Greetings BeCool! community!
We are thrilled to report that there are now over 1200 kids (and a few big kids) from five continents and ten countries who have had their voices recorded singing “I wanna be cool”!
How cool is that? Thanks to all of your efforts to organize and uplift these talented young artists, the Be Cool! Campaign is inspiring climate action through music before the finished project is even launched.
After spotlighting the Be Cool! Kids Club in Nigeria in our last newsletter, we’d like to introduce you today to another amazing community of Be Cool! superstars: the students and teachers ofHigh School West and Accompsett Elementary School in Smithtown, New York.
Playing on instruments they made from trash while singing “I wanna be cool, how about you?“, these remarkable young activists have not only been singing but living the line “together there’s not one single thing we couldn’t do.”
Check out this video and read on below for more details on how this inspiring collaboration came together:
“The very idea that one voice is tiny (like one action is tiny) but many voices (many actions) combine to make a powerful force to be reckoned with, that’s just a perfect metaphor for exactly what we want students to take away from everything we teach.“
– Ly Williams, High School West Science Teacher
How do you come up with the idea to make instruments from the waste collected during beach cleanups?
Enter Ly (Kimberly) Williams, science teacher at High School West and creative amoeba when it comes to engaging her students in taking care of the Earth. As an Oceanography teacher, Ly is very passionate about keeping garbage out of the waste stream.
“We find A LOT of stuff during our beach cleanups that is perfectly reusable, and I am always trying to keep that stuff out of the waste stream, if possible,” she says, adding, “I HATE waste!”
Ly remembers how she and her Oceanography students were super-inspired by a Take Action Global presentation of single and small groups of students across the globe singing in unison with an opera singer. “I couldn’t stop thinking about how their voices were being raised up together, and how I could fit that into my own curriculum.”
Brainstorming with a few friends as well as her colleague Tim Needles who wrote the book STEAM Power, she finally landed on the idea to make instruments out of trash, and to do it with their Elementary School friends.
“Making the instruments to accompany our song was fun: I enjoyed putting trash we collected from the beach to good use; working with and inspiring the little kids was really nice.“
– Abby, High School West 11th Grade Student
How do you get high school students to join forces with third graders to build recycled instruments and sing together?
With the help of some grant money Ly and her colleague Nicole Carone had secured for an Upcsulpt workshop, their students were able to learn how to turn ordinary materials into musical instruments. Artists Susan Buroker and Bri Sander showed them how to start thinking along the lines of upcycling their beach / “wishcycling” trash.
In another tribute to the collaborative spirit of the project, their colleagues in the school library’s Maker Space let them use their space when the high school students turn-keyed what they learned to their little guests. They also recorded the whole adventure, which you can see in the photos and video of the project. And of course, you will hear the High School West and Accompsett Elementary School students singing together on the refrain of “I Wanna Be Cool!“
“It was fun building and making the instruments with the elementary school children and when we got together to perform, I was surprised that we sounded better than I thought we would after such a short amount of time to practice.“
– Cooper, High School West 12th Grade Student
How can other schools and communities use music to connect kids to environmental problems and solutions?
According to Ly, environmental problems can sometimes seem too big to tackle and result in the feeling of helplessness instead of empowerment. So the idea of how every tiny voice/action is a powerful force in the company of many other tiny voices/actions is a perfect metaphor for students to take away as an important lesson.
A key ingredient to a successful collaboration is communication. Ly says she is ALWAYS letting friends & family know what they’re up to in her classes, so it makes brainstorming easier. She typically calls, texts, or emails something like, “I have this idea. What can you add? Who do you know? Is this nuts? Is this even do-able?” …and it usually becomes a really fun plan, “like this one did!”
Going full circle, Ly has told others who want to give this idea a try to look at the Music Declares Emergency site. She also recommends watching fun and inspirational videos like this French orchestra playing ‘together’ during lockdown or Jimmy Fallon, The Roots & the “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” Cast singing the “Star Wars” Medley.
“Things like this helped get me through the COVID lockdown with my sense of humanity!” Ly says only half-jokingly. “The second one actually makes me laugh and cry, I love it so much! And my students do too!”
Want to share how cool YOU are?
We’d love to hear about your climate actions!
Do you have something to share about any activities you, your family, friends or community are doing to help address climate change?
You can send your ideas and/or materials to BeCoolSong@gmail.comor just reply to this email.
To get inspired and see what everyone is up to, follow us on Facebookor Instagram.
If you know people who might like to hear about the BeCool! community’s efforts, they can sign up for this list here.
Last but not least, we are still recruiting more song participants, so keep spreading the word!
Stay tuned for more!
– Sven and the Be Cool Community Team