Bancroft Bulletin: AALEAD Heroes of K-2nd Grade Honored in Mt. Pleasant Youth Arts Fair
By Madeline Sumida, Elementary Program Teacher & Site Coordinator
Photos Courtesy of Madeline Sumida
The Kindergarten through second grade AALEAD team earned artistic accolades for the class submission to the 15th Annual Mt. Pleasant Youth Arts Fair. At a special reception held at the Mount Pleasant Neighborhood Library, judges announced that the AALEAD artwork had earned 15 out of 15 possible points and a prominent display in the children’s section of the library.
This year’s theme encouraged young artists from seven different local schools or school-based organizations to find inspiration in the heroes of Mt. Pleasant. Participants had the freedom to define how to accomplish this mission. Real-life heroes such as police officers, nurses, and principals entered the contest alongside fantastic superheroes with special powers.
The AALEAD team chose to make a comic strip with a twist: their hero story took the form of an Asian-style scroll measuring several feet in length. Youth learned the value of taking time and care to make a public exhibit. The process had several stages: planning the story, sketching each scene in pencil, inking and erasing the pencil marks, coloring, and gluing together the components of the scroll. Kindergarteners, first graders, and second graders conceptualized and drew themselves as regular students by day who transform into nocturnal warriors in order to save Bancroft Elementary School. Together, they fight the nefarious Zack the Electro-Elephant, a bad apple second-grader who wants to steal the smartness of Bancroft’s best. Each superhero persona reflects qualities of the actual AALEAD youth. Want to find out what happens? Take a trip to the Mount Pleasant Neighborhood Library—the scroll will be on display through May 31!
