Everything Nac

Dr. Maggie Leysath, professor of art education at Stephen F. Austin State University, will provide art instruction for students participating in summer programs with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Deep East Texas.

Through virtual programming, Leysath will instruct not only Nacogdoches participants, but also students who participate in Boys and Girls Club summer programs in the Lufkin and Diboll clubs and in other communities served by the Boys and Girls Clubs of Deep East Texas.

BGC clubhouses will begin re-opening on June 1 under established city, county and state social-distancing guidelines for childcare and youth services, according to Steve Davidson, president and CEO for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Deep East Texas. Student participants will have the option of attending in-person clubhouse activities, or participating in virtual activities only.

Art lessons will be scheduled weekly throughout June, and SFA art education students, in cooperation with BGC staff, will plan and provide art instruction during scheduled class times.

“This collaboration is a continuation of the good working relationship the SFA School of Art and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Deep East Texas have developed over the past several months,” Davidson said. “Our after-school art lessons with art education students had to be canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic this spring semester. BGC administration and art education faculty stayed in communication as plans for reopening moved forward.”

The Zoom art lessons provide safe instructional support for BGC staff, and the lessons also offer opportunities for art education students to implement curriculum and instruction in their chosen field of art education, according to Leysath.

“This is a win-win situation,” Leysath said. “We are so happy to be involved with the BGC in this way and to strengthen our relationship with this vital community program.”

For more information about summer programs with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Deep East Texas, visit bgcdet.org. For more information about the School of Art, visit art.sfasu.edu.