LEAP’s R.A.V.E. (Radical Arts Venue & Education Center) is an award-winning after school program housed in the Jordan L. Mott Middle School in Bronx, NY. R.A.V.E. places master teaching artists and youth educators in year-long residencies. Their staff expertise ranges from professional performance artists to education specialists. “This powerful combination has afforded us New York Life’s “Best After School Program in the Bronx” award and the Partnership for After School Education’s prestigious “PaseSetter Award.”
RAVE has been lauded for its influence in turning what was once one of New York City’s most violent schools into a beacon of education. “We operate under the auspices of Learning through an Expanded Arts Program (LEAP), an educational service organization committed to permanently improving the quality of education in public schools.”
Monique E. Jarvis is RAVE’s director and is known by JLM students as “Ms. Moe.” Its her face (and unique haircut) that opens this video; she is also the singer and composer of the music and song. Jarvis is one of an amazing group of teaching artists and others who run the R.A.V.E. program at JLM.
Its amazing what we can accomplish when we support our students and teachers with the right tools to help them become the success story we long for and that they are capable of.
In every school, in every neighborhood, there’s a jewel waiting to be polished with our compassion, our hope for the future and our commitment to never let our students down. This should be our focus instead of what is happening across our country with attacks on education and teachers; especially the poor.
