To further adapt to Parkway’s new mission of “Caring,” AP Art Studio Teacher Peggy Dunsworth has encouraged her artists to give back in a whole new way. For $15, her students are providing a Colombian child that has faced neglect, abuse, loss of parents, violence and or extreme poverty a gift: a hand painted portrait of themselves.

In 2004, Ben Schumaker started the Memory Project to coordinate with art teachers and their students all around the world to raise money and create tangible memories for children who do not have any photos of themselves to carry into the future.

“Every time I bring home something from AP Studio, it’s just another piece, and I put it away with all my other art,” senior Sierra Garner said. “But these kids don’t have that much and these paintings are a cool gift that they’ve never had before.”

 Dunsworth has wanted to have her students do this project for 11 years. Now she believes her current class has the talent and hopes that the 11 students participating can show kindness to others even outside the country.

“I’ve been to Guatemala before on a mission trip, so I’ve seen the kind of poverty these kids go through first hand,” sophomore and painting student Natalie Butler said. “The Memory Project is a really cool program, I already love painting and portraits and now I’m happy I get to help someone else with art.”

 Over 90,000 portraits have been donated by art students all over the world in 42 countries. One of the goals of the organization is to teach art students to care for others on a global level.

“My students are learning how to create a portrait. They are working on observing the digital photos, recreating faces, hair, skin color and complete a painting for the children,” Dunsworth said. “I hope that this project will teach students how to care for people that aren’t in our school, state or country.”

Dunsworth’s gave her students a deadline of Nov. 15 so that the Memory Project can get the portraits to the children by Christmas. All participants can paint or draw the portraits on paper, but digital work is also accepted. Anyone can contact the founders to donate a portrait.

“We want the portraits to help the children feel valued and important, to know that many people care about their well being, and to act as meaningful pieces of personal history in the future,” Memory Project Communications Manager Ryan Egan said, “For the art students, we want this to be an opportunity to creatively practice kindness and global awareness.”

The Memory Project is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, and all gifts are tax-deductible. Donations are used to help students in low-income situations participate in the project.