CASA celebrates Lynn student's creativity

LYNN — On Wednesday night, Lynn students and families gathered for an evening dedicated to creativity, innovation, performances, and showcasing the educational programs offered at CASA, the City Arts and Sciences Academy.

As a project-based learning school, one of CASA’s core principles is community, explains Special Education teacher Eric Seymour, and the Learning Exhibition event served as an opportunity to showcase to the Lynn community all of the different projects that the students, grades sixth through ninth, have been working on.

“We’ve had so much support from people in the community, whether it be through helping us with supplies or helping us with expertise on different topics or areas that kids are interested in,” Seymour said. “The heart of this event is really about the community.”

Every trimester, CASA offers different sets of what they refer to as STEAM blocks, which stands for science, technology, engineering, the arts and mathematics. This trimester, one of them included the CASA Chronicles, which Seymour was a part of, that gave over 60 sixth graders the chance to write opinion columns as though they’re in a student newspaper: the “Geek Out” column was all about the things they’re passionate about, while others included what’s going on in the world and what they think about in terms of art. These were displayed on the walls of the school, where visitors and those attending the event could read and admire their work.

Another project includes chair design. While CASA doesn’t have a wood shop, the idea was to intertwine the school’s core mission of community with education throughout the arts and sciences. Students even made prototypes out of cardboard to further understand construction and the engineering behind it. “We’ve got a whole bunch of those on display as well, representing their culture and their pride,” Seymour added. “An idea of a chair, where two or more people can sit in it and engage with each other, is this idea of fostering communication.”

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Photo: Spenser Hasak | Purchase this photo

CASA Lynn students created Alebrijes, brightly colored, fantastical Mexican folk art sculptures depicting imaginary creatures, for the school's first Learning Exhibition.