We were blessed Friday afternoon with the Class of 2023 Legacy Art gift.
Each year the Seniors decide on a gift to present to the school as a way to leave their mark for future classes. While the tradition had to stop during COVID, the Class of 2023 was able to resume this practice and decided upon a break from the traditional legacy art already beautifying the campus.
Decorating tiles to create a framed artwork, led by three Senior girls, the class dedicated two Virgin de Guadalupe mosaics and two benches to the school.
One mosaic and one bench will be installed at the El Otro Lado house, which is San Miguel's border immersion program for visiting Lasallian schools.
The other pieces will be installed on the school campus. We are so blessed for these talented students and their incredible art.
Read the speech by Vanessa Morales, the lead artist on the project.
Good afternoon San Miguel staff and faculty,Coming in as a freshman, I remember wandering around campus looking at all of the glass mosaics and metal works and being left in awe at the idea of a senior class working together as a community to leave their long lasting mark on this school.
Unfortunately that same year In 2020, halfway through freshman year, we were shut down due to COVID not allowing us fully onto campus until junior year 2021, still with its own restrictions.
It wasn’t until senior year that it felt like a normal school year. Not only had we been shut down doing zoom calls for all that time but may other things were also put on pause. Things like senior projects, sports events, service retreats, clubs, and even our El Otro Lado Program.
For those of you who may not be familiar El Otro Lado hosts other lassallian schools in a 5 day immersion program where they are taught about the difficult journey many immigrants take when trying to come into the United States.
This program is something us San Miguel students hold close due to its connection to our roots. Ourselves being proud sons and daughters of immigrants we recognize the importance of this program as it shines a light on a path many of our family members took and hope it can help those brave people who in the future will do the same.
Last year is when we were able to start the program up again and last year was also when Ms. Schwindenhammer announced we would be able to start senior projects again.
Almost immediately we knew we wanted to contribute something to the El Otro Lado home. We started our brainstorm by saying we needed to do something with the Virgin de Guadalupe as well due to her representation of unconditional love and protection. We wanted to include butterflies for their representation of migration.
But we wanted to do this project in a new medium, ceramic tiles, because we wanted to include talavera, a traditional Mexican pottery style. This is when we thought to make the benches with this style of tiles as well.
This process began back in December of 2022 and really It couldn't have been done without people like Ms.Schwindenhammer, Aracely Castillon, and Ariana Ramos, who were there every step of the way with helping hands and consistent support. We worked through long days of experimentation and laughs and I couldn't be more proud and honored to be apart of this whole project and present this gift from the class of 2023 to San miguel high school.
Enjoy the pictures of the dedication on Friday, 8/18.
#lasallian #highschool #art #mosaics #ourladyofguadalupe #elotrolado #inclusivecommunity #socialjustice #respectforallpersons