During the first week of May, Huntington Park High School, Palisades High School and Van Nuys Middle School provided the opportunity for more than 1800 students to experience iChoose.  After viewing the iChoose performance and subsequent audience-performer interaction session, Neil Williamson, an administrator at Van Nuys Middle School commented, “I’ve seen many of these types of productions over the years. I think iChoose is the very best. Children responded to it positively. I highly recommend it.”  Patrick Anderson, a teacher at Palisades High School, also praised iChoose saying, “It brought tears in my eyes. Many times I kept wiping tears from my eyes. Any time you hear human being’s story, you hear what they had to go through to get where they are.”

    Huntington Park High School situated in a community southeast of downtown Los Angeles, welcomed iChoose on May 3. More than 600 students and faculty members packed the school auditorium for the performance portion of iChoose. The school, whose student population is 98-percent Hispanic, seemed to take particular delight in hearing one iChoose cast member’s experiences of constantly being picked on because of being of a mixed-ethnic background (Mexican and Caucasian).

    On May 4, Palisdes High School, a charter school in the L.A. coastal suburb of Pacific Palisades, hosted iChoose with more than 200 students and faculty members, attending the performance. After the show, cast members used available spaces in the auditorium and outside on the campus grass for breakout discussion sessions. Each of the 10 cast members took charge of a group of about 20 students for the lively conversation inspired by what they had gleaned from the iChoose presentation.

    Van Nuys Middle School in the San Fernando Valley was the next stop on the tour, and on May 7, more than 1000 students and faculty members witnessed the iChoose performance in the school’s auditorium.

    Additional comments by school faculty members include the following:

    “At first I wasn’t sure if the students would really relate or like it, but after observing them first-hand, I believe they felt quite connected to the stories the performers told. Most students are going through many issues, so this is a welcome opportunity for them to see that it is O.K. to talk about their concerns. This was a powerful experience.”  
“Students can relate to dancing and singing. It appeals to them probably more than had they just read or heard the message. The performers conveyed things in a way that was fun and positive. When the experiences were shared, the audience felt the connection. They were really listening, and that to me was the most powerful part right there. ‘Yes,’ they recognized, ‘we went through episodes just as you did. I observed how the students got so much out of the group sessions after the show. I hope you will come back to our school next year.”
Maricella Garcia, assistant principal at Huntington Park High School

   “iChoose is perfect for high school kids, who are at the point in their lives where they can choose the right path from wrong. It’s all about choosing. I am also an actor, and a very fine acting teacher of mine once said, ‘You are your choices. You actually become and radiate your choices.’ … This has value. It was good to see young kids speaking to other kids and to know that what they really want to do is share. It’s good for them to know that they are not alone. Instead of holding that baggage inside, you gave the students opportunities to express it. It’s very therapeutic.”
Patrick Anderson, teacher at Palisades High School

   “When you put theater in front of the students, they can see themselves in the characters. It helps them to do so rather than having to actually go through these experiences. They can start questioning: If this was happening to me, what would I do or say? And what am I prepared to do for somebody else? If you can think about it beforehand, it empowers you to deal with the actual situation if and when it comes to you. The students are leaving today’s event more prepared to deal with such situations. I commend you for conceiving this program holistically. Thank you.”
Angelica Pereyra, art teacher at Palisades High School

   “Bringing the message of possibility, understanding and freedom to choose is hugely powerful and important. Those are the lessons, in the final analysis, that young adults are taking home, that they will remember forever. To see the moments that touched the students’ hearts, to see them coming alive in the dialogue sessions — this is something bigger than just having them memorize facts. It’s a joy to see the message of ICAP brought to our community.”
Dan Kelly, special education teacher at Palisades High School

   “iChoose is a terrific outreach program, because kids are enthralled with the talents of these performers, who are just a little bit older than them. The performers are really personable, and the program has so many facets that work, both through the show and the interaction with the students afterward. I think iChoose is a perfect small gem of a program and should be replicated at every school in the country.”
Debbie Elliott, English teacher at Palisades High School

   “Students need this so much because they don’t generally think about how every word affects other people and the environment. Yours is a really powerful movement that I hope every student gets behind. Thank you for coming.”
Lisa Kraus, director of theater at Palisades High School

   “We are so pleased to have ICAP and iChoose here. My students have a great need for knowledge about non-violence. They know about Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi. But many times the students do not practice what they hear or preach.
    “The communication between cast and students made a very positive impact even on some of the very students that we know have been involved in bullying. They left the assembly realizing that they have a choice in this matter. As we all know, music is a universal language. To have young people come and perform — I know our kids really understood and felt the message, and it has caused them to start thinking. We need ICAP to continue the iChoose project.”
Dr. Anita Barner, principal at Van Nuys Middle School

   ICAP is grateful to Evelyn Woods Jones of Huntington Park High School, Daniel Kelly of Palisades High School and Marlene Hatcher of Van Nuys Middle School for their extraordinary efforts toward bringing iChoose to their respective schools.