Staff Blog Week 1 - Emely De La Cruz Rose

Staff Blog Week 1

By Emely De La Cruz Rose – Junior Assistant, Dance

City Spotlights is a program designed for young people to use their voice in any form of art to express their opinions and thoughts to the world. A place where you would not be judged by who you are. A place where you can build and find that confidence to face the world out there. Now returning as a Junior Assistant, you can see how this program has and continues to change the lives of so many young people. 

It has been a week since the program started, and I have noticed a lot of changes, which are making the program way better. An example was the day of choosing the theme, where they narrowed down the possible ideas to four. Those topics became four groups, and the teens in those groups had to come up with a thesis statement to convince or persuade the other groups on why their theme should be the chosen one. That was an incredible strategy to use in order to select a topic because it allowed different groups to start practicing how to present an opinion, as well as how to respond to those who may differ from them, and possible questions that might emerge. 

This program, so far, has been amazing, and it's very exciting to see young people going through the same experiences as I did. Seen the reflection of yourself in those teens, who do not know who to ask for help, who believe no one can understand them, and that they prefer to stay quiet so that they would not be judged for their opinion. But seeing these teens little by little breaking down the fears and barriers, demonstrates the point and purpose of this program, which is to help each individual create and develop their best version through the lens of the arts.