Youth Development
Bringing back the lost art of ceremony as a way to create healthy change for children, teens, and young adults
I create ceremony with student groups so they can build self-esteem and self-awareness by applying the power of their imagination.
What is it that I do exactly? Check out the video below, where I speak more in-depth about the art of ceremony and lead you through a little ritual that I recently did with one student group. Enjoy!
I am employed by the the town of Cumberland in the State of Rhode Island through the Offices of Children and Youth Learning. OCYL is doing amazing work to enrich the lives of students through a variety of programs and classes offered to children grades K-12. The program I specialize in is called Expressive Arts.
Check out the photo gallery on their page, where you can see a host of images displaying a lot of the fun we’ve shared together! To learn more about The Expressive Arts Program and a get a feel for how I bring my magic to it, watch the video below.
Poetry
Poetry is the central art-form that I work with to bring the visions from my ceremonies into reality. To give you a taste of my craft, here are two videos where I am reciting my poems under the guise of my poetic alias, “Sydrvyrse”. The last one is good ole love poem. Enjoy!
Children of Men
Words of Acacia
Silent Lotus Love
Poetry with Students
In the fall of 2024, I was asked by the Cumberland School District to take over a 7th grade ELA class for three months, while the teacher was on leave. As fate would have it, I entered right when poetry would be coming up in the curriculum. One exercise I did with them, was to have them simply reflect on what their heart was feeling at that time, and from that place write a poem. If you click the button below that will take you to an anthology of their poems. Most of what you will read is completely unedited. These poems, just like the middle-schoolers who wrote them, are dynamic, beautiful and raw. Enjoy!
Thank you for taking a look at this page to learn all about my art and the work I am doing with children and teens. If you have an interest in utilizing my talents for a youth-oriented project, you can take a look at my full resume and reach out at your convenience.
May you rediscover your inner-child and enjoy the greatest ceremony of all… Life!