Each year the artists at Lynwood Elementary, under the direction of Art Teacher Erica Stichweh, are instructed to create art for a cause. The students are asked to use their artistic ability in a way that focuses on the social impact the arts can have in the world. In the past Lynwood artists have filled classrooms in Africa with artwork, shipped care packages overseas to U.S. soldiers, raised money for Haiti relief efforts and most recently helped support the preservation of our countries historic lighthouses.
For the past three-and-a-half years, Lynwood has been implementing The Leader in Me process, which creates partnerships among teachers, parents, and the community to unlock the potential of all children to lead their own lives instead of being led. This year, one of our school goals was to pursue Lighthouse School status. Lighthouse School status is an external recognition for an internal transformation of a leadership culture and climate.
As a school community they have embraced the symbolic meaning of a lighthouse as a beacon of guidance toward the path we wish to follow, a leader. The nation’s lighthouses, although not used as they once were, still represent where we came from and where we need to go so their preservation is of historical importance.
Lynwood’s student body and staff engaged in various art lessons that were then sent to a company that publishes the art into quality note cards. With the sale of each package of cards $3 is then sent back to the school in support of the arts program. This year we raised $750 through the sales and donated it to the American Lighthouse Foundation in Rockland Maine.
Bob Tripani, Executive Director of ALF, informed the school that the foundation would like to honor the Lynwood artists by using the donation to repaint the red staircase inside Main’s Owls Head Lighthouse. Owls Head lighthouse serves as the headquarters for the foundation and is visited by 12,000 people worldwide each year. An interpretive panel inside the lighthouse will share Lynwood’s inspiring story with the public highlighting how the students and staff used their creative talents to “pay it forward”.