KtCallista wrote:Sounds like some parents who desperately needed to learn that the world does not revolve around them.
Stac was weird. All the art kids wanted in.
Daughter didn't bother trying until senior year.
Here is a NY Times article from 2000
ONE is a sound engineer with his own studio in Manhattan who just signed a contract with Disney for the use of a song he wrote for the show ''Who Wants To Be a Millionaire.'' Another received an Emmy Award last month for a PBS documentary series, ''The Souls of New York.'' Another was the first cameraman/ steadicam operator for the film ''Titanic.'' Another produced the first season of ''Once and Again'' for ABC in Los Angeles.
They are among the 160 former students, now playwrights, creative directors, publicists, choreographers, set designers, film editors, actors, teachers, lawyers and doctors, who gathered in Manhattan on June 9 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Student Television Arts Company
Conceived and run by Ron DeMaio, STAC is the first and only program on Long Island to offer a school within a school that devotes the last third of the school day to enhancing skills in art, dance, drama, music, voice and writing. Thirty-six students from grades 9 through 12, selected by audition before an independent panel of professional artists, choose to give up lunch, free periods and electives to participate.
But those who have been part of the program said it had done far more than merely develop arts skills.
''Our goal in 1980 was to create a program that used the arts as a vehicle to develop human beings with a real respect for learning,'' said Charlotte Podolsky, former director of pupil personnel services of the school district. ''The result after two decades is 346 independent thinkers who are not afraid to march to their own drummer.''
Mr. DeMaio said: ''The program is unique in that all the arts work together to write, direct, film and edit original video productions. We hire staff outside the district five times a year for four sessions in each discipline, but the rest of the time we're problem-solving, collaborating and improvising. We learn about being generous. What we unlearn is that mistakes are bad. By supplying a safety net of support, kids learn that no matter what you do, nobody's going to laugh.''
''I use everything I learned in STAC every day,'' said Kristina Testani, a 1988 graduate who studied art in the program. ''Working with a special-needs preschool population in Whitestone, my goal is to be what Mr. DeMaio is: a firm but kind, structured yet flexible, endlessly creative and energetic teacher.''
