From WCS inFocus
Kenrose Elementary art teacher Virginia Nix and Jordan Elementary art teacher Elizabeth Wilbourne are using art as a vehicle to unify their school families.
Both Nix and Wilbourne taught at Kenrose Elementary before Jordan Elementary opened for the 2018-19 school year. Most of Jordan Elementary’s student population comes from re-zoned Kenrose students.
In an effort to celebrate the changes ahead, each of the 1,000 students and teachers made their mark by painting a brush stroke on two canvases, creating a symbolic and beautiful work of collaborative art.
“It sounds crazy to say out loud that a school as big as Kenrose feels like a family, but it’s absolutely true,” Nix said. “It’s one big beautifully diverse family. When Kenrose received news that we would get relief with the opening of Jordan, a part of me was relieved for smaller numbers, but the other part felt sad about losing some of the faces I had grown accustomed to over the years. It was that bittersweet feeling that inspired us to immortalize our Kenrose family as it was with something equally beautiful.”
As a result of this project, both art teachers now have a piece of the Kenrose family masterpiece hanging in their schools.
