Jun 13, 2023 | Battle Creek Central High School
At Battle Creek Central High School Career Academies, the teachers have been intentional about creating projects that provide students with fun learning opportunities and real-world applications. One beautiful manifestation of this work is now hanging on the exterior wall of Battle Creek's Habitat for Humanity ReStore on North Avenue and Roosevelt. As part of Oz Rinckey's Painting II class, students were tasked with creating a mural that represents the mission of a local organization. Mr. Rinckey, already familiar with the Habitat for Humanity through previous volunteer experience and creative projects, was able to put his class in touch with the organization to learn more about their community impact and then get to work designing a beautiful mural for their north-facing exterior wall.
The project took about two months to complete, from start to finish, with the students broken up into teams, some designing, some painting, and all working together to create a cohesive final project.
"This project was a great way for these students to showcase their creativity while learning some key workforce skills like teamwork, planning, and communication," Mr. Rinckey shared. "Usually, in an art class, we all work on our own individual projects, so it was a great opportunity to see what it's like to all work together on a collaborative project."
Habitat for Humanity's ReStore Manager Alana Young said the store hears plenty of positive feedback and questions about the backstory behind the piece and added that it does a great job representing the totality of their work.
"A lot of the community thinks we just sell used things," Young said. "But there's a much bigger picture of providing affordable housing in this community, so it was great to see the students represent that in this piece."
And best of all, according to Mr. Rinckey, is the pride that each of the students gets to feel each time they pass by the building. "It's really cool for the kids to get to see something they created, really a piece of them, represented here in their community for the foreseeable future," he said.
The students involved in the project included: Dontay Banks, Jason Freeze, Maria Juarez, Daphanie Ortiz Sanchez, Angelia Powell, Christian Turner, Cheyenne Watson (pictured above), Ma'Niyza Boykins, Marianna Jones, TaJionna Morris, Victoria Patterson, Jean Sumaili, La'Nyiah Vernon, and Darius White.