As active members of Deerfield’s dance program, we realize how fortunate we are for being able to have access to such a well-developed dance curriculum. Having both spent hours in the studio from a young age, dance is an integral aspect of our identity. Both coming from advantageous socioeconomic households, we recognize and are grateful for our privilege to receive such extensive training from a young age. We believe that everyone should get a chance to experience dance regardless of socioeconomic status. Earlier this year we reached out to the Catholic Youth Organization (CYO), based in Ewing NJ, to run a program for their summer camp.
Ewing is a town mainly comprised of lower-income families, and the CYO aims to give parents an affordable summer camp for their children while families are at work. By having dance classes at the CYO, we are giving all of the students a chance to learn something new regardless of socioeconomic status. The ultimate goal of this program is just to spark some interest in dance among the students and have fun. Deerfield’s grant has helped us achieve this goal by covering our budget for costumes which the students will wear in their end-of-program talent show. After the program has ended, we plan to let the CYO keep these costumes for future use.
– Svetlana ’25 and Hannah ’25