(PRUnderground) October 14th, 2025

A Tribe for Jazz will collaborate with educators from West High School on an innovative Jazz Lab professional development session designed to ignite cross-disciplinary creativity. The session will be held Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025, 8:30–11:30 a.m. ET at Glenwood Community Center.

West High School, one of four Columbus high schools in a new manufacturing-pathways pilot, is working to strengthen teacher collaboration and boost student engagement in STEM through creative, hands-on learning that connects classrooms to real-world careers.

Jazz Lab—a fusion of sound science, improvisational design, and experiential learning—will immerse educators in studio-style activities that model collaboration, adaptive thinking, and inclusive practice. Teachers will step into roles as artists and scientists, exploring fresh ways to connect the arts with STEM (including special education supports) and showing how creative and analytical thinking reinforce one another.

The experience encourages educators to rethink boundaries between disciplines—seeing engineering as applied creativity and art as structured problem-solving. Grounded in West High’s context, the session is responsive to real classroom needs and opportunities for innovation.

“This work is about empowering educators to uncover the connections that already exist,” said Stephanie Matthews, Executive Director, A Tribe for Jazz. “Every discipline holds transformative power — we’re just shining a light on it. Jazz Lab helps dismantle the silos between art and science, reminding us that creativity and structure have always been part of the same conversation.”

This work is presented in partnership with The Ohio State University’s Department of Teaching & Learning and West High School, led by Dr. Sophia Jeong (Associate Professor of Science Education, Inclusive STEM Education) and Dr. Daniel Roberts, Principal, West High School. The collaboration aims to augment in-class STEM instruction while creating engaging, cross-disciplinary learning experiences for students.

“We need to support our science teachers so they can, in turn, support their students. Education is a public good, and it really takes a village!” said Dr. Sophia Jeong, who has been co-designing integrated lessons and student experiences with West’s science faculty. “Jazz Lab embodies what we strive to teach future science educators — that learning is dynamic, relational, and deeply creative. This experience gives West’s teachers a living model of how curiosity, experimentation, and collaboration cross disciplinary boundaries. It’s the kind of work that transforms how we think about teaching — and about learning itself.”

Ultimately, the work builds student pathways that merge creative and analytical learning — preparing young people for future roles in innovation, design, and technology. By investing in educator growth, A Tribe for Jazz and its partners are expanding opportunities for Columbus youth to engage in hands-on, cross-disciplinary learning that connects classroom experiences with real-world career pathways in STEM and the arts.

This initiative marks A Tribe for Jazz’s first educator-facing professional development and draws on insights from serving nearly 1,300 youth through Jazz Lab and related programs—now translating that impact into tools teachers can use to amplify creativity and connection across classrooms.

About A Tribe for Jazz

The mission of A Tribe for Jazz is to preserve the legacy and advance the future of jazz through visual storytelling, live and virtual performances, education, and community engagement. For more information, visit www.atribeforjazz.org. IG: @atribeforjazz_ and FB: A Tribe for Jazz.

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Original Press Release.