STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, and research shows that early childhood education in the Arts leads to ongoing student achievement in STEM fields. The Colima Project is supporting this ongoing connection through its summer 2012 programs in Arts + STEM in El Salvador.
Student participants in this year's Colima Project will pursue parallel internships in engineering and arts at Contra Costa College in preparation for summer work in Colima in three project areas:
- Engineering
for neighborhoods: working with residents
to construct and implement on-the-spot solutions for water shortage and
filtration
- Mural
arts training: learning traditional mural
techniques through multidisciplinary engagement with local history and
performance
- Public
art installation: Working with tradespeople
and local residents to install and situate ten public artworks in the form of
wooden doors.
In collaboration with Gelberg Rodriguez, Senior Engineer at Creegan + D'Angelo Engineers, San Francisco, students will design and construct elements of the project students will unfold in Colima during the July trip. Working with artist Amanda Eicher, Lecturer at UC Berkeley's Art Practice Department, art students will prepare a cultural exchange curriculum to accompany public art installation and community mural arts projects in Colima.
The groups will support each other throughout the time in El Salvador, offering practical skills, peer support, and creative problem-solving to each other and as temporary consultants in Colima's ongoing development processes. Colima's development committee and town elders as well as youth leaders will play a critical role in scaffolding the internship research for both cohorts as well as the experience of working in El Salvador.
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