TAMPA, Fla. — Twice a week, Bethany Thompson teaches music at Tampa’s Les Peters Academy, a facility for troubled girls ages 14-18.
A court order brought these young women here, but Thompson said she hopes music leads them out.
“I’ll see them come in some days they are having a really bad day and they pick up the violin and they start smiling and they start forgetting some of the things they are dealing with,” said Thompson.
They have experienced trauma, violence and legal trouble, so most have never been exposed to music as an art form.
“The first day they come in, they have no clue what a cello is. Some don’t even know what a violin is and they are very unfamiliar with the genre of music,” said Thompson.
Thompson has played in orchestras and taught in schools but seems to have found her place working with young girls in the juvenile justice system.
Officials at Les Peters said they’ve seen the difference.
“We’ve learned that music with our kids has been a tremendous help with them. A tremendous coping skill. And we find that unsafe behaviors decrease,” said True Core Community Relations Director Koljonna Lewis.
When the lesson is over, the girls pack up their instruments and return to the less cheerful parts of this facility, but the music never has to leave them.
“They realize if I do something this hard, I can do other things because learning the violin and cello is not easy and this is why this is a unique program,” said Thompson.
A program funded by Prodigy Cultural Arts that those at Les Peters hope to expand.
For more information on the program, go here.
