Friendship Makes The World Go Round
Middle School Students Teach Us About
Friendship Through Dance

          HARTFORD, CT.— The Learning Corridor’s Hartford Magnet Middle School and Parkville School 6th & 7th graders have been exchanging pen pal letters for the last few months. On Tuesday, April 30th they will meet their pen pals face to face. They will perform a “Friendship Dance” at Trinity College’s Upper Quad (Rain Location ­ Field House) at 10:30AM. A lesson of friendship being taught by students who just became friends themselves through writing and dance is what you will witness on April 30th.
           Under the direction of the Judy Dworin Dance Ensemble, a total of 230 students (30 from the Hartford Magnet Middle School at The Learning Corridor) will be participating in this “Friendship Dance”. Maureen McElhone, art teacher at the Hartford Magnet Middle School says, “The students have enjoyed writing to their pen pals and are excited about meeting them and they have worked hard to learn the dance steps. This has been a great experience for them but it will also be a lesson for all of those who will be watching”. The students also designed t-shirts, which they will be wearing at the performance.
           The Learning Corridor is a 16-acre campus consisting of a unique cluster of schools; the Montessori Magnet Elementary School, Hartford Magnet Middle School, the Greater Hartford Academy of Math & Science, and the Greater Hartford Arts Academy. Also included on the campus are support programs for the youth-- a Boys and Girls Club and the Aetna Center for Families. The Learning Corridor will be blending public health concepts into the educational instruction for students, faculty, parents and the entire community. There is no other public school campus in the country that combines these elements. The Learning Corridor was developed by a collaborative effort called the Southside Institutions Neighborhood Alliance (SINA), composed of Hartford Hospital, the Institute of Living, Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, Trinity College, and Connecticut Public Radio, along with the State of Connecticut and the City of Hartford.