BOWIE, Md. – A new crop of high school students from Charlotte Brookson Academy (CBA) for the Performing Arts in Sint Maarten arrived on campus for a week-long arts camp as part of Bowie State’s Bridge to Bold partnership with the island nation arts academy.
“Our goal is to give students a wholistic look at the arts while showing them some of the state-of-the-art technology and equipment Bowie State is able to use to support an incoming student’s creative artistic pursuits,” said Tewodross Williams, chair of Bowie State’s Fine and Performing Arts department.
Last summer served as the launch for Bridge to Bold, a summer exchange program centered around subject areas such as theatre, dance, music, musical theatre and musical technology. The program’s goal is the creation of recruitment channels for CBA students to enroll at Bowie State by exposing them to the campus, professors and facilities the university and the Washington, DC region has to offer.
CBA life skills and physical education instructor Paul Bell shared that the success of last summer’s trip created a huge wave of anticipation and excitement for the second crop of CBA students as they prepared to come back and visit Bowie State.
“It’s always exciting to be here,” said Bell. “Coming into this school year, the kids knew they had something to prove if they wanted to make this trip. From the very get-go, the kids really knew, ‘we got to step it up this year.”
CBA students will conclude their week-long experience at Bowie State with a showcase performance on Saturday, July 13 at 6:00 – 7:00 p.m. in the Dionne Warwick Theater. The event is open to the public.
In addition to developing new skills during workshops with BSU faculty and students, other highlights on their itinerary include visits to the National Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture, the Washington Commanders stadium, local theaters, dance studios and Blerdcon, the celebration of Black nerd culture.
This is a continuation of last summer’s visit from CBA students, who met with CNN anchor and senior political correspondent Abby Phillip. She spoke with them about the challenges of being a journalist, owning their space and having confidence in themselves.
