Recently, Kevin Plough’s third- and fourth-grade challenge class at Hazel Valley Elementary School had the opportunity to work with a professional writer, director, and actress, Gail Sehlhorst, through the Arts Impact program. A film crew from KCTS, the local PBS affiliate, filmed the students as they worked with Ms. Sehlhorst on March 28. In a letter home to the students, Mr. Plough, said it was "quite an honor for our class to be asked to participate in this activity."

The Arts Impact program is designed to support professional artists working with classroom teachers on integrating concepts in dance, theater, and visual art with concepts in traditional curricular areas. This program was featured at a PONCHO (“Patrons of Northwest Civic, Cultural, and Charitable Organizations”) dinner and auction. The PONCO organization is the largest and most prestigious non-profit group supporting the arts in the Pacific Northwest. www.poncho.org This was the name given to the first-ever charitable auction put on by a group of Seattle business, philanthropic, and arts patrons in 1963.

The Arts Impact program provides comprehensive professional development in the arts to elementary classroom teachers in Pierce and King Counties. The program began in Pierce County in 1999 where it has served more than 200 teachers through a two-year training and mentoring program, reaching over 5,000 students.