Peoria Journal Star

April 11, 2008

MWAH! Performances Tell of Hope's Power

By DAVE HANEY

Two teenagers scuffled before an auditorium filled with several hundred junior high school students, with one screaming a derogatory word at the other as the pair were pulled apart.

For a few moments, students and teachers alike stared in aghast at the word, wondering what sparked the exchange, certainly surprised at the outburst.

The sound of piano play then swept in, and a small girl took to the stage, talking and singing about hatred and how racism hurts others.

The fight was not real, but just one of the performances Friday by MWAH! or Messages Which Are Hopeful!, a dance and singing troupe made of youths between the ages of 8 and 18 from the Rockford and Chicago area.

The group made a stop at Trewyn and Von Steuben middle schools to spread their messages of hope through song and act about social topics such as racism, peer pressure, violence and the like.

And it appeared to sync with students.

With uplifting songs came students' screams and cheers, hands waving in the air. "Always be proud of who you are on the inside and out," one performer told the audience of students.

"I've never seen the kids respond like this," Trewyn Middle School Assistant Principal Tom Blumer said.

When it came to retelling the story of the massacres on February 14 at Northern Illinois University by a former student who appeared to have had a mental illness, and at Virginia Tech University last year by a student who had been bullied as a teenager, the Trewyn students sat silent, either looking down at the floor or staring straight ahead of them.

"Sometimes the way we are treated determines how we think and later what we do," another of the troupe's performers said. "Respect each other for our differences. We all have feelings and dreams."

The troupe used gospel, pop, country and bluegrass music to transition to inspirational messages conveying hope, many of which students grasped.

"You think about the positive things," said Elasha James, 14, an eighth-grader at Trewyn.

"It's very different, very interesting, not like what we've seen," said Naja Smith, also 14.

Sponsoring the MWAH! troupe's visit to Peoria was the Boys & Girls Club of Peoria.

"I think it's a message our kids need to hear - hope," said Boys & Girls program director Julie Huls. "Maybe some won't hear today, maybe some will, but we got to keep putting that message out there."

MWAH! troupe members and a couple of friends following a keynote performance for the Illinois Association of Junior High Student Councils Convention at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Springfield, Illinois, a week after the Peoria appearances April 11, 2008, at Trewyn and Von Steuben middle schools.

Photo: David Brame, a photographer from Arizona for the Illinois Association of Junior High Student Councils