About the Academy



Welcome to the C.A.S.S.-M.I.N.D. Academy!  The Academy is located in the beautiful historic City of Zanesville, in the hills of Southeastern Ohio.

C.A.S.S.-M.I.N.D. (Creating Artists, Stimulating Success/Making Impact, Negotiating Decisions) was founded by Cassandra McDonald, an award-winning performing artist and Lecturer of Music at Muskingum University. C.A.S.S.-M.I.N.D. is an organization dedicated to teaching its creative arts students about music, drama, writing, and visual arts, but offers all youth an opportunity to learn about business, leadership, and life skills. Its students are not only young artists drawn from the Eastern Ohio area, but also youth from local social services organizations, and the C.A.S.S. Performing Arts Camp.

The C.A.S.S.-M.I.N.D. Arts Academy and the C.A.S.S.-M.I.N.D. Headquarters are located in Zanesville, Ohio. The home of the Academy is the Alvah Buckingham Heritage House, located at 405 Moxahala Avenue in the Putnam Historic District, overlooking the scenic Muskingum River. The house was an important stop on the Underground Railroad, and will feature an historic exhibit dedicated to its prominence in this regard. The house will also feature a Bed and Breakfast in one wing, and an internet cafe'.

One of the first programs to be implemented at the Academy is the Keep Kids in School Initiative, involving participation of youth from the Avondale Center, a Muskingum County facility for abused, neglected, and abandoned youth ranging from the ages of 12 to 18. The program is designed to offer at-risk youth a stable, nurturing environment, something often missing in residential facilities and the constant bustle of temporary foster care. Students will explore their career aspirations and discover their gifts, as well as have an opportunity to experience specialized courses in art, music, and business/leadership. Students will also have the opportunity to learn about conflict management and compromise, and a program similar to "StreetLaw," designed to teach them about their rights as citizens and basic concepts of law and government.

The C.A.S.S. / M.I.N.D. mission is to design individual curriculum based on assessment outcome for each student. This course will entail two six-week sessions. The first two weeks involve individualized assessment: Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence (MI) Model, Myers-Briggs personality test, and a career development project; the composite will result in individualized mapping. Each student will have a specific curriculum designed on the outcome of these individual assessments. The remaining four weeks the students will choose their curriculum concentration of art, business, or music.