The Ann Arbor Chronicle » teens

Hockey Players Find a Home in Ann Arbor

Amy Whitesall — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 00:56:29 +0000

Michael Paliotta and his younger brother Will in the lobby of the Ann Arbor Ice Cube. Michael's family was visiting from Connecticut – he lives in Ann Arbor with a host family while participating in the USA Hockey National Team Development Program here. (Photo by the writer.)

In a lobby filled with well-dressed young men, proud parents and assorted siblings, Gene and Sue Salaniuk stood back together and took in the scene.

They watched as Michael Paliotta, one of two teenage hockey players who currently lives in their house, talked with his parents amid a cluster of family members – two brothers and a sister – who’d made the trip to Ann Arbor from Westport, Conn., just to watch him play.

Six-year-old Will Paliotta stuck close, quietly playing with the buttons on his big brother’s suit jacket.

“I think Michael misses his brothers and sister,” Sue said softly, leaning toward Gene. He nodded and said, “Look how Will won’t let go of him.”

Two months ago, these people were strangers. But for the Salaniuks, Michael is now one of “their” kids; Will and the rest of the Paliottas are one of “their” families.

The Salaniuks have been hosting hockey players from the USA Hockey National Team Development Program in their Ann Arbor home for 13 years. Every few years they’ll tell the program’s housing coordinators that this will be their last. Then another bunch of 16- and 17-year olds come in and, well, they haven’t said, “no” yet. Their hockey family just keeps growing.

“We knew we were getting the kids; we didn’t know we were getting the families, too,” Sue said. “These families tend to be really close-knit and supportive; to get a player to this level they really have to be, so you see the families a lot. We’ve met a lot of nice families and nice boys.”

Players come from all over the country to play on the NTDP Under-17 and Under-18 teams, and accepting a spot means leaving home as a high school junior to live and train in Ann Arbor. The Salaniuks weren’t particularly interested in hockey when they answered an advertisement for NTDP billet families. But their middle child had just left home; their youngest was a high school sophomore. They’d had teenagers around for several years already, and it seemed like a nice chance to get to know people from other places – like an exchange student without the language barrier.

There are 44 teens in the program this year, living with 33 local host families. The hardest part might be the cooking, since players down 5,000-6,000 calories a day. The program gives billet families a $305 monthly stipend to help cover the cost.

“In a typical day they each eat about twice the amount of food I’d cook for one person,” Sue said.

But coming home to good company and a hot meal means a lot to a 16-year-old who may have never spent more than a few weeks away from home. And the relationships that develop between billet families and player families make that transition easier on both ends.

Robbie Russo, part of the USA Hockey National Team Development Program, playing at the Ann Arbor Ice Cube. His family lives in Chicago, and he stays with an Ann Arbor host family while training here. (Photo by the writer.)

“Robbie was on his way home from camp when he called and said they’d offered him a spot (in the program),” said Debbie Russo, whose son also stays with the Salaniuks. “The rest of the day I felt sick to my stomach.

“But it was great once we met Sue and Gene. They made it a lot easier, and when we heard they’d been doing it so long … I mean obviously they’re good people if they keep asking them to do this.”

Thanks to a weekend home series with the Green Bay Gamblers of the USHL earlier this month, both the Russos and the Paliottas are in the stands when The Chronicle meets Sue outside the Ann Arbor Ice Cube’s stadium rink. She finds Debbie Russo, along with a gaggle of Russo family and friends who’ve made the trip from Chicago, and we sit down to chat.

It’s good hockey, and we talk about the quality of play, the previous night’s game (a 5-1 loss) and the fact that the NTDP teams regularly play older, more experienced opponents.

“The speed and athleticism is really impressive,” says Sue, a yoga instructor. “I’ve gotten used to the violence. It still bothers me, but some of the NHL fathers we’ve had say it keeps the really nasty stuff from building up. I don’t know. I still don’t like it.”

Sue points out that most of the Green Bay Gamblers don’t have full shields on their helmets, which means they’re over 18. Minors have to wear a full facemask, she explains. Once they turn 18 a lot of players opt for a half shield that just protect their eyes.

