Golden Apple: Creativity Festival Brings Fun To More Than 500 Students

25 schools from all over Northern Minnesota were on the Bemidji State University campus for the Annual Creativity Festival. The event has been going on for close to 20 years now and gets bigger and better each time.

“It’s so fun to watch them walk down the hall because a lot of them have never been in a college setting, so they walk into this coming from a small rural school and they think ‘wow, this is just awesome’,” says event organizer Barb Nelson of the Northwest Service Cooperative.

This year, there were 17 different sessions meant to immerse students in the worlds of art, science and animals.

“We learned about animals like snakes, legless lizards and salamanders,” says Ben, a student from the Blackduck school district.

“I went to Mixed Media Dolls and there you take blocks of wood and you get magazines and you can glue it on there. You can put beads and different things on there,” says Kenna, another student from Blackduck.

Sage, also a student from Blackduck, adds, “I took a photography one and we learned how to use the cameras and we took pictures of flowers with dew drops and sand and shells,”

“I think young people love being challenged and what we’re hoping to teach them is that process of giving them constraints and a problem and constraints aren’t limitations and just letting them work their magic,” says Margo Bowerman, a University of Minnesota Extension educator who also taught a class today.

The festival started because schools wanted something for students that would be hands-on, but would also be something they could learn from.

Blackduck student Hanna says, “I learned that it’s better to take drawing step-by-step instead of trying to just trying to do it all at once.”

Maureen, another student from Blackduck, adds, “I learned Newton’s three laws of motion.”

503 kids total attended today. Each one was allowed to attend three different sessions of their choice.

“My favorite was the fireball explosion, but break-dancing was fun. Learning different kinds of dancing moves,” says Kyle, a student from the Blackduck school district.

The festival will be back at BSU next year. Until then, organizers are already planning.

“We’re always looking for new sessions, so if anybody knows creative people up in Northwest Minnesota that want to work with kids they can give us a call at the service co-op,” says Nelson.

Contact information for anyone interested in hosting a session at next year’s festival can be found here.