Brothers Yoni and Dani Papanikolaou, both 2015 FGCU Honors graduates, consider art an integral part of life.
“We feel like it helped us expand and grow,” says Yoni, who majored in history while Dani majored in art.
The siblings took their Civic Engagement course together in the summer of 2014 and knew from the outset their community project would involve art. Combining that love for art with Yoni’s interest in history, they created Project Ringling, linking a struggling Lee County middle school with the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota.
The project was driven by Yoni’s research on teacher merit pay and the governor’s education plan, and the way in which tight school budgets are eliminating subjects such as art.
“We decided to target an academically struggling school – one with a C grade or lower,” says Yoni.
The brothers contacted several schools and found Fort Myers Middle Academy Principal Ron Schuyler receptive to their project. The school had a D ranking at the time (and now is ranked C) and had been unable to offer a year-end field trip to students because of a lack of funds. Project Ringling, which would be free to students, would serve that purpose.
The project’s aim was to broaden horizons for underprivileged middle-school students by providing a culturally enriching experience at the Ringling complex, which includes the Ringlings’ mansion, circus and art museums and estate grounds. They selected seventh-graders as the target group.
“Naturally, when kids hear the word museum, they can have the idea that maybe it’s something boring,” says Dani. So getting the students excited was the next step.
“We asked how many had been to a museum and almost no one had,” says Yoni, adding that the students seemed intrigued by the prospect of the trip.
To create more excitement and prepare them for the experience, school faculty integrated Ringling material into their curriculum. For social studies, students learned about Ringling’s past. In math class, students worked on statistics in ticket pricings, and in science they explored eugenics and its role in creating circus freak shows.
Diversified Yacht Services on Fort Myers Beach donated $2,600 to cover the costs of three coach buses. The brothers provided posters, brochures, visual aids and promotional keepsakes, such as Project Ringling wrist bands for the students. The entrance fees, totaling more than $4,000, were waived by the museum.
After planning for a full school year, on May 28, the three buses carried 120 seventh-graders and a dozen chaperones, including the two brothers, to the Ringling grounds.
To get the students more involved, the brothers worked with lead teacher Michael Lemme to create an educational scavenger hunt. Students photographed key items on the hunt with the tag #projectringling and posted them on Twitter. Those who completed the hunt received a prize.
All of the preparation paid off.
“The kids had an amazing time,” says Dani. “They knew a lot when the docents asked them questions. Some of them knew the biblical and mythological stories depicted in the artworks.”
Yoni says, “The students seemed so inspired. They understood that the Ringling Art Museum and its world-renowned collection of art is John Ringling’s legacy to them and the public. They were so enamored of the beautiful artworks, the vast grounds and architecture. Many said they planned on bringing their parents.”
After all the planning, the brothers found the experience very gratifying.
“It’s one thing to put your heart and soul into this, but then to see it happen, it was truly great,” says Dani.
They don’t intend for it to be a one-time event. They are partnering with Courtney Satkoski, their Civic Engagement professor, to work with future classes to continue the program.
“We want to leave it as a legacy for other students to take on,” says Dani, enabling future FGCU students to share the joy of art with still more disadvantaged youth.
- Learn more about FGCU’s Service-Learning and Civic Engagement efforts