Stage
Training Apprentice Mentor Program (STAMP), Project definition:
Chesapeake Bay Floating Theatre, Inc.’s community outreach
program, STAMP, is an innovative after school program for
children between the ages of 14 years old and 17 years old
targeting children with greatest need in Charles County.
photo
is: Kelly Boyd, one of our mentors, with Kofi, Terrena and
Clarissa on the set of Pippin
The
Community:
The town
of Indian Head is a town of 3500 people which are evenly divided,
racially, between Caucasians and African Americans. It sits
at the terminus of State Route #210, approximately 30 miles
from Washington, D.C. and abuts a naval station which occupies
a peninsula in the Potomac River. It is serviced only by a
single bus along the #210 corridor.
The town
has no shopping center, no cinema, no community pools, no
children’s playgrounds within neighborhoods, no library
or store from which to purchase books should the community
so desire. The town has one elementary school and one middle
school which is the feeder school for a large suburban high
school beyond the town borders. Where the schools can look
with pride at their attendance rate (2004 92.5%), the community
cannot consider the reported work within those schools a success.
Grades 3 and 5 read below 60% and grades 6 through 8 read
at a Basic Level at and below 50%. At the middle school 53.1%
of classes are taught by teachers not highly qualified, and
the percentage for high school is 62.2%. The graduation rate
the high school graduation rate of 78.46% reflects a high
number of students who have given up on their academic potential.
Clearly, the job of providing learning experiences belongs
to the entire community, not simply to overburdened, understaffed
and under budgeted schools.
Funding:
We have received grant funding and donations from a miriad
of sources. Energetics Technology Center, Charles County Government,
are the two largest funders. We are also seeking funding form
various Foundations.
Volunteer
Advisory Board
Nancy
Van Gulick, Holly Bednar, Beverly Hardy, Peggy Palmer
Chesapeake
Bay Floating Theatre, Inc (CBFT) operates the Black Box Theatre
in the Indian Head Center for the Arts as part of its development
of the James Adams II Floating Theatre. CBFT is dedicated
to cultural advancement of the region through education, arts
and entertainment. |
Stage
Training Apprentice Mentoring Program (STAMP)