31 Years at Nichols - Nichols School

Students engage in
shadow theatre while
working with Kate
Olena, Middle School
theatre teacher.
Workshops Attract & Hone Talent
by Adrienne DeCarlo Ptak ’98
You’re a fifth grader at a local middle school. Your teacher informs the
class that there is a Young Scientists’ Workshop at Nichols School in
October that all 4th, 5th and 6th, graders in Western New York are
invited to. I can make slime and extract DNA from strawberries How
about building paper towers, learning about forensics or changing the
color of pennies Or with the Young Writers’ Workshop in November,
have a chance to be with 180 other kids my age for three hours to learn
about poetry, news reporting, creative writing and how to create a story
in a bag And then, yet another invitation comes for the Young Artists’
Workshop in March. Playing with masks, zumba, shadow puppets and
button making I can’t wait to tell my
friends.
For almost 30 years, Nichols has hosted
a Young Writers’ Workshop inviting
young minds to come learn about writing.
The workshop remains the most popular
admissions event all year with nearly 180
local 4th, 5th and 6th graders on campus
on a Saturday morning in November. Five
years ago, with the success of the Writers’
Workshop in mind, the Admissions
team decided to create a Young Artists’
Workshop, using the same format as a way
to showcase our state-of-the art Flickinger
Performing Arts Center, dance studio
and art spaces. When we discovered that
kids in Western New York were equally excited about this event, it
only seemed natural, with the opening of the Class of 1963 Center
for Mathematics and Science to bring in the math and sciences. In
October 2010, we offered the Young Scientists’ Workshop – the third
in our Workshop Series.
On each of these Saturday mornings, eager students from as far
as Holland and Lockport, and many towns in between, gather on
Mary Kate Morrow, Middle School vocal music
teacher, gets students moving during her “Music in
Motion” workshop.
the Nichols campus with the hopes of learning more about their
favorite subjects. Each workshop begins in the Flickinger Performing
Arts Center with an inspiring keynote address from our faculty and
students. We’ve had dance performances, faculty speaking about the
importance of letter writing and even witnessed a hover craft on stage.
The participants break into small groups and attend three different
sessions for 45 minutes each. The Nichols faculty, Nichols students
and friends of Nichols lead the students through exercises and projects.
The workshops are all hands-on, creative, innovative and energizing.
We’ve had history and language teachers lead writing workshops.
We’ve had English and art teachers lead science
workshops, and science and math teachers, as
well as several talented Nichols students, lead
art workshops. This cross disciplinary teaching
not only allows our teachers and students to
explore other subject matter, but it enhances
the wide range of “writing,” “science” and “art”
that is offered in each workshop.
The best kind of compliment we can receive
is like the one following this year’s Young
Scientists’ Workshop. One mother called to tell
us that her daughter came home from Nichols
that day and set up her kitchen with all the
necessary supplies to replicate what she had
leaned on campus that morning. And before
we hung up, she signed her daughter up for the
Young Artists’ Workshop.
The excitement generated from these workshops enticed us to
offer a similar event this year, which we called the Young Scholars’
Workshop, for 7th and 8th graders. It allowed us to showcase the rest
of the challenging and stimulating material that makes up a Nichols
education. We look forward to continuing to expand upon these events
and share Nichols with even more students around Western New York!
Spring/Summer 2013
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