Kiski Area Upper Elementary murals focus on diversity, kindness
Share this post:
Murals created by students at Kiski Area Upper Elementary, hung outside the cafeteria Tuesday, are the culmination of the school’s monthlong focus in February on kindness and diversity.
“We want to make all students and families feel welcome in our building. Every person is unique, and every person is different,” Principal Brian Swartzlander said. “We at (Kiski Area Upper Elementary) believe it’s important to remember this and celebrate our differences within the school and community.”
Fifth- and sixth-grade art students and students from the Logic Enriched Academic Pursuit gifted program worked for about a month on creating the two side-by-side murals.
The larger mural features 54 colorful handprints created by the art students. The smaller display features a button for verbal instructions accompanied by multiple QR reader codes related to students’ projects from this school year.
People can use smartphones to scan the QR codes affixed to the mural to listen to poems read by students.
One of the poems, written by Kiski Area Intermediate eighth grader Tiffany Stitt, was selected from various submissions by teacher Susan DeWitt, who along with fellow teacher Anne Wilkins co-organized the project. Stitt said she was inspired to write “We Are No Different” because she noticed people are “always arguing or disliking someone just because of who the person is or their personal choices.”
Other student poems include “Diversity Poem” by Alexandra Clark, “Diversity” by Keti McCaskey and “Special Needs” by Attie Pityk.
DeWitt said the mural will be updated often, swapping QR codes to offer different diversity-related messages.
“I think it’s important for students to see how differences are a good thing,” Dewitt said. “Just as each hand adds to the beauty of the mural, we as diverse human beings are all unique individuals who add something special to our society as a whole. The mural is a representation of that idea.”