Growing up in the 1980s in Gary, Terrell Whittington and Chelsea (Stalling) Whittington learned cursive handwriting at Ernie Pyle Elementary School.

A conversation about cursive being removed from Indiana schools in 2011, led to their new venture, Cursive Academy. The Whittingtons decided to create customized workshops to re-introduce the art of cursive writing.

“It was like a rite of passage when one graduated from manuscript to cursive writing,” Chelsea Whittington said in a press release. “Once getting the hang of it, then you could add your own flair, which ultimately became your personalized penmanship.”

Terrell Whittington conducted informal research. He discovered several benefits of cursive handwriting including enhanced fine motor skills, improved literacy and faster, more fluent writing. It also promotes cognitive development, enhanced memory, improved spelling and can be helpful for individuals with learning differences like dyslexia. 

“I chatted with friends and family who have younger children, and it soon became apparent that none of them could write in cursive or even sign their names,” he said. “My handwriting is part of who I am, and we feel that youth should have the opportunity to learn what is slowly becoming a lost art.”

The Whittingtons reached out to organizations that serve their targeted age group of 8 – 17. Nina Burton of Woodland Child Development Center in Hammond and Gary signed up her students.

“I reviewed the proposal and no sooner than the Whittingtons began their presentation, we were all in,” Burton said. “It is the perfect complement to our summer camp activities, and the kids absolutely love learning new things.”

The YWCA of NWI added Cursive Academy to its Summer Learning Lab curriculum.

“This is such a brilliant idea,” Caren Jones, YWCA of NWI executive director, said. “We always like to offer diverse programming for our youth. They already swim, garden and take weekly field trips. Now they will be writing in cursive.”

The first Cursive Academy class kicked off June 9 with more than 30 students in attendance. The program concluded with a graduation ceremony where the students sign their completion certificates in cursive.