Students Lead Artistic Creativity Course for Lifelong Learning Initiative (LLI) Participants
For the past two months, students in Dr. Travis Kurowski’s CRW 273: Creativity course have worked together to turn what they’ve learned about creativity theory and process into a lesson plan. On April 20, they gathered in the West Campus Community Center and invited LLI participants to take part in the course through a series of small artistic projects.
The CRW 273: Creativity is a new creative arts course developed as part of York College of Pennsylvania’s new Digital Arts & AI major. The goal of the class, taught by Dr. Travis Kurowski, Associate Professor of Creative Writing, was to encourage students to reflect on and study human creativity in the era of technology and machine creativity.
One of the class’s final assignments was for all 19 students to work together to create a hands-on lesson plan encompassing many of the important topics they had discussed over the course of the semester. After two months of careful planning, the students held their mock class at the West Campus Community Center, inviting members of the upcoming Lifelong Learning Initiative (LLI) to participate in activities and projects designed to encourage creativity and expose the students to teaching.
“By teaching and working with the LLI participants, our college students in CRW 273 engaged in a rich series of intergenerational moments, from empathy interviews to class delivery, at each point adding richness to students' understanding of their community and how the subject of the class (creativity) might be differently interpreted or engaged with at different stages of life,” said Dr. Kurowski.
The students engaged the LLI participants in a variety of tasks during the hour, starting with a game where the group had to count to 21, but only one person could say each number at a time. If two people spoke at the same time, then the group would have to start over. The goal was to focus on flow, one of the themes of the Creativity class, and to learn to find a rhythm with participants to achieve their goals. Ultimately, it was to understand that creativity isn’t about being right, but being willing to try.
The other activities reflected different aspects of engaging with creativity. LLI members were then introduced to the idea of the exquisite corpse, an old game where multiple people added parts to a piece of paper to draw a person. While each participant was given 30 seconds to draw whatever they wanted on a piece of paper passed around the room, the students led another activity: drawing a scene or setting that resonated with them and sculpting an animal with Play-Doh that evoked fond memories.
The final activity was to have the LLI participants create a blackout poem, which involved taking media already written, crossing out words not needed, and turning the remaining ones into a new poem. For the exercise, the goal was to create a poem that reflected the feelings they experienced when they were college-age adults entering the workforce.
At the end of each activity, the students mingled with the LLI members and discussed the work they did and how it connected to ideas linked to creativity, such as connecting to find new inspiration and finding deeper meaning when slowing down to really appreciate the art before them. For a short time, the students had the opportunity to be teachers and guide a class through the meanings and themes of their lessons.
“The goal for today was to awaken creativity in people,” said Logan Skovron ‘26, one of the students leading the LLI class. “To show people different ways to go and use it.”
“I think it was a really big success,” shared Katrina “Kitty” Cox ‘27, another student from the Creativity course. “It was a long semester of piecing together the different ways we could approach creativity in a group setting. It was really important for all of us to connect deeply with the LLI participants.”
One of the most important takeaways from the session was to encourage connection with different generations. One of the goals of the LLI program is to provide mature adults with opportunities related to education, culture, and social experiences. Being able to connect with the participants through intergenerational learning and communication was a key objective for the students when teaching, as well as engaging the LLI participants in some of the learning the program aims to share with them.
“One of the many benefits of YC-LLI is the opportunity to meaningfully connect our members with YCP students through ongoing intergenerational experiences,” said Jennifer Geubtner-May, the Director of Lifelong Learning Initiative. “These interactions enrich both groups, foster shared learning, and create a strong sense of community.”
Many LLI members expressed their enjoyment of the session both during and after the class. For most of them, they liked being able to work with the students and see them encourage connections with one another.
“It’s just a great way to meet a lot of people, learn some new things, try something new,” said Barb Trout, one of the LLI participants who took part in the student course. “ [...] My favorite part was getting to talk to and meet so many students.”
Another participant, James Deeter, echoed her sentiments. “It really was nice to see the students be as active as they are,” he said. “It was fun to do all this stuff.”
Everyone walked away from the event with a new perspective on creativity and how to share it with others. Not only have the students gained new insight into teaching while showing everything they have learned over the semester, but the LLI participants also had an early opportunity to witness what York College is ecstatic to offer its new members through the new program.
“YC-LLI began less than four months ago, and I hadn’t anticipated that such a connection would come together so quickly,” Geubtner-May said. “I am especially grateful to Dr. Kurowski, whose initiative and leadership served as the catalyst for this collaboration. Thanks to his efforts, the program was truly exceptional.”
Photo Credit: Brody Shaffer ‘29
