Campus event lets children showcase their many talents

By Joy McMasters

Daily Bruin Staff

After weeks of practicing and a long bus ride across town, about
150 children of all ages gathered Saturday morning for Parental
Involvement Through the Arts 2000, which urged them to keep
“Reaching for the Stars.”

Throughout the year, the children have been part of 11 Community
Service Commission-sponsored programs that helped the kids see they
can learn and have fun at the same time.

“It’s a way for CSC projects to get together and
share what they have accomplished through the year and celebrate
the talents of the students,” PITA Coordinator Tiffany Duarte
said outside Moore Hall where the event was held.

“It gives kids a chance to boost their self-esteem and to
go up on stage and have the audience clap.”

The performances ranged from an ensemble reading and enactment
of the children’s story “There Was an Old Lady Who
Swallowed a Fly,” to a presentation of a Vietnamese wedding
procession.

From the opening announcements, the show encouraged the young
students to strive for success and gave them an opportunity to get
a taste of it.

Ingrid Gonzalez, the shows announcer, gave an enthusiastic
welcome while wearing a black Afro with “PITA 2000″ in
neon letters.

“We’re encouraging everyone in this room to work
hard,” Gonzalez said as she welcomed the children and their
families.

“You guys are all the stars, you’re all capable of
shining and doing great things,” Gonzalez told students who
had come to perform and be entertained by their peers.

Single mother Nidra Arceneaux, whose son Whitney is part of Kids
Korner, reinforced the student’s star treatment by asking
many of the kids to autograph her program.

She said Los Angeles is stuck in a star-struck syndrome that
makes it easy for people to forget that they can shine even in
roles that don’t bring fame and fortune.

“I was moved to tears,” Arceneaux said about
Gonzalez’s opening remarks. “I thought it was really
touching.”

As each group prepared to take the stage, Gonzalez led the
audience in shouting the project’s name and then applauding
as the performers entered.

“I like it when every group goes and they cheer,”
said sixth grader Gary Lopez, half of the breakdancing pair
sponsored by Kids Korner. “I like to show off the talent that
I know.”

This is Lopez’s third year as a PITA participant, and he
says he has had a lot of fun every year and has enjoyed hearing the
crowd cheer at his performance.

Lunch was served in front of Kerckhoff Hall during the
show’s intermission giving students and parents an
opportunity to experience more of the campus.

“It’s inspirational to come here; it gives us
something to look forward to,” Arceneaux said.

She said her son’s great-grandfather was one of only two
African American Bruin football players in 1952 and the 7-year-old
Arceneaux already plans to attend UCLA and hopes to play football
for the Bruins one day.

Many of the CSC projects promote cultural awareness both through
the interaction of volunteers and children from a wide range of
backgrounds, and through the activities they participate in
together. Arceneaux sees this as one of greatest benefits of
participation.

“Everybody’s gonna know more about each other and
that’s what America is about,” Arceneaux said.
“It teaches (my son) to judge people as a person, not as a
category.”

Parents can learn a lot from each other and from the activities
and field trips their children are a part of and should therefore
get involved with the projects also, Arceneaux added.

“We’re all kinda learning together,” Arceneaux
said.

“A lot of things we might know about our children, another
parent might know,” she added.

Representatives from each of the projects have been meeting
weekly since seventh week of winter quarter to plan PITA. Students
from each project submit artwork to decorate the program, and each
year one of their designs is also chosen for the PITA T-shirt they
all receive.

“It’s really a team effort for all of the
projects,” Duarte said, adding that how people interact with
each other is a large part of what makes them shine. “It was
completely awesome because these kids got to come and celebrate who
they are.”