HopeCAT: ‘It’s really sweet here’

Aaris Williams doesn’t know that she will continue making pottery in the future, but she does want to study art and hopes to find a place with an atmosphere similar to the Hope Center for Arts and Technology in Sharon.
“It lifts people up,” she said of HopeCAT. “It’s a really light environment. Everybody’s welcome. You can feel whatever you need to feel whenever you’re feeling it. You can get help with whatever you need help with. It’s really sweet here.”
Aaris, who just graduated from Brookfield High School, spent two years studying pottery afterschool at HopeCAT. She was one of 50 students from six school districts who attended HopeCat this year.
Even though HopeCAT’s building has only been open for 1.5 years, the pottery program has run for four, originally at Penn State Shenango in Sharon. It’s time to expand the programming, said HopeCAT Executive Director Tom Roberts.
HopeCAT is adding a T-shirt design studio and working toward opening a digital arts and design studio.
HopeCAT also offers free medical assistant classes for adults and is looking to add more adult classes, Roberts said.
The HopeCat program, based on William E. Strickland Jr.’s Manchester Bidwell Corp. center in Pittsburgh, is about breaking the cycle of poverty and lifting up those who need a boost.
“HopeCat is a culture,” Roberts said.
That culture is about more than teaching.
“The instructors are really nice,” said Brookfield junior Rachael Horton. “They always greet you with a smile. They always like to build up a conversation with you, make sure you’re OK, and make sure you have a great time here.”
You can hear how the place changes its students in the comments that they make.
“I definitely feel more comfortable connecting with different people now,” Aaris said. “I feel more comfortable making things I wouldn’t have been comfortable making before.”
“It helped me with my confidence, because Christian makes me make decisions, even though I don’t want to,” said Kaytlyn Horton, a Brookfield junior who was referring to pottery teacher Christian Kuharik.
Kaytlyn, Rachael and Aaris participated in the end-of term Youth Arts Celebration on May 16, where they displayed and sold pieces of their work.
Looking around at the other work displayed, with her flower planter in the shape of the crescent moon hanging from the ceiling, Katylyn said, “It makes me happy, because I get to be a part of something.”
Rachael plans to return to HopeCat in the fall and encouraged other Brookfield students to check out the place.
“It’s a great experience and another way for them to learn other art techniques,” Rachael said.