Russo turns to The Chronicle and we shrug simultaneously: “I didn’t know that.”

Sue’s on to a motherly discussion of a chest cold that’s going around when defenseman Barrett Kaib runs a Gambler into the boards right in front of us.

Michael Paliotta (54) on the ice during a game against the Green Bay Gamblers. (Photo by the writer.)

“Ohhhh Barrett!” she hollers, clapping as the walls echo the hit.

Kaib spends so much time at the Salaniuks that Sue has started calling him “our third kid.”

“He was really steamed after the last game,” she says “He’s such a quiet little kid… very polite.”

It takes a village to develop a national team, and billet parents play a lot of roles – chaperone, ambassador, sounding board. They go to Pioneer High School curriculum nights and parent-teacher conferences, help players with neckties when it’s time to go to the rink on game day.

Gene, a retired American Airlines pilot, volunteers to work the penalty box at home games.

“I get to talk to the boys when they come to visit,” he says with a mischievous smile.

Gene and Sue’s hockey family includes “boys” at Harvard, Yale, the University of Maine and the University of Wisconsin. They have one playing in London, Ontario in the Ontario Hockey League and a couple who’ve bounced back and forth between the American Hockey League and the National Hockey League. One calls almost every week.

Robbie, Sue informs us, has already committed to Notre Dame.

“That’s our third Notre Dame player,” Sue says. “We had one that graduated with honors.”

Only their own kids can say if Gene and Sue have always been this adept at dealing with teenagers, but you get the feeling very little rattles them. Whether it’s the demands of the NTDP schedule or general teenage barrier-testing, they’ve been there.

Once or twice Gene’s had to to reel in a kid who tried to sneak out after curfew, and every now and then a player will arrive back in Ann Arbor on Christmas day because the team leaves for a European tournament on Dec. 26.

“We just fill an extra stocking,” Sue says.

Sue Salaniuk, far left, talks to Trish Paliotta during a recent hockey game at the Ann Arbor Ice Cube. Paliotta's son Michael lives with the Salaniuks in Ann Arbor while taking part in the USA Hockey National Team Development Program here. The Paliottas are from Connecticut – sitting next to Trish are Kate, Mike, and Danny, with Will in front. (Photo by the writer.)

When Michael Paliotta earned a spot in the NTDP, his family threw a party and decorated the house in red, white and blue. His brother, Danny, baked a cake and his dad made a toast. Michael stood up and told everyone that this was his dream.

Trish Paliotta remembers when he was four and he’d come and sit on their bed at 4:30 a.m., fully dressed, ready for someone to take him to the rink.

“Neither of us knew anything about hockey,” she said. “I really thought it was a flash in the pan. I thought he’d find another sport, I really did.”

But now he’s living his dream. What can you do but haul the family 600 miles when there’s a chance to be together and trust he’ll be treated like family when you’re not there?

“I know they keep a close eye on the boys, but give them a little bit of leash, too,” Trish said. “We hear that Gene is a great cook, that Sue is easy to talk to, that Gene’s got a great sense of humor… So far it’s been a great experience. He’s really proud to wear the uniform, and I sleep well. I know he’s safe and still enjoying himself. It’s one of those opportunities of a lifetime.”

About the author: Amy Whitesall is a freelance writer based in Chelsea.

Alliance Focuses on School-Age Kids

Mary Morgan — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 02:09:36 +0000

Joan Doughty kicked off a recent forum of the Washtenaw Alliance for Children and Youth. Doughty is executive director of the Community Action Network and a WACY steering committee member. (Photo by the writer.)

In January 2008, the Washtenaw United Way announced plans to focus its funding on five areas: early childhood education and care, aging in place, food, shelter and access to health care. While they didn’t quibble with the importance of those goals, local nonprofits that work with older children were stunned that funding for K-12 kids, especially those who lived in poverty, hadn’t made the cut.

In an op/ed piece published in the April 2, 2008 Ann Arbor News, Joan Doughty, executive director of the Community Action Network, put it this way: “Nonprofit directors like myself who coordinate programs providing academic and life skills and social support to low-income and youth at risk ages 6 and up were astonished and devastated to find that this area was not represented as an established priority.”

