Upper St. Clair teacher promotes positive FLOW
If optimism seems to be a bit out of reach these days, Angela Stevenson wants to change that.
Angela Stevenson models a 4A Flow shirt.
The art teacher at Upper St. Clair’s Streams Elementary School has teamed up with her husband, Ian, and twin brother, Dan Juliussen, on an endeavor to bring more smiles to people’s faces and more civility to one another.
Called 4A FLOW – that stands for family, love, optimism and wellness – the venture is selling T-shirts and other apparel to help promote those core principles of positivity.
“Without those four key things in life, I don’t feel that you can be at your best,” Angela explained. “So if you aren’t at your best, then maybe we can help you get there.”
She and Ian – he’s an artist, too, and also is an Upper St. Clair District employee – strived to come up with a relevant and appealing name for their company.
“We were playing around with words, and we thought, we’re 4-A. ‘A’ is the top grade,” she said. “So let’s see how we can work this.”
The acronym also fits the concept, as in going with the flow: “A lot of times, you just don’t know what kind of path you’re going to take.”
The 4A Flow launch party is scheduled from 2 to 5 p.m. May 26 in Foster Plaza Building 10, 680 Andersen Drive, Green Tree.
Four custom T-shirt designs will be unveiled and light refreshments served. Proceeds will be donated to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
The Stevensons’ path took the type of turn young parents absolutely dread, when they learned that their son, Julius, then 2½, was diagnosed with a chronic form of adult leukemia.
“The minute I found out he was diagnosed, I crumbled, and I remember this sweet, soft hand, and he says, ‘It’s OK, Mama.’ And every single time we go,” Angela said about the family’s frequent return visits to Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, “he has the power to reassure us.”
Julius, now 6 and attending kindergarten, also has the power to spread kindness.
“He’s very, very in tune with people’s feelings,” his mother attested. “He goes up to strangers on the street and gives them hugs, and will say, ‘Well, Mom, they just look like they needed love.’ He makes it really easy to figure out how we can try to do good in this world.
Ian Stevenson captured this image at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC when his wife, Angela, learned that their 2½-year-old son, Julius, has leukemia.
“I do think that leukemia, as hard as it is to say, has actually been in our lives to have power to do better and be a better person. So that’s where this whole, entire company starts from,” Angela explained.
The entrepreneurs plan to use part of their proceeds to support nonprofit organizations such as the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, ALS Association and Our Clubhouse, which provides comfort, care and hope to those who are touched by cancer.
“We went there and immediately felt comfort,” Angela said about the latter. “He hangs out with all these other children who have had leukemia, so he feels so empowered. It’s amazing. So I wanted to do something for them.”
That included raising money for Our Clubhouse by participating in its Over the Edge event in September, which involved her rappelling off the 26-story Oliver Building in Downtown Pittsburgh.
The Stevensons celebrate Simone’s birthday in the hospital.
“I am absolutely terrified of heights,” she said. “But I did it for my son, and I did it for my students, to show them adults have fears, but you can overcome them. I shook for two hours after. I thought I was going to throw up. But I did it.”
The Stevensons, who live in Oakdale, also have a daughter, Simone, whom her parents named after a young patient they met at Children’s Hospital. Because Julius was in the hospital at the time, that’s where the family celebrated his sister’s first birthday.
“My son said, ‘No we can’t not have the party. Please,'” Angela recalled. “So we brought the party to Children’s.'”
She thanks parents, teachers, administrators and others in the Upper St. Clair school community – Angela and her brother are alumni – with providing overwhelming support in her family’s time of need.
“I’ve had so many people help me,” she said, “and now it’s our time to be in the position to help others.”
For more information, visit www.4aflow.com.
Julius and Simone Stevenson are all smiles.