Dear Escondido Education Foundation,
On behalf of Rincon Middle School, we would like to send a heartfelt thank you to the Escondido Education Foundation for funding our schoolwide art grant called The Kindness Project. The past three school years have been challenging and students have struggled. Thanks to your generous donation, Rincon Bulldogs were able to send positive messages across campus and in the community to motivate students to spread kindness wherever they go. In The Kindness Project, students answered this question, “How can I influence the school climate by using artwork to send positive messages and motivate students to spread kindness across campus?” Between December and May, Rincon Bulldogs created a variety of kindness-related artwork such as large outdoor murals, mini medallion murals, digital and fine art pieces, clay products, as well as cardboard structures through our PUP (Peers Uniting Peers) program for our friends with special needs.
As we reflect on The Kindness Project grant, we are surprised at how much we accomplished! In all, approximately 370 students from 12 classes in grades 6, 7, and 8 participated (1 Advanced Art class, 1 after-school enrichment class, and 10 Exploratory Art classes). The Advanced Art students were ambitious this year, creating five large outdoor murals, ranging from size 6’ x 8’ to 8’ x 16’. They started their mural projects by creating collaborative groups, sketching ideas, and consulting “customers” (school staff) outside of the art classroom, receiving constructive art feedback from Rincon’s principal, two science teachers, the music teacher, and parent liaison. Student artists spread kindness in different ways, designing murals such as our school motto (Believe, Achieve, Respect, Kindness), healing music, peaceful oceans, and mental health. Advanced Art students were excited to have the opportunity to present their projects to Superintendent Ibarra in March. Positive outcomes also resulted from the April smART Festival at the California Center for the Arts. Several Exploratory Art students showcased grant art pieces. For the first time, Advanced Art students featured a mural at the festival.
At the end of The Kindness Project, Advanced Art students shared their learning outcomes. When asked about how their projects would change the campus culture for the better, several students wrote that the murals helped students not feel alone. A mental health mural artist said, “It can make you take care of yourself so you can have a positive mindset. So when you are nice to yourself you can be nice to others.” An ocean mural member wrote, “The project can change the campus culture because when they see the ocean it can bring them peace and make them feel calm by the ocean.” A music mural participant said, “Our project will inspire others to use music to express themselves and to get out all their bad energy through music.” A student working on the PUP cardboard structure project said they were “helping out the special needs community.” In answer to the question about what they would do differently with The Kindness Project, several students wrote that they would improve their time management and organizational skills so they could be more productive with their groups and not waste time. Through this project, students grew as artists. One student learned “…that it’s ok to not have perfect drawings, and it’s ok to fail.” Other students said, “I learned to be more confident in my work” and “I learned that I had more skills than what I thought I had.” Students also provided suggestions for next year, such as creating grade-level murals and providing exploratory students with the opportunity to create a mural.
We are grateful that we had a wonderful school year thanks to the Escondido Education Foundation! Here are words of gratitude from some of our Bulldogs.
- Thank you so much for granting us the supplies to paint!
- Thank you for your generous donation to our Rincon Murals.
- Thank you Escondido Education Foundation for the money you gave our class to make and support our murals.
- Thank you for the donation. It has really helped us out with all of our murals.
- Thank you so much for awarding us with the money, we were now able to make beautiful murals for the school of Rincon Middle School.
- Thank you Escondido Education Foundation for awarding us $5000 to help with paint, boards, and other art materials.
- We can’t thank you enough for giving us the resources to be able to make the murals.
- Thank you to the Escondido Education Foundation for awarding us grant money and making all we did the year possible. We could not have done it without your help.
- Thank you so much for the grant money for The Kindness Project. We cannot thank you enough for this. We were all very excited that we won. We are so very grateful.
- Thank you for funding us and giving us an opportunity to experience different things and that we were able to paint these murals because of the money that was awarded to us.
- Thank you for donating $5000 for our supplies! It really helped us!
- Many thanks for your generous donations and without it, we wouldn’t be painting these murals in the first place!
- Thank you for supporting us.
- Thank you for giving us the art materials and helping us purchase all the things we needed.
- Thank you for believing in our abilities to create amazing works of art.
- Thank you Escondido Education Foundation for awarding us grant money for The Kindness Project. With this money, we were able to buy new art supplies.
- That you so much for the $5,000 dollars so we could make all of this happen. We all really appreciate it
- Thank you for your generous murals.
- Thank you Escondido Education Foundation for the $5000 donation, allowing us to work on multiple projects at once.
- Thanks for finding our creativity.
- Thank you to the Escondido Education Foundation for rewarding us with a $5,000 grant. We really appreciate it!
- Thank you, it helped us a lot.
- Thank you so much for funding our art projects for our school! I’m so thankful that we had the resources to be able to paint!
- We want to thank the Escondido Education Foundation for their generous donation of $5,000. We used the money to buy new materials such as paint, aprons, paintbrushes, and wooden canvases.
- Thank you so much for your kind donation.
- Thank you for awarding us grant money so we could use it for our murals to spread a positive message through our school.
Thanks to the Escondido Education Foundation, students will enjoy the artwork from The Kindness Project for years to come! Thank you for supporting the arts!
Sincerely,
Kirsten Josephson & the Rincon Middle School Art Students
