At the young age of ten, Jordan Schwartz had already begun learning Spanish and participating in community theater. She decided to combine the two, and soon she founded The Children's Bilingual Theater (CBT) as an outreach initiative for kids learning Spanish and ESL students. "Theater offers so much in working in a team, public speaking skills, and confidence," Jordan says.
Jordan's CBT project provides kids a place to concentrate on the Spanish language while learning the artistic expression and confidence-building skills unique to the theater experience. "My mom speaks Spanish and my after-school program offered classes but outside of that, there was nowhere to use both languages," she explains, "so I had an idea to put my theater experience and the language idea together." With the growing Hispanic population in her region, Jordan's bilingual theater outreach also serves to bridge the cultural divide in an increasingly diverse community.
Jordan has continued her bilingual community theater initiative despite recently being diagnosed with Turner syndrome, a genetic disorder affecting approximately one in every 2,500 girls, and resulting in short stature and improper development of ovaries. As a consequence, she must now regularly receive human growth hormone injections. But she has transformed this diagnosis into yet another opportunity to reach out to kids in her community, creating a Web site for other children with the same condition where they can share their feelings and personal stories.
The Children's Bilingual Theater raised over three thousand dollars for a production of The Song of the Oak/El canto del roble, which included seventeen youth volunteers and toured four schools in the area. It has also produced two additional musicals and a number of other theatrical events. "I am proud and uplifted," says Jordan's mother, Diana, "to have a child who even with a personal challenge still gets out there and tries so hard to do something for our community."
To learn more about Jordan Schwartz and her cause, and how you can make a difference, please visit: www.childrensbilingualtheater.org.
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