NLU Alumni Magazine
Experience Learning Builds and Showcases Talent By Nicholas A. Love
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The Creative Slam Fundraiser is a staple of the school year for the Professional Assistance Center for Education (P.A.C.E.) program, with P.A.C.E. alumni clamoring for event details long before any of the planning even begins. P.A.C.E. is a two-year, post-secondary program offered by National Louis University, designed to meet the transitional needs of young adults with multiple learning disabilities. A hallmark of P.A.C.E. is experiential learning, which is exactly what happens at the Creative Slam, a student-directed fundraising event that includes performances from students, family members and program alumni. This year’s audience members, while pondering how many raffle tickets to purchase and which silent auction item to bid on, were entertained with dance routines, readings from a selection of creative writing, a variety of singing performances and improv comedy. The Creative Slam is coordinated and overseen by Lauren Kornhauser, the staff member responsible for all
the service learning components of the P.A.C.E. program. She provides a framework to guide the students, and they spend the whole winter quarter planning and preparing every aspect of the event. Kornhauser delivers guidance and assistance to students during the planning process, but she doesn’t solve every problem that arises. It is important for the event planners-in- training to experience and adapt to challenges, quirks and unforeseen problems. When things go wrong, it is all part of the learning process. After the Creative Slam is over, Kornhauser leads the students in a time of reflection and review. “I like to see it in their faces and watch them figure it out, or not figure it out. We go back and see what glitches we had. Then I know that they learned something.” While the Creative Slam provides a wealth of learning experiences, the students have the added bonus of internalizing a sense of pride for accomplishing something tangible. This year the money raised was put towards the P.A.C.E. program winter formal and towards funding P.A.C.E. program scholarships. Because of all that is achieved by the Creative Slam, many of the students in the P.A.C.E. program finish out the fundraiser with a deeply satisfied sense of “wow – we did that!”
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The Creative Slam included karaoke-style singing performances (top), a poetry reading (middle) and an improv comedy performance where P.A.C.E. students and staff rotated in and out of a scene (bottom).
Learn more about P.A.C.E. at nl.edu/PACE
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