his is the first year Ophelia Darby has worked with the Orangeburg-Calhoun Consortium for the Arts. Needless to say, it left quite an impression on the band director.

"It is a fabulous program for the students," she said. "We have a lot of talented children in Orangeburg, and they just do awesome, awesome work."

For nearly two decades, local arts educators have given up part of their summer vacation to help artistically gifted and talented students in Orangeburg and Calhoun counties grow in their respective fields.

This year was no exception, and the more than 100 students fortunate enough to gain entry into the consortium displayed the fruits of their summer labor during a gallery show and production of "Annie Jr." on July 16 on the campus of South Carolina State University.

"Even though we had a younger group this year, they were excellent. They rose to the occasion," said Dr. Jerome Brown, director of OCCA. "And their performance (of 'Annie Jr.') was just fantastic.

"The visual arts were just out of the world this year. There was a fourth-grader, and if you looked at his work ... you would think he was at least a 10th- or 11th-grader. It was far beyond his years."

Since 1990, students representing Orangeburg Consolidated School Districts Three, Four and Five, Calhoun County Schools and Felton Laboratory School have gathered at the consortium for five weeks of intense instruction in visual art, dance, drama, and vocal and instrumental music performance.

The program, originally established to better prepare area students for the S.C. Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities audition process, is funded by school districts with money received from the S.C. Department of Education. Each district receives funds for the number of slots they are responsible to fill, and students incur no out-of-pocket expense. Districts with more pupils who are eligible for the program can opt to pick up the tab for those students.

"We're trying to prepare our students so they can be competitive with students from across the state and nation," Brown said. "I would love to see at some point in time a discussion of a school for the arts ... more locally than the Governor's School. Something like the Ashley River (Creative Arts) School in Charleston. It's highly competitive. People are on a waiting list."

Consortium students must be nominated and make it through three rounds of auditions to be chosen for the program, which meets state requirements for gifted and talented education for artistically gifted students. Those achieving 80 percent or higher in the audition stage are qualified to attend the summer program, and once a student is accepted, they keep their spot for as long as they are eligible, unless they do not pass an end-of-summer assessment or choose not to attend.

During the five-week program, students are required to attend master classes in their respective disciplines and take part in the Consortium Chorus. Students are evaluated at the end of the summer, and that evaluation determines whether the student will be allowed to return the following year.

"The arts make the children well-rounded," Brown said. "We have found out that these kids are on their way, their test scores are much better. It's really the arts that help these kids excel."

Drama instructor Karyn Johnson couldn't agree more.

"I see such a difference from the first week to the last week, their self-esteem, confidence," she said. "They have a chance to work on their skills and work around other students who are just as focused as they are. It really just builds their confidence ... their test scores -- they can think, they have an imagination -- and it really rounds out their personalities."

Johnson, a drama teacher at Carver-Edisto Middle School in Cordova, said working with the consortium gives her "an opportunity to keep my fingers in the dramatic arts" and work with talented, focused students.

"And it gives them (the students) an outlet for their artistic talents that the school districts don't provide, to this extent," she said. "It gives the kids the chance to really explore the aspects of their artistic talents, as well as explore the other artistic opportunities to put on a production."

During their master classes, Johnson said her students focused on basic acting skills, memorization techniques, improvisation games and warm-up activities. Students then had to put on several performances for the consortium, audition for "Annie Jr." and perform in the final show.

"They did well," Johnson said of her students, who also learned that even small roles are important in a production. "Whatever part they got, they knew they were a total part of the production. And they were excellent."

Darby, the band director for C-EMS and Edisto High School, said her instrumental music students worked on their playing skills, learned scales and prepared for region band.

"We actually played some of the songs for the ('Annie Jr.') production," including "I Think I'm Going to Like It Here," "Maybe" and "Tomorrow," she said. "Our children are just that skilled. ... And as a prelude, we did some jazz pieces."

Chantell Pendarvis, a 17-year-old rising senior at Edisto High and the school's drum major, said this was her fourth year with the consortium, playing the alto saxophone.

"It's a really great event that I think everyone should get into," she said. "It teaches you a lot, and it gives you the chance to participate with different students from different schools."

Pendarvis said while she's not going to major in music in college -- she wants to be a pediatrician -- "I'm still going to keep playing my instrument, maybe in church or something."

The consortium, Darby said, "takes (students) to another level. We have good programs in our schools, but when we have a large number of kids to work with, we don't pinpoint those kids who are just exceptional. ... When they leave here from the summer, they should be able to go back and help the teachers at their schools" and be leaders in their class.

Bretta Staley, an art teacher at Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School and the consortium's high school visual arts instructor, said the students who attend OCCA are really interested in learning.

"Their level of intelligence is above and beyond," she said. "It (the consortium) just gives them an opportunity to grow in their area of expertise. For kids not able to pay out of pocket for special schools in their area, it really gives them an opportunity to go above and beyond."

Staley said her students did four different projects based on the three theories of art -- formalism, emotionalism and imitationalism -- using prismacolor pencils and hot press board.

"Overall, they did excellent. I was very proud of all of them," she said.

Two of Staley's students, 17-year-olds Dominique Jenkins and Kaison Smoak, both rising seniors at O-W, said they have enjoyed their years as part of the consortium.

"I'm in the visual arts department, (but) by at the end of the day, you have an hour where everyone is together with the Consortium Choir," Jenkins said. "They have recitals where everybody performs a piece ... and it kind of gives you an inspiring feeling because you get to see everybody do good at what they're talented in.

"Being around people that are talented just as much as you are kind of pushes you to do better. It just kind of kept me going."

Smoak, who was this year's winner of the Sixth District Congressional Art Competition sponsored by U.S. House Majority Whip James Clyburn, said he's going to miss attending OCCA during the summers.

"It made me become more focused on finishing projects," he said. "Every time I have done an artwork, Ms. Staley would tell me what was wrong with it. Every artwork I finished would be better (than the last)."

Both students plan to pursue a career that will put their visual art skills to use, Jenkins in graphic and interior design, and Smoak in architecture.

"My artwork, my colored-pencil artwork, is more detailed and more realistic," Smoak said. "Now, people think my pictures are photographs, and I take that as a compliment."

Jenkins said if young people show a talent for the arts, they should stick with it.

"I have seen a lot of people come and go in nine years," she said, but when the students stick to it, "the outcome is great. It really is.

"I think it does people our age well to be around people just as talented as they are because it kind of motivates them to do better. It's really good to have the young people look up to us. We would have some of the elementary kids come into our room and say, 'Wow, I wish I could do that.' And I would say, 'You can, if you stick to it.'"

"I think it provides a great measure of discipline," former director and OCCA consultant Gladys Johnson said of the consortium. "It also provides them with a sense of culture ... and an appreciation of the fine arts.

"They have the talent, they have the gift, but unless someone cultivates that talent, that gift, they may lose it."

Karyn Johnson said the maturity, talent and professionalism of the consortium students never ceases to amaze her.

"They always, always surprise me and come out with something that is beyond what you would expect," she said. "They really proved themselves to be very talented, very professional students. And the teachers are so great, so wonderful at what they do. It's definitely a collaborative effort."

T&D Features Editor Wendy Jeffcoat Crider can be reached by e-mail at wjeffcoat@timesanddemocrat.com or by telephone at 803-533-5546. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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