Emily Wade '11 has seen the healing power of art first-hand. Wade, who had graduated from the Master of Arts in Teaching program in 2011, learned that an artist she admired had died of cancer while still an undergraduate at the Universtiy of Virginia. In honor of the artist, Wade taught workshops about pain and healing at a local cancer center. When she'd relocated to Baltimore to attend MICA, Wade continued to bring comfort to cancer patients at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Since 2010, she's taught art classes to children with cancer and their families through the hospital's pediatric oncology unit, a program funded by a grant through the MICA Student Affairs Community Service Fund.

For the young patients, who range in age from about 4 to 21,

art is empowering," said Wade. "It can be relaxing; it's exciting, and they have control over what they're making, whereas they don't have control over what's happening to their bodies."