Like many schools across the nation, Grant Middle School has a tiny art budget for the school’s approximately 700 students. Annie Smith, a long-time teacher, has several pottery wheels and a kiln in her classroom. But with more than 35 kids in a class and little funding for clay, the equipment often goes unused. 

Over the summer of 2009, Annie partnered with some creative folks at Syracuse University who had started a program called smART. The concept was simple: SU students would come to Grant after school and share their skills and interests with youth in a variety of hands-on modules. One year later, mentors continue to visit Grant three times each week and work with children in material arts, photography and creative writing, and sculpture. 

Raw November weather has brought an end to a sunny streak of afternoons, and attendance is lower than usual. About a dozen teens and five mentors gather around a hulking art-room table, trading jabs at Justin Bieber and poking fun at the mound of apples the art teacher has hoarded just for them.  

It’s Wednesday, which equates to a box full of Coolpix cameras and notebooks filled with poems, short stories, and a few scattered doodles. Mentor Kim Williams says the most rewarding part of her role is getting the youth to take “frame-worthy” pictures, especially since few have had much experience with a camera. 

Unlike many other after-school programs, smART mentors shape the program’s direction and bring their talents to bear. In the beginning of each semester, they hold planning sessions to map out the activities for their modules. Though she is a reliable resource, program director Syeisha Byrd gives them as much discretion as possible to keep the program fun and maintain their investment. 

Junior Adrian Carter, a program assistant, ensures the mentors have a quality experience. A self-proclaimed “crazy education major,” he feels planning smART lessons is ideal practice for his future aspirations of balancing his high educational standards with the essentials of fun. Too, “instead of just studying in my little Syracuse box, I get to go out and do something,” Carter shares. 

At the moment, this means he’s playing his sax with his new friend Sharif, who’s been in smART for three semesters now. Sharif’s completely hooked on the program. Like most of the other 18-20 smART youth, he arrives promptly every day. He’s not required to be here, and he has to take an additional bus to get home. But this is a place where he can be himself – where he can thrive. 

Engaging youth like Sharif isn’t difficult, and joining smART is as effortless as going to the Office of Engagement Programs in Hendricks Chapel. If you can make a two-hour, weekly commitment, you can make a difference in the lives of these children. “You just have to be willing to teach someone,” Williams says. “If you have free time, do it.”