Students grab ticket to ride on John Lennon educational bus

HOLLYWOOD — Imagine it’s a given — it’s easy if you try — the kind of education that money cannot buy.

Imagine every student, learning how to play, when John Lennon’s Educational Tour Bus, rolls up on a school day.

The bus arrived at Mary M. Bethune Elementary School of the Arts in Hollywood about 9:30 a.m. Friday and excited students and teachers formed peace sign on the campus field.

“I’ve been at Bethune for 17 years, I startedmy teaching career hereandthis isone of the best experiences,” said fourth-grade teacher Briseida Maycumber. “I actually canceled a vacation to come here.”

This is the 19th year the big blue bus has traveled across the U.S. and Canada to emphasize the importance of the arts and digital media education by giving students hands-on experience with the latest audio

human video recording technologies.

“I think they get to see some of the jobs and careers they would be able to do in the future when they commit to their education,” said kindergarten teacher Giovanni Bonelli.

Students learn about the technical details of the mobile studio, production tips for recording at home or school, and about musical artists including will.i.am, John Legend and Moby who have recorded on the bus.

“It was amazing,” Maycumber said. “They were telling the kids about some famous people like Justin Bieber who sat down in the same place where they were sitting and the kidswere like, ‘Ohmy gosh, I can’t believe it.’”

Bethune Elementary was selected as a Turnaround Arts School and is among a limited number of schools in the nation, includingWalker and Lake Forest elemenand