The decision by Washtenaw United Way mobilized leaders of about 20 groups that work with school-aged children – the result is the Washtenaw Alliance for Children and Youth (WACY), a coalition that had its coming-out party at a community forum two weeks ago.

Doughty is one of the lead organizers for this group and a member of its steering committee. She told the forum – about 200 people gathered at Washtenaw Community College – that the community didn’t previously have a comprehensive structure in place to focus on that age group. “We also realized that while many of us knew parts of how children were doing – for example, the public health piece, or the education piece, or juvenile justice – none of us had the big picture,” she said.

They recognized that data collection was key, Doughty said – one of the working groups they established focused on that, and preliminary findings were presented at the Sept. 29 forum. The assessment aims to provide metrics that identify areas needing additional work and resources. The overall goal? To ensure that all children, by the time they reach age 21, are ready for college, work and life.

Bonnie Billups, Jr., the executive director of Peace Neighborhood Center and a WACY steering committee member, acknowledged the ambition of that goal. “That’s a gigantic task,” he said, “but we’re up to it.”

Data Collection: Ready by 21

To assess the current status of youth in Washtenaw County – and to measure progress in several areas going forward – WACY is using an approach called Ready by 21, originally developed by the nonprofit Forum for Youth Investment. The model includes charts for five broad categories: Learning, thriving, working, connecting and leading. For each category, data relevant to that category is collected for five age groups: early childhood (ages 0-5), elementary (ages 6-10), middle school (ages 11-13), high school (ages 14-18) and young adult (ages 19-24).

Each category has a goal. The goal for the “thriving” category, for example, is this: “All Washtenaw County children and youth will be healthy through access to resources and practice of good health habits.” The chart below, which links to a higher resolution image, shows the different measures being used to assess this category. The findings are color-coded, with red as the most critical, yellow as a cautionary status and green as doing well. For some areas, there’s not enough data available to make an assessment.

This chart shows an assessment of the "thriving" category. (Links to larger image.)

One measure in the “thriving” category is the number of free and reduced lunches that are served to children in local school districts. The overall average, combining all districts, is 22% – but in some districts, that percentage is much higher. In Willow Run, 72% of school-aged children receive free or reduced lunches. The lowest district is Saline, at 6%. In Ann Arbor Public Schools, 19% of students receive free or reduced lunches. Overall, this data point is given a critical status.

Also getting a critical status is the percentage of chlamydia cases for the county’s high school students (37%) and young adults (39%), out of the 1,194 cases reported in 2008. The “thriving” category also measures child poverty, the percentage of children with depression or suicidal thoughts, substance abuse and weight.

Here’s an overview of the data collected to assess other categories:

Learning

Goal: All Washtenaw County youth will have an effective education that promotes life-long learning. Metrics: 1) average school attendance, 2) scores in math, reading and writing for the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP), 3) high school completion, and 4) completion of a two- or four-year degree within five years of graduating high school

Working

Goal: All Washtenaw County youth will have the knowledge and skills needed for the 21st century. Metrics: 1) percentage of children with no full-time, year-round employed adults at home, 2) participation in job shadowing or mentoring, 3) teens not in school and unemployed, and 4) local unemployment rate.

Connecting

Goal: All Washtenaw County youth will make positive choices and are safe and supported in their families and communities. Metrics: 1) school safety (experiencing harassment or physical violence), 2) delinquency, 3) neglect/abuse, 4) extracurricular participation, and 5) having a supportive adult in their lives.

Leading

Goal: All Washtenaw County youth will be valued contributors in the community process. Metrics: 1) community service during the school year, 2) community service during the summer, 3) participation in political action groups, and 4) participation in student government.

[.PDF of full WACY Status Report]

Lisa Greco and Jeremy Keeney examine data during the Sept. 29 Washtenaw Alliance for Children & Youth forum. Greco is director of Washtenaw County's children's services department. Keeney, a University of Michigan student, is a school board member for the Lincoln Consolidated School District. (Photo by the writer.)

