TRW Sponsors Program Motivating Children Through Music and Movement

Business Wire, May 9, 2001

Business Editors

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 9, 2001

Throughout this week, children in three San Bernardino preschools will participate in stART smART, a program using music and rhythmic movement to develop and strengthen children's motor and social skills.

Sponsored by TRW Inc. (NYSE: TRW) and the Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts, this innovative program focuses on improving children's coordination, sequencing and spatial awareness, cooperation and sharing, while also teaching colors, shapes and numbers.

Each day this week, Wolf Trap artist Daniel Giray, known to children as "Danny G," will lead children ages 3 to 5 years at Teddy Bear Tymes Child Care Center, Smart Start Child Development Center, and Mill Child Development Center Headstart in a 45-minute session of song and dance. To prepare children to enter primary school ready to learn, stART smART uses the performing arts to foster social and emotional growth. The program also trains teachers to integrate the arts into their curriculum and parents to conduct performing arts lessons at home.

On Wednesday evening, May 9, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at The Meadows, "Danny G" will host an instructional workshop where teachers from all over San Bernardino will learn new strategies for promoting self-expression, imagination, symbol recognition, creativity and improvisation among their students. Attendance, originally limited to 60, was increased after more than 80 RSVPs were received.

Giray is an instructor at the Zohar School of Dance in Palo Alto, Calif., where he is also the California Arts Council's Artist-in-Residence. Giray served as the Artistic Director of the Young Extensions Children's Dance Theater in Oakland, Calif., yet he is more likely better known from his former children's dance and movement television show entitled "Danny G's Incredible Learning Fun Times." Giray has performed both nationally and internationally, and his background includes training in jazz, modern, ballet, and children's dance therapy.

"TRW is a company fueled by great ideas, and we acknowledge the importance of well-developed minds," said Burt Yamada, TRW San Bernardino site manager. "The lessons learned early in a child's life can have a lasting impact on their development, and we recognize the benefit this type of program can provide." Since 1995, TRW has provided nearly $1 million in funding for the program - more than any other contributor.

"Thousands of children nationwide have already benefited from this program, and teachers have noticed a marked increase in classroom participation and understanding," said Miriam Flaherty, director of the Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts. "Through active participation in arts-based curriculum activities, the children are experiencing the joy of learning while improving their confidence and problem-solving skills."

Founded in 1981, the Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts is a program of the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts of Vienna, Va. Wolf Trap is an internationally renowned cultural organization based at Wolf Trap Farm Park, the United States' first and only national park for the performing arts.

For over 40 years, TRW San Bernardino has been providing a wide range of engineering skills and technologies to government customers, including support as the prime integration contractor for U.S. Air Force Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Program (ICBM), one of TRW's largest government contracts. Located on the former Norton Air Force base, TRW San Bernardino employs more than 180 people.

TRW Inc., headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, provides advanced technology products and services to the automotive, aerospace, telecommunications and information technology markets worldwide. TRW, which is celebrating its 100th year of operations in 2001, had year-end sales of $17.2 billion. For more information, visit www.trw.com.