Empty bowls feed the hungry service learning across the curriculum with the visual arts at the core. (Community connections).

Empty bowls feed the hungry service learning across the curriculum with the visual arts at the core. (Community connections). A school-wide, cross-curricular project evolved at Hall High Schoolin West Hartford West Hartford,town (1990 pop. 60,110), Hartford co., central Conn., a suburb of Hartford; settled c.1679, inc. 1854. Industrial production, which comprises a geographically small part of West Hartford, includes machine tools and parts, aircraft accessories, air when social-studies teacher Liz Devine initiated"Empty Bowls “Empty Bowls” is an international project to fight hunger, personalized on a community level. The concept for “Empty Bowls” is simple. Participating artists create and donate ceramic bowls, then serve a simple meal. ." She shared the information and encouraged BethO'Dell, a consumer-science teacher, and myself to write a grant forseed money to buy clay and glazes for bowls, and supplies to make soup.Following is a time line, and the story of how our school got involvedin the Empty Bowls program. JUNE 1999 After receiving an $800 mini-grant from the ConnecticutAssociation of Schools The Connecticut Association of Schools and the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) is the governing body of secondary schools in the state of Connecticut. , a small group of teachers met withadministrators to discuss a plan for the inaugural year of Empty Bowls.At the meeting, we learned about the Empty Bowls Project, a nationalcommunity service learning program that challenges students to identify,research, design and implement solutions to issues related to hunger andpoverty. We decided on a blueprint, which included a March date for abanquet where we would sell ceramic bowls, made by students, filled withsoup, also made by students. Proceeds would be given to a hungercharity. We discussed how we might involve students, as well as how wewould encourage faculty involvement. It was determined that the project would take on a service learningmodel that was organized across the curriculum and would involve variousextracurricular groups and clubs. Lectures, projects and researchrelated to hunger and poverty would become the focus of study in anumber of school departments including art, consumer life-science(foods), business, technology, English and social studies. Existing extracurricular groups would be recruited, including theCommunity Corps, the Student Assembly and the National Art HonorSociety honor societyn.An organization to which students are admitted in recognition of academic achievement. , to work on the banquet as well as to participate in variousancillary activities to be organized under the umbrella of the EmptyBowls project. In addition to raising money to fight hunger Fight Hunger is a global initiative, based in Rome, Italy [1], calling for the end of child hunger by 2015 [2]. It is organised by the World Food Programme and its partners, and comprises different activities throughout the year. , a goal to raise theconsciousness of the public on issues relating to relating torelate prep → concernantrelating torelate prep → bez��glich +gen, mit Bezug auf +accpoverty would beaccomplished by rallying students to reach out to parents, localresidents and businesses. SEPTEMBER 1999 The news of the school-wide project created interestand excitement among students, faculty, administration and parentgroups. A standing-room-only crowd of teachers and students filled thesocial-studies lab at the first meeting. Dates were set, student leaderswere named and enthusiastic students voiced ideas for numerous projectsrelated to hunger. Various committees and subgroups were established, including the"Empty Bowls Production Company," the group of art studentsthat would run the workshops for after-school bowl-making. Sources forhunger information such as Web sites were shared. A calendar was set forthe bimonthly bi��month��ly?adj.1. Happening every two months.2. Happening twice a month; semimonthly.adv.1. Once every two months.2. Twice a month; semimonthly.n. pl. after-school meetings for the entire Empty Bowls Council. Later in the month, the art department initiated a school-wide logocontest. Students in selected art classes, such as drawing andcommercial design, were required to submit designs; for others, it wasoptional. The prizes for the winner, in addition to the prestige, wouldbe a piece of pottery made by me, along with a Hall art departmentT-shirt. The student-activities director initiated a special weekly time forannouncements about the project, meetings and events, as well as factsabout hunger and poverty, to be made over the school's P.A. system. OCTOBER 1999: THE PROJECT TAKES SHAPE The logo-selection committee,comprising the art and graphics teachers, made a unanimous decision A Unanimous Decision is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and others sports involving striking in which all 3 judges agree on which fighter won the match. fora logo. Classroom projects throughout the school were getting underwayat this time, including a poster-making project in graphics classes.These posters were made with the intention of creating an awareness ofhunger and poverty, as well as an awareness of