In giving an overview of the report, J.T. Todd – assistant director of the Center for Occupational and Personalized Education (COPE) in Ypsilanti and a WACY steering committee member – described the data collection as a work in progress. They had gathered information from over a dozen sources, she said, including the county juvenile court and department of public health, state data from Kids Count, the U.S. Census, the Washtenaw Intermediate School District and others. She clarified that they didn’t collect information for kids aged 0-6 years, because another coalition, Success by Six, focuses on that age group.

Todd also said that what they didn’t have – but what they hoped to gather eventually – was more data that included racial and gender breakouts, as well as more district-level information. And she noted that this was a one-year snapshot. Going forward, they’ll be able to track trends as well.

The Sept. 29 forum was meant to get feedback on what WACY had done so far, Todd said. “This is just the beginning of a conversation.”

Next Steps

The alliance recently received a $25,000 grant from the Michigan Committee on Juvenile Justice, which will pay for a staff position to work on WACY’s action plan. Laura Scott has been hired to do that, with the plan to be completed by January.

Todd also invited people “who like to geek out with data” to a Dec. 2, 2009 session that will take a closer look at the information being gathered for this status report. That event will be held from noon to 2 p.m. at the county’s Learning Resource Center, 4135 Washtenaw Ave., at the corner of Washtenaw and Hogback.

In wrapping up the Sept. 29 session, Bonnie Billups, Jr. of Peace Neighborhood Center urged forum attendees to get involved in one of the working groups, and to spread the word about WACY’s work. So far, 22 groups have joined the alliance. They are:

Laura Scott, left, has been hired to develop an action plan for the Washtenaw Alliance on Children & Youth. (Photo by the writer.)

Catherine Gorga with the UM Health System Child Care Center and Marcos Anders of SOS Community Services fill out feedback cards at the Sept. 29 Washtenaw Alliance for Children & Youth forum.

Mary Jo Callan, director of the Ann Arbor/Washtenaw Office of Community Development, left, with Cynthia Maritato, director of the Washtenaw County Department of Human Services.

Bonnie Billips, Jr., executive director of Peace Neighborhood Center, and Joan Doughty, executive director of Community Action Network. Both are on the steering committee for the Washtenaw Alliance for Children & Youth.

Scot Graden, superintendent of Saline Area Schools.

J.T. Todd, standing, talks with Glenn Nelson, left, and Washtenaw County prosecutor Brian Mackie. Todd is with the Center for Occupational and Personalized Education (COPE); Nelson is a school board member for the Ann Arbor Public Schools.

Art Center Outreach Program Survives

Helen Nevius — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 03:30:47 +0000

Former participants in the Ann Arbor Art Center's Artmakers Teens summer outreach program mug for the camera at an awards ceremony in the Ann Arbor City Council chambers on June 1. Ducking down by the table are Jan Onder, Ann Arbor Public Art Commission vice chair, left, and AAPAC chair Margaret Parker. The teens had just been presented with a 2009 Golden Paintbrush Award for a mural the Artmakers created last summer.

In the hallway outside the city council meeting room last month, a group of teenagers leaned into each other and grinned as multiple cameras flashed. People passing by paused to say “Congratulations!” The teens – former participants in the Ann Arbor Art Center’s Artmakers Teens summer outreach program – had just received a 2009 Golden Paintbrush Award from the Ann Arbor Public Art Commission for a mural they created last summer.

Standing and smiling with them was Sarah Winter, an Ann Arbor Public Schools art teacher and project coordinator for the teens who created the mural. Winter said she was happy about the award, and called working with the Artmakers a “truly amazing experience.”

However, it was also bittersweet, she said.

“There’s no funding for the program this summer,” Winter explained. “It was great for the teenagers in a lot of ways this past summer, and now it’s over. I’m very sad it’s not happening this year.”

Funding Challenges

Marsha Chamberlin, the art center’s president and CEO who also serves on the Ann Arbor Public Art Commission, explained that they hadn’t been able to raise the $20,000 needed to run the program, which offers teens the experience of working in an art studio, including monetary compensation. The center only managed to raise $6,000 by late May. This year, corporate donations – which contribute a large portion of the funding for Artmakers – have been down, Chamberlin explained.

