The seventh graders closed their eyes to ensure voter privacy and ease peer pressure.
‘OK, if you were voting today, how many would vote for John McCain?? Marilyn Ormiston asked her students. ‘Raise your hand.?
She counted silently’one, two, three, four, five, six, seven’and wrote the number on the white board at the front of the room.
‘Alright, keep your eyes closed,? she said. ‘How many for Barak Obama??
The democrat’s edge was clear, at least among Ormiston’s second-hour seventh grade art students at Sashabaw Middle School last week; 18 hands went up for Obama.
When the kids opened their eyes and saw the results, they were eager to talk about the latest presidential poll numbers, aw well as what they liked, and didn’t like, about the candidates.
‘Sometimes I’ll be sitting at my desk and I’m just amazed by all the political conversations going on,? said Ormiston, who’s been teaching in Clarkston Community Schools about 18 years. ‘And they’re not just talking about the candidates; they’re discussing the issues.?
Middle school kids learning about politics in art class? Indeed.
The students are wrapping up another of the district’s Academic Service Learning projects, and they’re excited; next week, thousands of voters in precincts across Independence Township will see the project they’ve been working on for weeks.
‘They’re doing a beautiful job,? said Independence Township Clerk Shelagh VanderVeen, who contacted the school after discovering she needed extra polling stations to accommodate heavy voter turnout expected at the Nov. 4 General Election. ‘We had to order all these plain cardboard booths, and I picked up the idea about decorating them from another clerk.?
So while they learned material included in a typical seventh grade art curriculum, the students also got a lesson in politics and the voting process as they transformed each of the cardboard ‘voting booths? into a colorful, mixed-media collage of Americana-themed artwork.
‘Academically there were many tie-ins,? said Ormiston. ‘We talked about art history, color mixing and painting. I showed quite a few examples of Americana, and they had the opportunity to explore and decide which symbols they wanted to contribute.?
Ormiston completed two other projects with her students in previous years; one helped fund supplies for the North Oakland Disaster Relief Team, the other went toward helping the Michigan Humane Society.
‘I know kids enjoy art,? she said. ‘What I’ve learned is how willing and how eager they are to help the community. They are excited about it and that makes my job more exciting, too. I have the best teaching job ever.?
Over the last several weeks, the students also watched The Almost Painless Guide to the Election Process, and listened to a presentation from VanderVeen, and had the opportunity to ask questions. And ask they did.
Megan Lipke, a SMS art teacher who partnered with Ormiston for the project, said the kids had ‘great questions? for VanderVeen such as qualifications for a presidential candidate, how the Electoral Collage works.
‘Kids can be kind of disengaged at this age,? Lipke said ‘They talk a little about politics, but normally they’re just repeating things they’ve heard on the news or from their parents. This was really the first time they’ve had a chance to study it on a first-hand level and not out of a text book.?
All totaled, the students collaborated to create about 100 of the patriotic voter privacy screens.
‘It’s a novel approach to art, and it definitely raises the bar a little bit,? Lipke said. ‘We explained to them ‘your neighbors, the whole community will see your art work.? It encourages them to take this a little more seriously.?
Lipke, who graduated from Clarkston High School in 1997 and returned to the district as a teacher about 7 years ago, said she thinks it’s important for students to serve others.
‘Kids can get really wrapped up in themselves and their own small universe,? she said. ‘When they serve others, it gets them out there and helps them realize there’s other things going on in their community. It helps open their eyes a little bit.?
Last year alone, district’s Academic Service Learning Program offered more than 4,000 students the ‘eye-opening? opportunity to help the community in a number of meaningful ways.
The program, now in its fifth year in Clarkston Community Schools, is supported by the Michigan Community Service Commission’s Learn and Serve Grant.
Each year, the district receives $24,000; teachers apply for a maximum of $400 per project, which can be used for supplies, guest speakers and travel.
‘It’s a relatively small grant,? said Dave Reschke, assistant superintendent. ‘But we’ve made a huge impact on our kids. We’ve become a district the state looks at and says ‘they’re doing this in the right spirit.??
Reschke said the program has grown slowly, internally and with high quality since the idea was first brought to him by an interested parent in 2002.
‘We get called on to talk with other districts that are just starting up,? he said. ‘We’re sort of a lighthouse.?
Since the beginning, however, the district knew the grant dollars would last only for the first five years while the program got up and running. Once the current school year is over, funding from the Michigan Community Service Commission will cease.
But Reschke isn’t worried, and said the program will continue, survive and thrive.
Come back next week for more.