SHIFT creates original music with residents of St. Aemilian’s
The boys use iPads to create the background music to their songs.
Helping to make meaningful connections with foster kids in the Milwaukee area is the mission for the club Students Helping Impact Foster Teens (SHIFT). Through a new idea called Beat Lab, the members of SHIFT are able to do just that by helping foster boys produce their own original music.
After school on every Wednesday in February and the first Wednesday of March, SHIFT travels to St. Aemilian’s, a boy’s foster care home in Milwaukee, to help the boys, ranging in ages from 6-17 years old, work on a Beat Lab.
The Beat Lab, an idea introduced by SHIFT members, allows the boys, many of whom are musically inclined, to write and record any beat or song that they create. SHIFT members are paired off to work one-on-one with a boy from St. Aemilian’s, so that they may help the boys come up with ideas and put their thoughts into words.
Karen Forman, a past Homestead mother and parent supervisor of the club, was “looking forward to the many ways that the Beat Lab program would open up so many creative possibilities for both Homestead and St. Aemilian’s youth,” and she was also excited for the ways in which it would allow everyone involved “to learn about the differences they can make from their own talents and personal power.”
The weeks have been spent getting to know the boys, playing ice breaker activities, writing music and recording the songs and beats that the boys have produced. The recording of the boys’ music will be done in an unprofessional recording booth, and by the end of the Beat Lab the boys will have multiple copies of their beat to give to friends or family.
“In our art program last school year, SHIFT members discovered St. Aemilian’s residents’ passion for music. This year, we wanted to incorporate a musical element, so when this idea arose, we jumped on the chance. I am thrilled with how the program is going and I feel that many SHIFT members have made amazing bonds with the boys,” Lindsey Scozzafave, senior and president of SHIFT, said.
Over the past couple of weeks the boys have become noticeably more comfortable, opening up to the girls from SHIFT; conversation within groups has begun to flow much more easily than in previous weeks. According to Abbi Myers, experiential therapist at St. Aemilian’s, “the biggest thing that is coming from this project is the relational part because the boys crave one-on-one interactions, and they have [SHIFT] members to give them that attention, and help them feel connected.”
Overall, Myers has a very positive outlook for the whole project saying, “I think that SHIFT members give the boys hope that there is more out there.”
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