Although the center applied for grants from some foundations, they hadn’t heard back by the end of May. By that time of the year, the center usually has all the money it needs for the program, Chamberlin said. Without that funding in place, Artmakers wasn’t possible this summer.

The center usually receives donations from 8 to 10 corporate entities for Artmakers, Chamberlin said. This year, they’ve only gotten money from two or three. One difference this year is that people and corporations have changed their “nature of giving.”

“Some people are supporting us, but they chose to direct their gifts somewhere else,” she said. “In at least one case, they saw a more important need in supporting the art center in general.”

Chamberlin declined to name the foundations that the center applied to for grants, and said she didn’t know why their grant application wasn’t funded. The money the center already collected came from gifts, donations from TCF Bank and a University of Michigan student group that fundraised for the center this past spring. That $6,000 would simply “sit in the bank” until it can be used for a subsequent program, Chamberlin said.

“It’s kind of unfortunate, because it’s at a time when the kids have even less opportunity,” Chamberlin said, noting the lack of options for work elsewhere.

How Artmakers Got Its Start

It all started with a drive-by shooting in Ann Arbor.

At least, that incident was part of the inspiration for the 1996 genesis of the summer outreach program, according to Chamberlin.

The shooting made her and others think about what they could do to help the larger community. Ingrid Sheldon, the mayor of Ann Arbor at the time, saw a presentation at a national conference concerning a program designed to help at-risk youth. The mayor spoke to Chamberlin about it and sent her to a training session in Chicago, and the result was the center’s outreach program for teens in Ann Arbor. Chamberlin said former city council member Jane Lumm also proved helpful in the program’s development.

Artmakers is essentially a job training program using the arts, Chamberlin said. “Kids apply like you would for a job.” To be admitted to the program – which accepts kids ages 14 to 18 – teens fill out an application that gives the center staff an idea of their social and financial status, using measures such as family income. In addition to the application, teachers and guidance counselors may write letters of referral for Artmakers applicants. Finally, teens write an essay explaining why they think working in the art studio will benefit them.

The center staff then reviews the applications, letters and essays and selects a group of youths to call in for an interview. About a dozen kids from Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti have participated in the program each year, although that number varies depending on the funding available. Chamberlin recalled that the center used to admit up to 30 kids to the program per session, years ago.

It costs about $1,600 per youth to run Artmakers each summer. Part of that money goes into paying the participants. The program provides a workplace atmosphere – teens have to fill out timesheets, work in the art studio from 1 to 4 p.m. five days per week and have a limited number of allowed absences. As compensation, they get a $75 stipend each week.

“Like any job, we want to recognize and reward them,” Chamberlin said. She added that since most Artmakers kids come from impoverished backgrounds, they use the money to support their families. “One boy two years ago had a 16-year-old sister who was pregnant,” Chamberlin said. “He gave everything he earned for the summer to her to buy stuff for the baby.”

Over the course of six weeks, participants work with three different kinds of media, spending approximately two weeks with each. For the past couple of years, a project coordinator/master teacher has determined the curriculum, Chamberlin said.

But it’s more than art alone – the program teaches teens how art skills can translate into the workplace. The program also teaches workplace etiquette like how to dress appropriately, Chamberlin said, as well as how to work well with other people. “That helps form bonds and communication patterns so they can learn from each other,” she said.

Artmakers also helps build a sense of self-esteem, Chamberlin said. This year, a girl who’d attended Artmakers called Chamberlin and asked her to come to her high school graduation and talent show. “Three years ago, she could hardly make eye contact,” Chamberlin said. “And now she’s onstage performing. Something we did in the program gave her that courage.”

The program has other success stories. Chamberlin described one boy, a “tremendous artist,” who started working with Toyota (one of the program’s sponsors) designing cars. He later attended the College for Creative Studies and got an internship with GM. “He’s just done tremendously well for himself,” Chamberlin said.

For other kids, the program simply introduces them to a wider world. Chamberlin recalled one 16-year-old boy from southeast Ann Arbor who told her he’d never been to the city’s downtown before. “It was just dumbfounding,” she said.

