UNI Awards Fellowship for Reuben’s Writing Curriculum

Reuben received University of Northern Iowa’s 2025 Veridian Community Engagement Fellowship for the Creative Youth Empowerment Writing Program, a writing curriculum he developed for the Waterloo Community School District to address the diverse needs of its students. 

From Reuben’s Instagram: 

June brought a delightful surprise🏆👨🏻‍🏫✍️ I discovered I won an award! I received the 2025 Veridian Community Engagement Fellowship for a creative writing curriculum I developed. This is part of a fantastic ongoing partnership with Arts Ignite, University of Northern Iowa Gallagher Bluedorn center, and Waterloo Community School District.

✨The program is designed to engage students of all skill levels in the writing process, including those that can find it the hardest. English Language Learners, students with learning differences, and reluctant writers get to have fun tapping their creativity while acquiring essential academic and SEL skills.

✨And each spring I get to lead residencies at Waterloo schools (shout out Becker and Kingsley Elementary!). I also had the privilege of training Waterloo’s English Language Development teachers on the curriculum.

The grant from this award helped make that possible 🙏📝✨

✨I’m honored to be named alongside a team of difference-making educators & administrators: Abby Norgren, Simona Boroianu and Jennifer Onuigbo. Together with Arts Ignite and UNI’s Kelli McCarthy, we’ve been able to deliver arts integration-driven writing instruction to hundreds of kids during the last two school years.

✨The grant was awarded during a moment of administrative transition, and we just learned about it. I was back in Iowa for Arts Ignite’s annual summer program, so I swung by UNI to meet the trophy in person.

👋🏆

Teaching in a City of Love: In the News at CWP

To celebrate the 4th year of their “Self-Portrait to Superhero” teaching artist residency at PS 84, Reuben and visual artist Valerie Hallier gave the 3rd grade (and themselves!) a new challenge: Community Comic Books! Each class worked together as a writing/illustrating team to create comic book stories about new heroes helping their communities. They then transformed their stories into mural-sized comic pages to hang in the halls and inspire the whole school. 

From Community-Word Project:

Once upon a panel: Gingy wanted to live in a place full of love. No one seemed to care, until they did.

This four-part comic mural, dreamed up and painted entirely by PS 84 students under the guidance of teaching artists Valerie Hallier and Reuben Sack tells a story of flood, fear, and a villain named Milkman… but it doesn't end there. It ends with community. It ends with rainbows, gingerbread friends, and a wall that reads: "Let's all live in a city of love."

Students don't need permission to imagine a better world, they just need the space, the tools, and an artist who believes in their voice. Valerie and Reuben gave them all three.

From pencil sketch to full color, this is what happens when creative expression meets real trust. 

Thank you, Valerie Hallier and Reuben Sack, and congratulations to every student artist at PS 84!

Page to Stage with PS 152Q

The curtain just fell on Reuben’s third year as the creative writing instructor for Arts Ignite’s theatre-making residency at PS 152Q. Students from kindergarten through 5th grade collaborated to write and perform their own musical production before a delighted audience. And, wow, what a show! Bravo to all the young writer-actors on their creativity and courage!

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DZK0C6rOngB/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

From Arts Ignite:

Another year, another incredible performance at PS 152Q! ✨

What a joy it has been to watch the students devise their OWN scripts, which led to their extravagant showcase titled, “Tales of Acceptance, Trust, Friendship, Individuality, and Family!” 

Their hard work and dedication absolutely blew us away!

Congratulations to all of the performers and to our TAs (Teaching Artists) Rori, Reuben, and Taylor who helped students advance their language acquisition and social emotional skills through theatre. Until next time! 👏

Photo Credit: @shawnsalleyphotography