the memory project

LOCAL STUDENTS MAKE LIFELONG GIFTS FOR CHILDREN AT ORPHANAGE

Art students at North Rose-Wolcott participate in Memory Project

Art students at North Rose-Wolcott High School have joined the Memory Project

again, a nationwide

initiative in which advanced, high school art students create original

portraits for children living in orphanages around the world. Given

that children who

have been abandoned, orphaned, abused, or neglected usually have few personal

keepsakes, the purpose of the portraits is to provide them with a special memory of their

youth, to honor their heritage and identity, and to help them build a positive self-image.

The project also provides an opportunity for young Americans to open their hearts to

children who have endured many hardships, and to promote the value of sharing kindness

with others.

The Memory Project has been featured on national television several times, most

notably when Katie Couric concluded her very first broadcast of the

CBS Evening News

with a story about the project’s success at an orphanage in Nicaragua. The project has

also been covered by major newspapers and magazines throughout the country, all telling

the story of students who have participated.

Students at North Rose-Wolcott are participating as part of a course titled

Advanced Art or Drawing & Painting.

To do this, the students receive pictures of

children who are waiting for portraits, and then work in their art classrooms to create the

portraits. Once finished, the Memory Project organization delivers the portraits to the

children, and the children are then invited to create drawings or write letters to send back

to the art students.

In total, the students will make portraits for 16

children living at an

orphanage in Nicaragua.

The Memory Project is a nonprofit organization based in Madison, Wisconsin.

This is the project’s fourth year of operation, and already more than 10,000 portraits have

been produced by high school art students around the country. North Rose-Wolcott

students have been involved from the beginning of the project. Their work has been

featured on the web site, in brochures and in magazine articles. Locally, the Wayne

County Council for the Arts had an exhibition of the portraits in 2005.

To be involved, each student has to donate $15.00 to help with the costs of

running the program. Currently, the NRW Art Club is footing the bill for this project.

Anyone who would like to contribute to this worthy project can contact Mrs. Teska at

NRW High School, 315-594-3100.

Inspiring love through art

www.thememoryproject.org