The Game of Me
Freshmen in a CAW artmaking program at A. Philip Randolph Campus High School explore self-awareness and develop interpersonal skill by designing board games.
“Most of the elements of our bodies formed in the stars billions of years ago. The clock necklace can turn back time all the way to the beginning when humans were stars. When she feels like she wants to hide or escape, she turns back time and joins the stars in the night sky.”
— Freshman student in the CAW Foundations class at A. Phillip Randolph High School
In 2020, teachers and staff at A. Philip Randolph Campus High School wanted to give incoming freshmen some helpful guideposts for navigating the transition from middle school to high school, so they introduced the Foundations program, which helps them develop personal and interpersonal effectiveness. Creative Art Works has partnered with APRCHS since the inception of Foundations by providing an integrated artmaking component to the program. CAW Teaching Artist Abby Walsh says that this past year she modified all her curriculum to address two growing challenges facing every school in America today: high absenteeism and lack of engagement.
Abby said, “The shape of our world is changing. Kids are growing up online and there's something missing in their communication skills. So, our Foundations projects focus on building the skills that students need to be able to engage with each other functionally.”
“I protect myself against negativity with my light.”
For one of their first projects, students designed fashions based on their fight or flight responses. The rationale for this project is that any healthy relationship should be grounded in self-awareness. Students designed outerwear that fended off threats with spikes, camouflage, and tree branches. Flight responses included couture that converted into parachutes or rocket ships, or concealed secret portals to escape through time and space.
A subsequent project asked students to “gamify” some part of their life, whether it be their walk to school or overcoming a personal challenge. One student created a zombie apocalypse game, where the zombies represented social anxiety. Another made a game that challenged the player to overcome distractions that lead to procrastination. When one student had crafted the game in such a way that you could never win, Abby challenged her to imagine what it feels like when you get something done and then include a few ways that a player could actually win.
“The shape of our world is changing. Kids are growing up online and there’s something missing in their communication skills. So, our Foundations projects focus on building the skills that students need to be able to engage with each other functionally.”
For their final project, students worked in small groups to combine their personal games into one big game.
“I was asking her to engage with that feeling of success,” said Abby, “Even if it was just imagining it for the sake of her game, I wanted to sneak in the idea that she could actually overcome her distractions.”
For their final project, students were challenged to find ways to create a fun and playable group game that combined the strongest parts of their individual games without losing the characteristics that made them stand out. Some of these hybrid games were truly beautiful. Some of them required you to play them to appreciate their quirky angle. But all of them required students to step out of their comfort zone and work with other people (and not, for example, escape into deep space in the rocket ship hidden in their pocket).
Fight-or-Flight Fashions
“Games of Me” became “Games of We.”
This program is made possible, in part, by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. Creative Art Works’ In-School programs also receive support from the Cornelia T. Bailey Foundation and the West Harlem Development Corporation.
