The official site of the Torch, the student-run newspaper at Glenbrook North High School.

Torch

The official site of the Torch, the student-run newspaper at Glenbrook North High School.

Torch

The official site of the Torch, the student-run newspaper at Glenbrook North High School.

Torch

Students build friendship through artwork

Junior Erik Anderson, a student in last year’s Brain Studies class, kneels next to the new mural in the science hallway. He created one of the portions of the mural with his TLS partner Abdullah Bhatty (‘14), pictured  to the right of Anderson. Photo by Jessica Lee
Junior Erik Anderson, a student in last year’s Brain Studies class, kneels next to the new mural in the science hallway. He created one of the portions of the mural with his TLS partner Abdullah Bhatty (‘14), pictured to the right of Anderson. Photo by Jessica Lee

As science teacher Anthony Fiala walked down the science hallway, he thought about how he could enhance the plain brick wall with a creation expressing altruism. This concept is something Fiala emphasizes in his Brain Studies class.

Fiala decided that if his Brain Studies class and the TLS students paired up, they could create a mural for the science wing that would not only brighten up the walls, but also help bring awareness to another segment of the school population.

Fiala contacted TLS teacher Kimberly Fisher about the project. Fisher said she knew that her students loved art and that they could be successful at it, so she and Fiala began to prepare their students to work on the mural.

To ensure that the Brain Studies students understood how to help the TLS students, Fisher conducted a hands-on activity with Fiala’s class. The class was split into pairs — one of the students in the pair picked a disability out of a hat to act out and the other acted as the guide. The guide had to help the other student place green M&Ms into a green cup, red M&Ms into a red cup and so on until all of the M&Ms were in their respective colored cups.

“[The Brain Studies students] learned that a lot of kids can do more than you think they can if you think outside the box to problem solve,” said Fisher. “I think the Brain Studies students having that experience [with the cup activity] gave them a better understanding when they came to do the mural in terms of how they could help.”

When it was time to begin the mural, a 9 feet by 6 feet sheet of paper was cut into puzzle piece shapes. Each of Fiala’s students was given a puzzle piece and then paired to work with a TLS student. Their task was to draw or paint anything that incorporated one of the lessons taught in TLS, ranging from community to recreation.

“To make something successful like this mural, you have to throw yourself in it and that is exactly what my student, [junior]Erik Anderson, did,” Fiala said.

According to Anderson, each TLS student was different so he had to learn about his student’s passions before the two could draw their puzzle piece together. He said he enjoyed connecting with the TLS students. He and the student he worked with drew a pizza and a basketball on the puzzle piece.

“I think creating the mural created a sense of unity because [all students] are part of the GBN community,” said Anderson. “I’d say I got to know more people, both the TLS students and the faculty, so now we say, ‘Hi,’ to each other in the hallways and have more people to bond with.”

Besides the bonding aspect Anderson and the other students gained from the project, Fiala said he thinks students will now “show more compassion.”

“The two words ‘kindness’ and ‘patience’ aren’t necessarily associated with teenagers because so many people think of teenagers as rowdy or uncooperative,” said Fiala. “I got to see what I think are really the true colors of the teenager, which is really people that want to help. Sometimes they just don’t know how to, or they might be afraid to.”

When the Brain Studies class showed the TLS students the finished mural, Fisher said the TLS students seemed proud to see what they created.

“It’s not about the end product,” said Fisher. “It’s about the process and the journey, so I didn’t care if the product came out looking like Van Gogh or if it came out looking like we didn’t put a lot of time and effort into it. I wanted each student to have that special interaction with another student and to bring two sets of students together that may not typically get the chance to be together and have that particular interaction.”