NEWS
New ways to share art and music
School of the Arts students found new ways to unleash their creativity this spring through compilations shared through YouTube and elsewhere online.
DESIGNING LESSONS, LEARNING SKILLS EDUCATION STUDENTS SUPPORT 21ST CENTURY LEARNING CENTERS
St. Cloud State University’s 54th annual Juried Student Art Exhibit opened virtually in May with a virtual reality gallery and an online format. The exhibit showcased the work of a number of senior art students. In all, 22 works are included in the exhibit by 20 students in a variety of mediums. Dr. Bill Gorcica and students Bigyan Lama Thing and Ben Toftey, worked in consultation with Mark Gill from the Visualization Lab to develop the virtual exhibit. Juror Mary Bruno viewed the work online and chose the juror’s choice awards for the virtual show.
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Music students also worked together to present their talents virtually before the end of the academic year. Senior music composition students presented personal compositions in a Virtual Composers Convocation on Zoom, while Dr. Terry Vermillion directed two virtual compilation performances by the Contemporary Music Ensemble. Student Jack Wald helped compile the videos for presentation. St. Cloud State University Concert Choir singers also presented one of their 2020 performances virtually. Twenty-seven students came together to perform composer Sydney Guillaume’s “Kanaval” virtually. The singers recorded themselves performing separately and alumnus Jeff Kantos ’12 combined the video and audio into a single performance. See the work https://scsu.mn/2Fzjnig
HT TP S://TODAY.STCLOUDSTATE.EDU/MAG | FALL 2020 / WINTER 2021
Four education students spent the summer thinking about math and children. They thought about what lessons are most needed and how children first understand and absorb concepts from the simplest concepts to preparations for advanced math. Elementary education majors Cailey Titrud and Aria Reitter worked with secondary math education majors Anna Panek and Bethanie Barrios to develop math lesson packs for 21st Century Learning Centers, a grant project to support learning outside of the regular school day across the St. Cloud Area and Sauk Rapids-Rice school districts. The project is led at St. Cloud State University by Dr. Melissa-Hanzsek-Brill. Work began this spring and continues for the next two years. Each math activity pack fits into a backpack and includes all the materials, instructions and supporting activities need to do the lesson. Most are designed to be game-like, so they can be taught one-on-one or include other students, Barrios said. The students and Hanzsek-Brill created instructional videos to accompany the written instructions in order to support all learners and make the material more accessible. The 21st Century Learning Center project is funded by a three-year $2.3 mil-
