NILES TOWNSHIP — Much like the past month’s weather, seventh to 12th grade students sang about a slew of seasons in a short span of time Thursday evening at Brandywine Elementary School’s auditorium.

The students, from Brandywine and beyond, had spent the week rehearsing songs, dance routines, speaking lines and instrumental melodies for the first of seven Performing Arts Workshops this summer.

PAW is the brainchild of Brandywine High School alumi August Garritano and Lena Miles, who are now executive directors of the organization. Their nonprofit was created to host inclusive, integrative arts education for area youth ages infant to 18.

It does so by conducting numerous summer workshops, where youth learn to sing and dance a number of songs by instructors from across the nation. The workshop culminates in a public performance at the elementary auditorium, where the only cost is a suggested donation to the nonprofit.

This week’s workshop was the PAW Sr., a program for seventh to 12th grade students. While each workshop does not necessarily have a storyline, Garritano said, the songs and dance numbers do follow a theme.

The PAW Sr. show was “Song of Purple Summer,” a performance centered on season changes.

“We’re trying to incorporate seasons into life lessons, what it means to conquer a chapter in their lives,” he said.

Miles said PAW staff then takes the theme of the workshop and incorporates it into the art forms they teach. Usually, she said, they see different forms of growth in students as they move through the workshop, depending on that workshop’s theme.

“We try to choose themes that students are connected with and have deep meanings while tying in different disciplines of the arts,” she said.

This is PAW’s eighth year running. Garritano said programming has gone from a single four-day workshop to seven weeklong workshops, each serving a different age groups in various formats, like musical theater workshops.

Regardless of the year, he said the programs have brought in both children familiar with performance and those new to the stage. The new inspire the veterans through their raw spirit. The veterans teach the new participants the basics of performance.

What keeps the children, sometimes from different school districts, together is the family atmosphere that has been created, Garritano said.

“We refer to it as the #PAWFamily,” he said. “It doesn’t matter where you come from, how much experience you have. If you have art to give, we’re here to give that to the community.”

Mackenzie Jones, who graduated from Brandywine this month, agrees. She called the experience “unforgettable.”

“It’s such a family,” she said. “No matter who you are or where you’re coming from, it’s accepting. They make you feel like you’re important and have a place, and you have a job. It gives you purpose.”

This is Jones’ third year participating in PAW workshops. After landing a secondary role in a high school musical, she wanted to continue performing. The incoming Holy Cross College first-year student said she eventually was able to play Belle in Brandywine’s production of “Beauty and the Beast.”

Jones said PAW always offers a learning experience, no matter the role or the theme.

“In order to get the audience to feel things, you’re going to have to step out of your comfort zone and show your feelings and show your emotions,” she said. “So, be aware of that, but being able to do that is something that releases things from people and gives you that experience that just lets everything loose.”

PAW’s next four-day workshop, PAW Jr., will be hosted next week for third to sixth grade students. Although registration is closed for the workshop, registration is still open for June 28’s PAW Cubs program for pre-kindergarten to third grade children.