By: Madison Schioppo
Students Rebuild is an annual event that Amnesty International, GLI and the National Art Honor Society organize to create art that raises funds to educate children locally and globally. Each year High School East is presented with a new challenge, and this year was the world’s needs challenge allowing schools to choose between several main issues affecting the world today. This year, HSE focused on three challenges: Hunger, Ocean Pollution, the Refugee Crisis. Students will become “art-ivists,” designing posters to amplify the messages they care about and expressing themselves with colors, images and words. For every artwork created until June 3, 2022, the Bezos Family Foundation will make a donation to programs meeting global needs.
On February 18, volunteers from all three clubs lead a variety of interactive stations for students to learn and raise awareness about the three world challenges. Some of the stations included making origami fish that was turned into a mural for ocean pollution, using recycled materials to make positive messages for refugees, drawing food designs on paper plates for world hunger, and building interactive Legos to create a world map.
HSE made 15,000 pieces of art! This equates to $75,000 that the Bezos Family Foundation will donate to the organizations battling Hunger, Ocean Pollution, and the world’s Refugee Crises. If Students Rebuild doubles the amount for each piece of art in March as they often do, HSE art is potentially worth $150,000.
In addition, the Future Educators visited each elementary school to raise awareness for these world issues to younger students. They read books and created art projects with the elementary students and had interactive discussions about how even students as young as themselves can help amend and prevent the biggest world issues.
Students Rebuild HHH Challenge is continuing to raise money through various projects that a variety of clubs and honor societies are currently taking part in. It is amazing that a small effort, like making an art project, can produce huge impacts on people in need both in the USA and around the world!
