SARASOTA, Fla. — A father and son duo is working to help young minority and underrepresented students see themselves as superheroes.

They’re doing it in their 2-week superhero storytelling workshop at Booker Middle School in Sarasota. The class is a part of a partnership with USF’s Sarasota-Manatee campus’ PAInT Center.

McArthur Freeman and his 10-year-old son Nathaniel are the instructors for the course.

Nathaniel teaches art and coding to the group of about a dozen minority students, while giving examples of how to create their very own animated superhero story.

“To me, a superhero is somebody who helps people, who saves people, someone who helps people without the need for a reward or something,” Nathaniel said.

The ambitious 10-year-old doesn’t look like your average teacher, and neither will the superheroes that students in his class will create. The characters in their stories will be their version of a superhero — most importantly, the characters will look like them.

For McArthur Freeman, who is also a college professor, teaching this group of young people the superhero storytelling lessons with help from his son is a game changer.

“For me, it’s really great to see what Nathaniel is doing, and I guess I relate this back to me in terms of growing up as well, because I wish I had mentors or role models who could’ve shown me some of the things I could’ve wanted to learn with art along the way,” he said.

The father-son duo is hoping to change that narrative of absent Black fathers with this workshop.

“I think it’s important to hear those stories and for students to be able to make them," McArthur said. "And to be able to talk about things they’re interested in and to know that has value. It’s affirming to see that and to know that."

The program also incorporates the students’ parents in the workshop.

“A lot of the background information when they are looking at trying to develop those stories, it is talking to their parents, conversations that they’re having," McArthur said. "Having a list of questions that they ask them about their parents’ background a little bit more."

The 2-week course was considered a pilot program, and wrapped up last week. McArthur and Nathaniel said they enjoyed teaching the superhero workshop so much that they plan to do it again in the near future. So far, a date for a second workshop has not been set.