A group of talented high school students from the Advanced Art class took their creativity beyond the classroom and into the halls of a local elementary school, bringing inspiration and hands-on learning to young, eager minds. 

Art teacher, Mrs. Mazzone’s Advanced Art students went to Heckethorn Elementary School to design a colorful monster on paper with first grade students. Once the young artists were done with the drawings, Shadow Ridge students used that drawing to make a plushie that looks like the monster. They then went back to Heckethorn to have a Monster Bash with their new first grade buddies. At that time, Mustang artists gave their first grade buddies the plushie they made and in return students received shrinky dink keychains with the monster design that the first graders made.

While the high school students had a blast designing and collaborating to sew a monster plushie, this creative project was just one piece of a larger vision.

“My favorite part about going to see my first graders was seeing how excited they were to see their own creations come to life!” junior, Jasmine Bautista claims.

This idea for an exciting and collaborative field trip came from a simple place. Mrs. Mazzone saw the idea on a website with fellow teachers around the nation. But unlike the other teachers, Mrs. Mazzone’s students actually got to go to the school in person, making this trip even more memorable. 

With new experiences comes new challenges and these Advanced art students faced quite a few. Students had trouble making the deadline, they had a very tight target time. They had to really focus on their projects to make it on time for the little ones at Heckethorn. The students also faced difficulty sewing, since most of the students hadn’t sewn before, they had trouble trying to learn in such a short time. 

Mrs. Mazzone chose Heckethorn because she was once a teacher there and had friends who she could collaborate with; it was a perfect collaboration. One of Mazzone’s first friends made in Las Vegas was Lynn Eecklor, who is now a first grade teacher at Heckethorn.  

Mrs. Mazzone states, “My favorite thing about the field trip was seeing the smiles on everyone’s faces!” Shadow students were very excited to work with and then present the first graders with their plushie, many of the students got hugs from their new buddies. 

Bautista states, “It was so fun because it wasn’t your normal project, which made it much more fun.”