Last year my predecessor Dana Pellegrino helped launch a fantastic campaign for the Center for Community Partnerships called, “Did You Know?” This campaign began as a way to highlight some of the important work that goes on through the CCP that the general Wesleyan community is not aware of. It was through this campaign that I first learned about an amazing program called CAUSE or Community and University Services for Education. From the program’s website:

Established in 1967 by Mrs. Marjorie Daltry Rosenbaum, CAUSE has existed to identify and facilitate the implementation of cooperative programs and projects between Wesleyan University, the Middletown community and the public and private schools in the Middletown area. Focus of these programs has been on intellectual and cultural enrichment.  Thousands of students have benefited over the years.

A noted program of CAUSE is the High School Humanities Program. Annually, about 100 high school students from local public (Middletown High School, Vinal Technical High School and Haddam Killingworth High School) and parochial schools (Mercy and Xavier) participate in lectures and discussion on a variety of liberal arts subjects led by Wesleyan faculty.

Another unique project supported by CAUSE is The Art Show, which exhibits over 1,200 artworks of Middletown students in grades K-12 at Wesleyan’s Zilkha Gallery. This annual showcase, reflecting the art curriculum in Middletown Public Schools, draws hundreds of students and their families to campus each spring.

Still another worthwhile project is Silent Sounds. This is a collaboration with Middletown Public Schools, CAUSE, and Wesleyan’s Center for the Arts. The focus is to encourage young people to explore, enjoy and create literary arts. For eight years now, students in Middletown Public Schools submit poetry and prose for juried evaluation, and winning entries (roughly 30 each year) are compiled into a printed publication.

So now you know!