RIDGWAY – Students at the Francis S. Grandinetti Elementary
School here are learning what it means to be a poet thanks to the
Elk County Council on the Arts and the Pennsylvania Council of the
Arts.

Poet Mary Moodey is spending two weeks with the students to help
them learn to appreciate poetry. Moodey is part of the
artist-in-residence program that began two years ago when students
were given the opportunity to help create a stained glass window
for the school. Last year, a sculptor helped students create a
statue.

Moodey currently lives in Erie and her only concern about doing
the program was the weather. She has participated in
artist-in-residence programs before in middle and high schools,
Boys and Girls Clubs, a summer program for children at risk and a
domestic abuse shelter. She earned a master of fine arts degree in
fiction from the University of Pittsburgh and a bachelor of arts
degree in literature from Allegheny College.

She grew up in a home where writing was normal.

“My father wrote, so it wasn’t something that was unusual in the
house,” Moodey explained. “The teachers I had in school encouraged
me. I really turned to poetry after I received my MFA.”

Watching the students discover that they really can do something
they have never thought was in them is one of the best parts of the
program for Moodey.

“I guess the discovery in their eyes. At this age (elementary)
they are willing to explore and willing to take risks, so it’s
fun.”

Jamie Phipps, director of the Elk County Council of the Arts
said after last year’s program, they discussed three different
types of arts: photography, dance and poetry. The program covers
the entire state.

The St. Marys Catholic School will begin a similar program in
March. Currently, she is working with schools in Elk, McKean and
Potter counties for the 2006-07 year.

“It’s an amazing program,” Phipps said. “I am really thrilled
that Ridgway is dedicated to this program and that they realize
what an important part the arts play in education, particularly at
this age level.”

For his part, Francis S. Grandinetti Elementary School Principal
Jim Cline said “The students are reacting differently to this
because when we said artist, they were thinking what we had in the
past. She (Moodey) seems to have a very good touch with the
students. I think their mind set was a little different.”

The fifth grade is the core group for the program and are able
to spend more time with Moodey. They will be participating in an
event to end the program where they will be reading some of the
poems they have written.

For more information on the program, contact Phipps at the Elk
County Council of the Arts in Ridgway.