She explained that the program benefits teens such as that boy by allowing them to “get out in the big world.”

This mural by students in the Artmakers Teens program – featuring three teens posing as classical muses – won a Golden Paintbrush Award from the city in June. It's located on the wall of a building facing south, overlooking the city parking lot on Ashley between Liberty and William.

Making the Mural

The mural on the wooden wall behind the art center features three figures posing against a sky filled with dark, flowing clouds. They’re dressed in modern clothes (jeans, tank tops), but their pedestals and postures speak to ancient art. The landscape behind them is flat and barren, with mountains rising up along the horizon.

Eleven teens contributed to the award-winning mural: Kai’Lyn Wilson, Mareka Armstrong, Muhammed Abdul Basir, Terrance Blakely, Sam Fenner, Holly Granger, Vanessa Marenco, Amber Miller, Cody Pan, Maja Robakiewicz and Dennis Scherdt.

Winter, who worked for Artmakers for three years, including last summer, called the summer 2008 cohort a “really special group of kids.” She said the teens got to know each other and shared their ideas, displaying “such a collaborative vision.”

As for the mural, Winter called it “one of the coolest art-making processes I’ve ever been a part of.” Artmakers had done a mural as the program’s final project twice before, but “a lot of us were not happy about the ones we’d created before,” she said.

They had two weeks to finish the mural. The teens spent the first week planning: sitting in the classroom brainstorming, sketching, and “just having a really vibrant discussion,” Winter explained.

With previous murals, Artmakers groups had only formulated “loose plans” before following through with the project, Winter said. This time, they put in more thought beforehand. They also got tips from set designer Monika Essen on how to plan and execute their vision, Winter added. Other artists who spoke to the teens during that summer’s program included art historian Lisa Schramm and mural artist Mary Thiefels, among many others.

The final painting ended up being a combination of a variety of ideas. Winter recalled that one student liked the idea of Greek muses, while another liked Salvador Dali’s style. The art history they’d learned earlier in the program also influenced the mural, Winter said.

Along with those influences, the teens found an overall theme to tie together their work. “Somewhere along the way, we got into the topic of them – the teenagers – and their generation,” Winter said.

The teens discussed how they fit into the “vast history” of art. In accordance with this idea, three of them posed as models, imitating the stances of well-known, historic sculptures like Winged Victory and Venus de Milo, Winter said. They also represented the muses of music, tragic poetry, and astronomy.

“They actually went outside and stood on pedestals,” Winter said. “We took multiple pictures of them.”

Once they had all their ideas together, the group created a small-scale sketch of the painting. They then drew a grid over it and drew a similar grid on the wall where they planned to paint the mural. Groups of students worked on transferring individual squares of the grid from the sketch to the wall.

In the past, teens have had a “this is my section” attitude about working on murals, Winter said. But this time was different and more collaborative. “This was really neat because everybody felt like they had a voice in the plan,” she said.

Kai’Lyn Wilson, who took part in Artmakers for three summers from 2006-2008, described working on the mural as both fun and educational. “It was learning, but it was fun and interesting,” she told The Chronicle after the awards ceremony on June 1. “We took our time.”

Wilson, who said her love of art motivated her to participate in the program, worked on painting the background: the sky and clouds. Like Winter, Wilson described the funding situation for this year’s program as “very sad.”

“It was a good program,” she said. “I wish we could’ve done it without being paid.”

Artmakers in 2009 and Beyond

While Artmakers isn’t happening this summer, Chamberlin said it isn’t over for good. She said the center has received enough contributions to run the program in September as four hours of studio time every Saturday. Calty Design (Toyota’s design center in Michigan, located in Ann Arbor), TCF Bank and the UM Ross School of Business students (who auction off their art annually to raise money for the program) provided the necessary funding.

“It’s a program we have run for 11 years, and we’ve seen the value of this program.” Chamberlin said, adding: “This is a really unique experience for those kids. For $1,600 a kid, it’s a really positive impact on their lives.”

About the author: Helen Nevius, a student at Eastern Michigan University, is an intern with The Ann Arbor Chronicle.