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Creative and calming — Warren students to paint during Canvas & Cocoa event

By Mahoning Matters staff and Jeremy Harper
Summit Academy Community School — Warren students were supplied with all the supplies necessary to participate in the Canvas & Cocoa virtual art sessions. (Contributed photo)
Summit Academy Community School — Warren students were supplied with all the supplies necessary to participate in the Canvas & Cocoa virtual art sessions. (Contributed photo)

WARREN — About 85 students at Summit Academy Community School will paint along with teachers and board member Kendra Godiciu today during a virtual Canvas & Cocoa event.

The event is a celebration of Valentine's Day and a way for students to discover a coping skill beneficial to all ages, especially during difficult times.

"We know art plays a therapeutic role in calming. It's a creative outlet for kids as they continue to deal with the pandemic," Principal Allison Glass said in a news release.

Glass said the virtual art event is an example of the types of programs she and her staff hope to present to students to help them through trauma and prepare for their return to the classroom in March.

The goal of such initiatives is to create what Glass calls a "responsive classroom" focused on mindfulness and safety.

"Our classrooms are safe places to make mistakes, take your armor off and be vulnerable," she said.

During today's art sessions, which will be held in tandem with parent-teacher conferences, students will embellish gift boxes with Valentine's Day-themed art as they paint along with their teachers. Students in grades four to seven will paint holiday-centered artwork with board member Godiciu, who is an art teacher for Warren City Schools.

Summit Academy provided families with all the necessary supplies. Kits include cocoa packets so students can enjoy sip-and-paint sessions.

Glass said the school typically offers about four art-centered events throughout the school year, including Saturday craft days complete with breakfast for students and families.

She said her school community can expect to see a growing presence of music, art and yoga, along with therapeutic martial arts, to provide emotional support to students not only during the pandemic and their readjustment to classrooms, but ongoing.

"We're looking for ways we can intentionally build out in these capacities," Glass said.

This story was originally published February 11, 2021 at 5:11 AM with the headline "Creative and calming — Warren students to paint during Canvas & Cocoa event."