During the Make a Connection Thru Art program, young people develop key life skills – skills like self-confidence, communication, cooperation, and creative and critical thinking – as they work in the classroom with professional artists to create art that expresses their concerns and impressions of the world or presents their ideas about subjects they are studying in school.

De Zavala Middle School in Irving, Texas, hosted three Make a Connection Thru Art Residencies during the spring of 2006:

Creative Writing
During the Creative Writing Residency, students in Ms. Day's and Mrs. Gooding's classes developed life skills while working with spoken word artist Will Richey to create poetry and other spoken word pieces.
» Periods 1 & 2

Digital Storytelling
In the Digital Storytelling Residency, students in Ms. Vickrey's classes developed life skills while working in teams together with artists Lin Gold and Johnny Rutledge to script, create, and edit short movies about subjects they were studying during the semester.
» Period 2
» Period 5
» Period 7

Visual Art
During the Visual Arts Residency, students in Ms. Day's and Mrs. Gooding's classes worked with glass artist Laura Strother to explore life skills using stained glass and painted glass.
» Periods 6 & 7