3 Teachers Honored for Arts Programs

Carol Dobbs returned Tuesday to fine-tuning the blend of 30 young voices in her Crenshaw district choir.

Samantha Carson had to get back to her Canyon Country fifth-grade class for the dance performances students had prepared as part of a language lesson.

And Emma Velador was busy helping her Hollywood first-graders polish entries for an arts scholarship.

Only hours after being honored in a swanky downtown ballroom with awards from the Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County, all three teachers were back in class Tuesday.

“You just kind of come back and teach,” said Carson, who was greeted by the cheers of her students at Skyblue Mesa Elementary as they celebrated in reflected glory.

Carson was one of three winners of the arts center’s 18th annual BRAVO awards, which recognize outstanding creativity and innovation in arts education. Dobbs, a music teacher at Hillcrest Drive Center for Enriched Studies in Los Angeles, and Principal Janet Stimson, on behalf of Palms Avenue Elementary School in San Bernardino, also received the awards.

Velador was presented a special achievement award for stretching limited resources to create a full arts program at a school with a large number of low-income, immigrant students.

Trying to get her students scholarships--savings bonds that could help pay for their arts education down the road--was too important to delay, Velador said Tuesday.

Many of her students at Cheremoya School, in central Hollywood, speak little English.

“As a teacher, I feel it’s my responsibility” to make sure the students have a shot at any scholarships they can get, she said. “A lot of our parents aren’t even aware of these things.”

Arts education has been gaining cachet in recent years, winning vocal support from recording artists and being dramatized in popular films such as “Mr. Holland’s Opus” and “Music From the Heart.

But the three teachers honored by the arts center still confront the day-in, day-out struggle for resources, and giving the arts meaning when parents mostly are interested in higher basic skills test scores.

To enrich her arts curriculum, Velador fires off grant applications, pleads with businesses for donations and makes art supplies from castoffs. “It’s a lot of begging,” she said.

The results can be amazing, officials at the arts center said.

Recently, Velador got an international fabric shop to donate samples of exotic fabrics, which she had students use to create colorful artworks and costumes to complement their lessons.

“She has art throughout the room,” said Lynda Jenner, who produced the awards program. “These little kids are really getting into it.”

Surrounded by pictures of orchestra instruments and great composers, Dobbs on Tuesday was honing her choir’s lively version of “Go Tell It on the Mountain.”

Self-discipline, responsibility and overcoming mistakes are recurring themes in Dobbs’ room.

As she stepped to the piano to play the accompaniment, she said, “When I make a mistake--I always make at least one mistake--what do you do?”

“Keep going!” the fourth- and fifth-graders quickly responded in unison.

Dobbs said her biggest challenge is the times.

“We’re living in a technological age where everything is fast and easy,” she said.

“But there is no easy way to do this. Learning the violin is difficult. It takes time.”

Still, art is a perfect vehicle to teach values that children need more than ever, including goal-setting and perseverance.

“They get to the end of the year and they’re actually playing that instrument. They see the payoff.”

Likewise, Jenner said the awards, which includes cash prizes for schools and teachers, recognize public school educators who are doing exemplary jobs despite the challenges.