GOOD LIFE
club,” the main component of Miracles in Motion.
The program, which takes place during lunchtime and recess, is meant to foster reading and writing skills in the fourth-graders who take part. With the guidance of mother and daughter, the kids write about 10 poems between October and April.
“It’s a wonderful experience for them,” said Tom Revou, Watkins principal. “It’s exposing them to the arts and literature, and they’re learning about public speaking.”
With a parent’s permission, fourth-graders each year can sign up for the extracurricular class. This year, there are nine students combined in two sessions.
On a recent Thursday, smooth jazz played in the school library as three students in the first session finished their second poem of the program, this one about fall and Halloween. The students were given a prompt with words such as “leaves” and “clown,” then told to use them in a poem.
After completing the work, the students read it aloud for their peers and the teachers. Newson and Whalen often give feedback and later choose the best work of each prompt to post on Facebook.
Whalen said she emphasizes penmanship and, more important, respect.
“One of the most important things is to respect each other and know they have differences and write differently,” she said.
The kids say they enjoy the creative freedom of the class.
“I like how I can use my imagination,” said Laniya Jones, 9.
“You can write whatever you want,” added Jamarre Guinn, also 9.
When the club ends in April, the students will participate in an open-mic event. Additionally, Newson and Whalen always present each student with a token commemorating the class, such as a bookmark featuring the youngster’s best poem or a certificate for parents to hang on a wall.
“We’re trying to include the parents and just make it fun — fun, fun, fun,” Whalen said with a smile.
Newson, a mother of two, has her own “miracle child,” who inspired the volunteer effort in 2007.
Her daughter, Dalaney Banks, has both cognitive and physical disabilities, including cerebral palsy, that impair her mobility and brain function. But she doesn’t let her disabilities stop her from doing things, such as joining the cheerleading squad at Independence High School.
Banks, now 17, was a student at Parsons Elementary School when Newson started the poetry club there.
At the time, Newson was enjoying a creative-writing class at Columbus State Community College while working on a social-work degree (she graduated from Capital University in 2015). The freedom that writing afforded her was something she wanted her own daughter and others to experience.
Whalen — a certified life coach and, by avocation, a poet — was eager to help.
“This was an opportunity for us to ... be able to work together,” Whalen said.
The poetry club remained at Parsons for two years until Newson partnered with Watkins Elementary, where she and Whalen have hosted it since. They have also hosted the club during the summer at Schiller Recreation Center.
But the mission of Miracles in Motion, which attained nonprofit status in 2013, extends beyond poetry.
Newson and Whalen host social outings and team with community organizations for fun events. For instance, Newson often takes Banks and other children — both with disabilities and without — to movies, dinner, on nature walks and elsewhere.
“The purpose is to help to build lasting friendships by evoking empathy for the non-disabled children and allowing them to provide peer support for the disabled children,” Newson said.
Donations and fundraising help pay for much of the Miracles in Motion outreach, but Newson also contributes some out of pocket.
Once she completes her master’s degree at Case Western University in the summer, she hopes to expand her efforts with the nonprofit.
“They can do whatever it is they desire to do,” she said of the children she helps. “We just have to remove the limitations.”
The first novel from this Scottish born, Columbusbased author is a warm, grown-up fairy tale about an orphan raised by wolves.
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