pretty much all of the signs in the school are in Spanish, while some have both Spanish and English on them. Today a couple of girls were asking me if I knew a lot of English, which is funny because that’s pretty much all I know, and they were telling me that their parents only knew Spanish, so I asked them if they helped translate for their parents and they said they did. I have found that this happens a lot of the time, since their parents were not born and raised here and still haven’t learned English, yet their children go to school where they either learn English or speak only English, so they know it and end up with the responsibility of translating for their parents.

Service Learning (Post 1)

When I first went to Escuela Vieau for the service learning orientation I was excited to volunteer, and to learn more about the Hispanic culture. During orientation we learned about the Boys and Girls program and all of the activities they hold for the children every day. We also got introduced to the staff that we would be working with, and got a tour of the school. It was nice to see the place where I would be volunteering, but it was still hard to know for sure what it would be like.



Once I finally got to work with the children, I got a better understand of the program and the people in it. It was a little difficult since I haven’t had to do elementary school homework in a long time, but the fact that the textbooks were in Spanish made it even harder for me to understand, and the students were not able to fully translate what they said. So I’m still getting used to that part of the tutoring.



For the second half of my time there I’ve been working with arts and crafts where we have been making squares that will be used for a quilt. Each student gets to help design a square with puffy paint and then write a reason that they admire their family, or a particular member of their family. The arts and crafts teacher speaks mostly Spanish, which makes communicating a little bit difficult, but she is very nice and has been overly thankful to me for helping her with the project. The students that I have worked with are similar to kids that you would find at any elementary school, the only difference is their ethnicity and the language that they speak. So overall, I would say that I have learned a little bit more about the Spanish culture so far with the quilt project since the art teacher was very enthusiastic that it emphasized the importance of family.