the Hall project. Thelogo was put to use on these posters. The first of the bowls were being formed in ceramics classes.First-year students were assigned three coil bowls each, and advancedstudents, in their second year of ceramics, were assigned 10wheel-thrown bowls each. After speaking with art teachers in a large NewHampshire New Hampshire,one of the New England states of the NE United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts (S), Vermont, with the Connecticut R. forming the boundary (W), the Canadian province of Quebec (NW), and Maine and a short strip of the Atlantic Ocean (E). school who had run an Empty Bowls project within their artdepartment, I set a goal of 400 bowls to be completed by the Marchbanquet. Reaching this goal would require a great number of bowls to bemade in ceramics classes and still more to be made outside of class andafter school. NOVEMBER 1999: THE PRODUCTION COMPANY The extracurricular EmptyBowls Production Co. was up and running, and meetings would be heldafter school each Monday until March. Members of our National Art HonorSociety who were also enrolled in the advanced ceramics class would runthe "company." The hours spent teaching bowl-making wouldsatisfy their 10-hour Art Honor Society service requirement. Students with pottery experience would teach other students to formbowls. Those with wheel expertise would demonstrate and instruct in��struct?v. in��struct��ed, in��struct��ing, in��structsv.tr.1. To provide with knowledge, especially in a methodical way. See Synonyms at teach.2. To give orders to; direct.v. on thepotter's wheel, and others would teach coil building. With onlyeight working wheels, it would be necessary for students to coil bowlswhile waiting to take turns learning the wheel. The student volunteers also decided they would like to offerbowl-making workshops to teachers. Two special workshops were set up forteachers and were received with great enthusiasm by the faculty. Thestudents were excited by the idea of teaching their teachers. At least10 faculty members attended and two discovered an affinity for workingwith clay. These teachers continued to attend the Monday workshops andproduced several bowls for the sale. One of the most rewarding aspects of the project was watching mystudents successfully teach others to form and glaze glaze, in potteryglaze,translucent layer that coats pottery to give the surface a finish or afford a ground for decorative painting. Glazes—transparent, white, or colored—are fired on the clay. bowls. After asuccessful teacher workshop, one student asked me if I thought he wouldbe a good art teacher. DECEMBER 1999: HARTFORD FOOD SHARE Our students chose Hartford FoodShare as the charity to which all proceeds from the banquet would bedonated. Food Share distributes about nine tons of food per day to morethan 200 local programs that feed hungry people in Hartford and TollandCounties. Food Share is able to provide $10 worth of food for every $1spent, and only 5 percent of donated funds is spent on management andfundraising. Food Share, in accordance with the Empty Bowls philosophy,believes that giving food to people is not a long-term solution tohunger and therefore works to educate and involve the community infinding long-term solutions to hunger and poverty. JANUARY AND FEBRUARY 2000: THE DEADLINE APPROACHES It seemed thateveryone at Hall felt an obligation to participate in Empty Bowls.Several students attended a hunger conference at Trinity College Trinity College,Ireland: see Dublin, Univ. of. Trinity CollegePrivate liberal arts college in Hartford, Conn., founded in 1823. It is historically affiliated with the Episcopal church, though its curriculum is nonsectarian. , andnumerous guest speakers attended classes at Hall. A showcase in front ofthe school promoted the project with posters and notices. Growing stacksof finished bowls in the showcase added to the enthusiasm. In January, in order to meet our goal, it became obvious that Ineeded to assign an additional five wheel-thrown bowls to each advancedstudent. Students and teachers alike attended soup-making sessions wherehuge amounts of vegetables and chicken were chopped and frozen for thesoup, which would be assembled and cooked on the day of the banquet. Student groups such as the debate team, the math team and thegirls' basketball team (and their coach) came to Production Co.sessions to make bowls. Students attending the workshops hustled as thedeadline approached. During a separate glazing GlazingThe application of finely ground glass, or glass-forming materials, or a mixture of both, to a ceramic body and heating (firing) to a temperature where the material or materials melt, forming a coating of glass on the surface of the ware. session, several studentsand teachers pitched in to glaze 100 or so unglazed and unsigned unsignedAdjective(of a letter etc.) anonymousAdj. 