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CROTON-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. A trashcan-banging collection of college students from Northwestern University in Chicago, called "Boom Shaka," gave a free performance to students of Croton-Harmon High School Tuesday afternoon. The unified rhythm and dance group hammers out rhythms with worn drumsticks, 44-gallon garbage cans and five gallon buckets, similar to "Stomp."
The student group is touring a spattering of locations throughout the country before returning to school. Croton can claim one of the groups three directors as their own, Joshua Brechner, who is an alumnus of Croton-Harmon High School and currently a political science major.
I think when you have a diverse group of kids it draws people with different interests, said Brechner, between tenor accents of aluminum lid solos. I think unified rhythm and dance appeals to a lot of people.
The group's performance was funded by the Croton Community Coalition, whose mission is to provide students with after-school alternatives to drugs and alcohol. Every two years the coalition collects data on marijuana and alcohol use among sixth through 12th grade students.
The last survey, conducted in April 2010, showed that by 11th grade, Croton students were using marijuana at a self-reported rate of 33 percent, versus the national average of 18 percent. New survey data should be released soon, according to John Nikitopoulos, detective sergeant in the Croton Police Department.
Nikitopoulos said that the events are not just to reach kids that are at risk, but for all the kids, and that they hope the kids that are at risk will come and participate.
We were hoping to draw a cross section of kids that need to stay after-school for academic reasons, and those who are staying after-school for sports, said Ellen Hackett, a teen advisor who works in Pierre Van Cortlandt Middle School and Croton-Harmon High.
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