Creative Writing and Artwork from New Jersey’s Youth in the Juvenile Justice System

About the Program | Speakers: Valerie L. Egar, Mary T. Previte | Photos from the Event

Notes on the Speakers:

Valerie L. Egar,
Special Counsel to the Executive Director of the Juvenile Justice Commission

A published poet, photographer and lawyer.

Honored to be sharing the podium with Assemblywoman Mary T. Previte. Noone has done more for the children of New Jersey.

Best kept secret – NJ Detention Centers – provide secure care and community programs – education, rehabilitation and changing futures.

The students in these programs do all sorts of thing – fabricate lenses for glasses, learn skills such as catering, baking, casino work skills for Atlantic City. Many of these students finish high school and college courses, write creatively and do artwork.

The creative act is one of transformation, one you can use to express deep feelings and emotions. When you choose endings to stories, you learn that your life can have different outcomes.

Grief can be set to a memorial; longing to a lullaby; street sounds can inspire the music of rap and poetry.

Seeing their works on display builds their pride and self-confidence and gives the students a sense of accomplishment.

Reading opens a world and makes you want to explore and read the works of others.

Next stop for the exhibit – Mercer County Public Library. Waiting in the wings – Ocean County Public Library and Camden County Public Library.

The power and passion of what’s here, in this exhibit, is remarkable. The works of our forgotten children. Surprisingly articulate and interested in the arts. These kids are the same as “normal” kids – same hopes, fears, feelings of tenderness, joy and excitement. But they also know grief intimately. Their creative efforts and their ability to express their feelings give us insights into who they are and their potential.

This is a wonderful opportunity for the folks of NJ – to see this demonstration of the resilience of the human spirit in a project that gives our kids a voice.