Five Fabulous February Advocacy Events!

Happy Second Semester!  February is a short month, full month of holidays and quite often, School Spirit Weeks.  Take advantage of all that extra buzz and channel it into some  YAM-worthy events that will help build a sense of unity and community in your buildings!  These 5 events are from Babylon High School, that were submitted last year, by Cheryl Schweider, for the Annual YAM Report.

1
Upcycled Bas Relief Panther - Our school mascot is the panther; YOU can use  YOUR mascot!  The art students created a bas relief of the panther with papier-mache and then had other students glue on discarded keyboard keys and mouses.  This was done during art week during the lunch periods.  About 50 students participated in this.  (School Unity - re-purposing discarded items).

2
"Be Like Brit" - similar to the Memory Project, our students created 66 portraits for children living in the "Be Like Brit" house in Haiti.  This was done in conjunction with our French National Honor Society who held a teacher/student talent show to raise money for this house.  We decided to create the portraits for the 66 residents (33 girls and 33 boys).  (Community Service/Social Justice)

3
"Adopt Me" pet painting portraits - About 25 of our students and some teachers participated in a pet painting workshop for a local animal shelter.  Each student paid to participate and the money was donated to the shelter.  The paintings are hanging on the cages of the animals and will go home with the animals once they are adopted.  (Community Service)

4
 Paint by number sunflowers - From an original photo, we uploaded it to PUNIFY where it was converted to a paint-by-number and put onto a large canvas.  During the lunch periods, during art week, about 50 students participated in the painting of it.  (Community building within the school)

5
Using food theme, combined with a study of Andy Warhol, do a community service canned soup food drive.  Introduce Andy's Soup Can series and a theme of "You CAN make a difference". Make a sculptural installation of the soup can donations (in a safe area of course), give recognition for those who contribute, and help stock up the local food pantry at a time of the year when things may be scarce.  Involve your Art Club, Honor Society, Student Council, Class Challenge, or K-Kids (Kiwanis organization for younger students).