Mark is continuing his work with Salvation Army Educators in Hartford, Connecticut, at the invitation of Maureen Hogan, Director of Early Learning and School Age Care programs for The Salvation Army, Southern New England Division. The latest effort is to develop a pilot program for a new arts-centric education center. An arts-centric experience for Students is key to assimilation, retention, and demonstration of abilities.

Last Spring, Third Grade Students at Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism Arts in Education HOT School Alcott Elementary School, Wolcott, Connecticut, created corn, moccasins, deer hides, wampum designs, bowls, origami fruit and containers, and numerous other projects to populate their Native American Longhouse. Through an arts-centric project, Students learned multiple disciplines and their achievements are aligned with state and local frameworks. The following images are from Friday, June 5, 2009, and help explain the project and the process. In the videos, each narrative reflects content understanding to peers and educators as well as exercising oratorial abilities and self-expression.

Pencil 'lead' is a misnomer. Students are using a large graphite stick to draw deer shapes. Through the use of the graphite stick they were better able to understand the importance of using minerals in a creative process. This helped fulfill a sceince component to meet state and district requirements.