SUFFOLK, Va. — We are highlighting a teacher making a positive impact in the lives of her students. And she's doing it through art!
Qua Cummings is a teacher at John F. Kennedy Middle School in Suffolk. She reached out to News 3 on Facebook and said we should come see just how talented her students are.
I headed into the community to see for myself.
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Kaiden Holmes and Khloe Eley are students at John F. Kennedy Middle School in Suffolk. They told us what they love about art.
"It makes me feel free," said Kaiden, a 7th grader.
"I love that it helps me express myself in different ways," said Khloe, a 6th grader at the school.
Qua Cummings is their art teacher. She's been with the school for about two years. We stopped in to visit her and her class while they were working on their next project. After talking with her students, I learned Ms. Cummings' impact goes beyond the classroom walls.
"It's makes me feel really happy to be in the class with her. She's like a second mom to me. My mom loves me and encourages me to do the same, but she's like an art mom," said Khairolina Barnett-Baker, an 8th grader at the school.
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"It's because she cares," said Brooke Hanks, an 8th grader at the school. "She doesn't want you to fail. She won't fail you on purpose. She actually wants to see you try and see how far your creativity is."
"I think the main thing I try to do is gain a connection with them through art," said Qua Cummings. "Like when I did this door, they automatically knew, hey that's Tupac or when I did this one it was hey, that's Biggie."
Cummings says she makes a point to expose them to techniques and materials they've never used before.
Cummings says a lot of her students come from lower income homes. For some of them, life hasn't been easy, but they still show up, and that inspires her.
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"To see how passionate they are, it's encouraging me, and it has helped me to even get back into my art, my own personal art and to think in terms of being more creative for myself," said Cummings. "They think that I am inspiring them, they're inspiring me. So when I see them flourish and do great things, particularly with art, it just makes my heart swell. It really does. It's just the greatest feeling ever, and it's the reason I became a teacher."
And De'Sean is glad she is his art teacher.
"Ya'll got to come to JFK for Ms. Cummings. She gonna get you right," said De'Sean Freeman. He's in the 8th grade.
"One student asked me, 'Ms. Cummings who is your teacher bestie?'" said Cummings. "And I said, 'you are my best friend, you're my bestie in this building' and I meant that."
If you know someone who's making a positive impact in the lives of others, we'd love to hear about it! Reach out to us on Facebook, Instagram or through email at goodnews@wtkr.com.
