Mid-day at Northeastern University

A Great Semester at Northeastern’s Mid-Day!

By Leo Hellawell

This semester, we wrapped up a thriving Mid-Day program at Northeastern University! Members of the You’re With Us and Boston Public School community came together on Mondays to bond and work on various art projects such as water coloring, anime drawing, Valentine making, and St. Patrick’s Day decoration making. 

Northeastern students facilitated the Mid-Day program to create an inclusive and inspiring experience. Guided by student lead Thomas Yi, You’re With Us mentees and students from Boston Public Schools learned and received helpful encouragement during the Art Group that was a core part of Mid-Day. We brought a crew of supportive, empathetic student staff who connected with participants over fun and enriching activities. Every week since February, a dynamic cohort of leaders and attendees with disabilities met up with a spirit of collaboration.

What was a typical day like? Every week, the Mid-Day group would meet at Ryder Hall, the art and design building at Northeastern. Participants and staff would meet up to chat and catch up before heading to Art Group, located at Northeastern Crossing. After the group bonded and worked on imaginative art creations, they then would head to Curry Student Center, where they spent more quality time together, connecting further and enjoying lunch. A highlight of our program was visiting Gallery 360, a Northeastern Art Gallery, to learn about Cat Mazza, an artist who works at the intersection of textiles and technology to probe urgent issues such as the treatment of mental health conditions.

For many of those who attended Mid-Day, doing projects in a relaxed setting has been a way to decompress and start the week off strong. Being in the environment of a college campus allowed our program participants to feel a sense of belonging. Art Group also allowed our participants to socialize with Northeastern students and form new friendships. Thomas Yi said, “Having the chance to socialize with everyone is something I often look[ed] forward to as I [tried] to navigate my busy schedule.” He added,  “The only goal in mind [was] to give everybody a fun time, and perhaps help them gain some artistic skills, if they’d like to”.

Mid-Day Art Group has been such an engaging activity for everyone involved! The main goal of hosting Mid-Day Art Group was to get mentees to tap into their creative sides, while also meeting new people, being able to have meaningful social interaction. For many of the mentees at You’re With Us that attend, their time at Mid-Day gave them an opportunity to get their minds off the stressful parts of life, setting up their weeks for success.

This past Monday, on April 7, we held our final Art Group of the semester, and Northeastern Crossing generously hosted us for a celebration. The project this week was creating vision boards, which involved cutting and gluing different images, representing feelings and emotions. Over a catered lunch and doughnuts, participants and staff enjoyed a party. There were 17 total people there, one of the biggest groups we’ve had, which was fitting for it being the final group meeting of the semester.

We’re looking to have Mid-Day Art Group continue in the fall, and we’re excited to build our presence at Northeastern!