Program stimulates Catholic young people's imaginations

EAST CHICAGO, Ind. (CNS) - At a time when schools are balancing academic standards with tighter budgets, worrying about fine arts is usually low on the priority list.

For the children of St. Patrick Parish in East Chicago, one program offers them an opportunity to step into a different experience and explore avenues of bringing beauty into their world. It is called Viva PATS, which stands for Performing Arts Theatre School. In its third year, the program currently focuses on lessons for band instruments - drums, trumpet, trombone, clarinet, saxophone, flute and xylophone. It also offers guitar lessons. "We hope to eventually have the resources to expand the program into different areas such as dance, theater, choir and art," said the program's director, Sylvia Lopez. She said the after-school program runs throughout the school year but is also offered to children in the community for six weeks during the summer. It is a joint venture with the Merit School of Music in Chicago. Randy Hardy, a guitar instructor for the Merit School for the last 10 years, believes that music not only stimulates the imagination but also keeps children focused on an interest other than trouble than can be found in the streets. "Music has a special way of allowing you to express yourself personally in a positive, rather than negative way," he told the Northwest Indiana Catholic, the official newspaper of the Gary Diocese. "It teaches you to cooperate with people and it opens the door to a diverse spectrum of people and places." Antonio Fernandez, one of Hardy's students for three years, said he likes the effect music has on people. "Some songs will bring out emotions," the eighth-grader said. "Other songs will push people to try harder or motivate them to action." Teachers travel twice a week to St. Patrick to work with the 60-plus students who either bring their own instruments or learn on those borrowed through the program. Classes at beginner, intermediate and advanced levels meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays for 40 minutes at a time. Lopez feels that learning music helps children in subjects such as reading and math and also develops their creativity and sense of teamwork. "Viva PATS brings children into another environment and gives them exposure to something that may not be usual in their lives," she said. Elida Ochoa, the program's treasurer, has two daughters in it and also believes in the transforming power of music. "You try to nurture them to do something better, something positive. When that happens, you don't worry so much about the negative," she said. The program is funded through student fees, grants and donations, and Lopez said there is a payment plan for those with financial concerns. "We always find a way for those who are interested" to participate, she said. This past May, the advanced band and guitar students had the opportunity to play at Chicago's Orchestra Hall. They performed with 100 other students representing Merit programs throughout the Chicago area.

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