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These students made personal art to thank frontline workers

Students at Mount Boucherie Secondary School made personal art for frontline workers.

Visual art students at Mount Boucherie Secondary School (MBSS) in West Kelowna have created pieces expressing gratitude towards frontline fire and healthcare workers.

After a summer of wildfires in and around the community, and anti-vaccine mandate protests outside Kelowna General Hospital (KGH), their teacher decided to come up with the project.

On the back of each piece, students wrote personal notes of gratitude.

Some wrote about how they were afraid to return to their Glenrosa neighbourhood, while others wrote heartfelt stories of healthcare workers who cared for family members.

Student Ashley Neuman created a watercolour painting for healthcare workers to thank them for helping her family during COVID-19.

“I had a grandfather that was rushed into hospital during COVID times, and he almost died,” Neuman told Kelowna10.

“The ICU workers, they stuck by him and kept him going and gave him the support we needed because none of us could go there.”

She hopes her art shows healthcare workers she appreciates all they’ve done and understands how difficult it is for them right now.

Another student, Hailey Monro, painted a photo she took as she was being evacuated from her home during the Mount Law wildfire.

She said it was difficult to paint because it made her relive the scary experience of being evacuated.

“I wanted to say a thank you to them and really know the meaning of what they did, and my house is still there because of them,” Monro explained.

For educator James Elwood, the project was meaningful and allowed his students to say thank you.

"Creating art is a very personal expression for young people and we felt that individual pieces of art as an expression of gratitude would be both profound and enduring," Elwood said in a media release.

Custom-made boxes holding the artwork were delivered to West Kelowna Fire Rescue and KGH.

"These incredible works of art and kind words are a great reminder when the fires are out, and the smoke has cleared from the valley, that their efforts were appreciated," West Kelowna Rescue Assistant Fire Chief Chad Gartrell said.

Published 2021-10-05 by Jordan Brenda

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