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Troubled Girls Open Up Through Arts

by Christina de la Cruz

I hope that sharing my experience with Create Now encourages other to see how much a little bit of their time can contribute hugely to a young person's life. Create Now matched me with the Pennacle Foundation.

The staff at Pennacle are wonderful, warm and strong. They have a lot on their plate and need so much help. Listening to them talk about their needs for foster homes, and the children they serve, I felt fortunate having the chance to give time to Pennacle. They told me I was to work at the Corning Home. This was a house with four teenage girls. It is a level 14 home, which means the girls have been raised in difficult situations causing various behavior issues to be developed. Concerning my childhood past, this meant a great deal personally for me to be able to help in some way.

At my first visit to the Corning Home, I met the staff who were very welcoming. Instantly, I had a great feeling about the house. They gave me a quick biography of the girls, and the system they had implemented to encourage the girls to work toward positive behaviors. The staff warned me that I would soon love the girls like little sisters, but to stand my ground if they did act up. Then they introduced me to the girls. Each one had a completely different personality. The girls were very reserved during our first meeting. They were shy, looking at the ground when speaking. One didn't even want to meet me. Another was excited about the idea of arts and crafts.

The next week we did our first project, which was personalizing blank canvas bags. The girls were excited to experiment with all the materials. Starting with puffy paint, the girls wrote their names, quotes from songs, drew hearts, flowers, swirls and dots on the bags. The following week we worked on cigar boxes. The girls enjoyed playing with paint, collage, and particularly bedazzling the boxes with costume jewels.

I started to get to know the girls through their creative expression. First, what colors they liked, types of materials they gravitated towards, and what projects really struck a chord with them. As the holiday approached, we decided it would be fun to make ornaments for their tree. I bought various kits from the craft store for the girls to experiment with. After finishing an ornament, one of the girls exclaimed, “Ms. Christina, I'm done with mine.” When I said to her, “That's really pretty. Why don't you try and make another one.” Her eyes lit up and she said, “I can make more than one?” I said “Of course! You can make as many as you want!” The girls were so enthusiastic, making so many ornaments that we lost track of time and went over our usual arts and crafts time.

As we continue the workshops, the girls open up to me on a personal level and share with me thoughts about school, dreams, boys, friends and their time at the house. One of their absolute favorite things to talk about is music. We started decorating photo frames which has become one of the girl's favorite projects. They create these beautiful frames, where they want to put photos of musicians they look up to, like Queen Latifah, Alicia Keys and some they just think are cute, like New Boyz.

Shorter, smaller projects are more appealing to the girls. The momentum gives them a sense of accomplishment to be able to see their project from start to finish in one session. They are extraordinarily caring, often utilizing the arts and crafts time to make gifts for their staff. At times, the girls will display their attitudes, often times all in fun. At these times, I try to point out more of the positive behaviors, and compliment their creative work and encourage their individuality. These projects help direct their energy to positive expression.

In turn, I learn a lot from the girls and their staff about patience, timing, how to hold my ground, and appreciation for what we have, not what we think we need. Meeting with the Corning Home girls is the thing I look forward to most during the chaos of my work life. The only thing I wish I could do is to be there for them more. There never seems to be enough time. It passes so quickly.