1. unsigned - lacking a signature; "the message was typewritten and unsigned"signed - having a handwritten signature; "a signed letter" bowls. MARCH 2000: THE BANQUET While washing bowls before the banquet, acount of approximately 600 bowls was taken and revealed about 400wheel-thrown bowls and over 200 coil-built bowls. Numerous large andexceptionally beautiful bowls were put aside for a raffle to be held atthe banquet. Various other raffle prizes were donated by localbusinesses. Tickets for one of two seatings at the Wednesday evening event weresold in advance by students and at the door. A parent made and donatedT-shirts with the Empty Bowls logo for the student and teachervolunteers to wear at the event. The Hall High jazz ensemble volunteeredto entertain for the evening. In addition to the music, the program for the evening wasinformative and educational. A video documenting the project, made by astudent for independent-study credit, was shown at the event and wasavailable for purchase. Student leaders, teachers and administratorsspoke about the project. The bowls lined tables on the way into the school cafeteria cafeteria:see restaurant. , whereattendees could "shop" for the bowl they would buy. Advancesales reserved bowls, and were especially popular with parents of thebowl-makers. The price was $15 for a wheel-thrown bowl and $10 forhandbuilt bowls. After paying for a bowl, attendees carried them to thesoup line and chose from the two soups, one chicken and one vegetarian vegetarian/veg��e��tar��i��an/ (vej?e-tar��e-an)1. one who practices vegetarianism.2. pertaining to vegetarianism.veg��e��tar��i��ann.One who practices vegetarianism. .Bread was donated by West Hartford's Wild Oats Market. Parents, students and administrators, including the superintendent,community members and faculty, attended the gathering. Three newspaperscovered the event. Over $6,000 was collected in sales, donations andraffle-ticket sales. MAY 2000 At the banquet, the community purchased more wheel-thrownbowls than handbuilt bowls. Therefore, next year, we will try to producea larger percentage of wheel-thrown bowls and fewer handbuilt bowls. Inorder to accomplish this goal, funding requests for purchasing newwheels were made. I received a grant for the purchase of one wheel eachfrom The Foundation for West Hartford Public Schools The West Hartford Public Schools include eleven primary schools, three middle schools, and two high schools. SchoolsElementary schoolsAiken Braeburn Bugbee Charter Oak Duffy Morley Norfeldt Smith Webster Hill and the HallParent-Teacher Organization. The principal also found money for parts tofix a broken wheel, which will allow more students to be working on thewheels at one time. Under the direction of Mrs. O'Dell, a pictorial documentationof the entire project was created and received several awards, includinga silver medal from the National Family Career & Community Leadersof America. A final meeting was held for all involved. A discussion of theyear's events, including brainstorming, reviewing and recording theproject, indicated that Empty Bowls would continue the next school year. ANCILLARY ACTIVITIES One of the first ancillary activities tookplace in October. Mrs. O'Dell's students filled 56 Halloweenbaskets with personal-care items and school-made treats for the childrenat The Connecticut Children's Place, the state home for abused andneglected children. Hall's traditional Canned Food canned foodfood sterilized by heat in a closed, durable container such as tin and aluminum cans, flexible aluminum foil and thermoplastic containers including squeeze tubes. Technically, the processes used are highly efficient and used universally. Drive was held the week beforeNational Hunger Week, November 14-20. Under Empty Bowl's umbrella,this initiative picked up steam and collected more than the usual numberof cans. Students in foods classes also sold baked items and donated theproceeds to the Empty Bowls fund. Hall students have a long history of collecting clothing,especially outerwear, to be donated to those in need. This year, membersof the Caring and Sharing Clothing Drive, in cooperation with theCommunity Corps, the Student Assembly, Empty Bowls and twochild-development students, coordinated a toy drive and holiday partyfor children in a Hartford community church. The student-activity officewas completely filled with coats and clothes, and over 700 toys weredonated. The culminating student activity was participation in a hunger walkin Hartford in May. Under the guidance of Mrs. Devine, students tookpledges and walked in yet another effort in the fight against hunger. JUNE 2000 At a "thank-you" breakfast sponsored by theprincipal for all participants, a check for $4,000 was given to FoodShare. In comments to the students by both the principal and thesuperintendent, it was noted that while the donation to Food Share wassignificant, the project was important for so many other reasons. Thesense of cooperation, camaraderie ca��ma��ra��der��ie?n.Goodwill and lighthearted rapport between or among friends; comradeship.[French, from camarade, comrade, from Old French, roommate; see comrade. and accomplishment created by theproject brought the entire school together, working and learning for acommon purpose. The numerous interdisciplinary lessons that cut across thecurriculum broke down traditional boundaries that commonly divide alarge school, bringing together students from each segment of thestudent body and teachers from every department in the school. Donna Namnoum teaches art at Hall High School in West Hartford,Conn. To learn more about the Empty Bowls Project, and how your schoolmight participate, visit www.emptybowls.net, or write: Empty Bowls, P.O.Box 167, Oxford, MI 48371.