Imagination rules as students dream — Disney style
By Derrick DePledge
Advertiser Education Writer
Using tiny foam squares and glitter glue, Leighna Lariosa arranges a neat row of chairs on a small board.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
The Wilson Elementary School sixth-grader sticks colorful little pom-poms on the chairs to depict students in a make-believe music class. Fuzzy pipe-cleaning fibers serve as musical notes. She chooses a spiky green pom-pom, distinct from the others, and places it on a chair, second from left.
Lalaine, who starred in Disney Channel's hit series "Lizzie McGuire," was the special guest at Wilson Elementary School yesterday for a project called "Imagineer That!"
That would be her — a violinist.
"I thought of everything in my class and just expressed my ideas," said Lariosa, adding a finishing dab of glue to her creation. "I thought of things that make me excited about music."
Fifth- and sixth-graders at Wilson spent yesterday afternoon building their vision of "The Ideal School," a project by the Disney Channel and Oceanic Time Warner Cable. Students were encouraged to imagine what their dream school would look like and were told that, for once, there were no rules.
In Wilson's cafeteria, to the thunderous sounds of teen pop, students were given colored markers, glue, paper, feathers, ice-cream sticks and buttons and turned loose.
One student made up a candy cane basketball game, another designed a talking computer. A girl carved out a paper 'ukulele, while a boy, asked to think up an ideal math class, actually did some math instead.
"Let it all out today," said Lalaine, who played the character "Miranda Sanchez" in Disney's popular television show, "Lizzie McGuire."
The young actress and singer, brought along by Disney as a treat for the students, said young people can express their creativity in many ways, from funky styles of nail polish and clothes to art or music. "It will take you to so many places," she said.
Lalaine said she wished that schools spent more time on the arts. "You can do anything," she said. "Everyone can find a way to be creative."
Disney is also taking the project — called "Imagineer That!" — to Colorado Springs, Colo.; Rockford, Ill.; Omaha, Neb.; and St. Louis. The entertainment giant chose Hawai'i and the other locations to help recognize television partners such as Oceanic Time Warner. Wilson was selected as the event site by the state Department of Education.
The Disney Channel and Oceanic Time Warner also presented a $5,000 donation to Gov. Linda Lingle for the Hawaiian Educational Council at an evening reception for Wilson students and parents.
Steve Beyer, a senior concept designer at Disney, said he wanted students to experience a brainstorming — or "blue sky" — session that Disney imagineers go through when creating a new feature or theme park attraction. Anything is possible, he said, and even casual doodles or scribbles can become the inspiration for great ideas.
"You give them permission to think that there are no boundaries," Beyer said.
But for elementary school students, life is often about rules.
Robin Larry, a sixth-grade teacher at Wilson, said students also have to learn how to be creative at solving problems and adapting to different situations. Yesterday, for an afternoon, at least, she told them to think outside the box.
"But I also asked them, 'Should we be out of the box all the time?' " Larry said. "Should I be outside the box and get creative when I'm driving home from work?
"They know that there are rules."
Reach Derrick DePledge at ddepledge@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8084.
