Join us next week for Principal Magrino’s meet and greet at the Hill Center. In addition to meeting Principal Magrino and her team, you can check out Eliot-Hine students’ Junk Art Club exhibit in the Young Artist Gallery. Come with any questions you may have!
You can also check out Principal Magrino’s short bio here.
Content and photos for this blog post provided by Eliot-Hine MS parent, Suzanne Wells. She also leads the Junk Art Club at Eliot-Hine MS!
This summer, Eliot-Hine’s Junk Art Club is having an exhibit of its art work at the Hill Center in the Young Artists Gallery. The exhibit will be on display through the end of August. The Junk Art Club is an afterschool activity that was started two years ago. Club members hope visitors to One Person’s Trash is a Student’s Art will be inspired to find ways to reduce waste, and think about how something might be reused before it is thrown in the trash. The Hill Center is located at 921 Pennsylvania Ave. SE. The Young Artists Gallery is on the ground floor, east of the main staircase. Eliot-Hine MS will also host a new principal meet and greet at the Hill Center on Monday, 7/30 at 5:30 PM.
Last year, the students created a bottle cap reproduction of a Jacob Lawrence painting from his Migration Series (Panel #58 In the North the African American had more education opportunities). Club members saved bottle caps from home, and scored a big bag of them from the Indian restaurant, Indigo. In the words of 7th grader Malia Weedon, “I care about the environment, and this is a fun way to help the environment. Projects tend to be more inventive when you use trash. When you work with trash you work with what you find, and you have to be creative with how you use it.”
The discovery of a cache of Ikea bed slats set out for garbage inspired an “eye project” that was modeled after a community art project done at North Park University in Chicago. Students paired up to paint each other’s eyes on the slats, creating mini-portraits. Sixth grader Annika Crawford observed: “I decided to be in the Junk Art Club because I like art. Art is my imagination. I take creations from my mind, and put them on paper. The eye project was great because you got to look at different people, and draw them the way you see them.”
Yet another use of found materials is the collection of painted hubcaps, originally gleaned from gutters and sidewalks on Capitol Hill. Rust-Oleum spray paint was used as a base coat on the hubcaps, and the students painted with a liquid metal acrylic paint on top of the base coat.
Want to learn more about Eliot-Hine’s Junk Art Club? Check out these previous posts:
The storm drains around Eliot-Hine and Eastern High School recently got a face lift! Last fall, the Anacostia Watershed Society put out a call for designs to paint storm drains around the city. Eliot-Hine’s Junk Art Club was one of 20 winners chosen from more than 140 designs submitted! Come check out their winning piece directly across the street from the front doors of Eliot-Hine on Constitution Avenue. There are seven other winning designs on storm drains near Eliot-Hine MS and Eastern HS. All 20 winning designs can be seen here.
The mural designs were chosen based on their connection to the Anacostia River, the local community, and watershed protection issues. The Junk Art Club’s design was based on the Michael Jackson song Man in the Mirror. The design is painted on a blue background that represents the Anacostia River. A black silhouette of Michael Jackson looks down on the storm drain manhole cover that is painted a metallic silver. The words “I’m starting with the man in the mirror. I’m asking him to change his ways. Michael Jackson,” are written in black.
The Junk Art Club chose their design because virtually all of the litter that finds its way into the Anacostia River comes from people littering. Preventing littering from entering storm sewers is one of the most effective ways to reduce the trash found in the Anacostia River. The Michael Jackson song Man in the Mirror asks people to look “in the mirror” at what they do with waste once they have finished using, e.g., a bottle or a candy wrapper, and if they do litter it encourages them to “change their ways.” Will you join Eliot-Hine in changing your ways and creating a #trashfreedc?
The Junk Art Club received a $750 stipend from the Anacostia Watershed Society for their artwork, and donated the stipend to the Eliot-Hine Parent Teacher Organization at their December 2017 meeting. Thank you to Eliot-Hine’s environmentally conscious and community service driven students paving the way to a better place for all of us!
EdFest is next weekend and the Eagles of Eliot-Hine Middle School are ready for you! Did you know Eliot-Hine MS is a Flamboyan school and has a National Junior Honor Society? Come by to learn more Saturday, December 9th from 11 AM – 3 PM at Stadium Armory. Eliot-Hine staff and parents will be there sharing more about their International Baccalaureate courses, sports offerings, Radio Network run by students, and extracurriculars like Robotics and Junk Art Club. Take a photo at their table and tag @EliotHine!
Here are other future opportunities for families to learn about Eliot-Hine MS:
You can also call the main office at 202-939-5380 with any questions or to schedule a visit!
Principal Young’s welcome letter for the new school year and a fun video she created for the community! To learn more from Principal Young and ask questions in person, check out the below upcoming Eliot-Hine events:
Orientation Dates for Eliot-Hine Students
Earlier, Book Club for Kids came to Eliot-Hine MS to talk with students about a new book, Ungifted by Gordon Korman and the episode is now available. Book Club for Kids is a free podcast and great forum where students talk about books! The host/executive producer Kitty Felde is recipient of a 2017 Arts and Humanities Fellowship from the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities. Eliot-Hine students really enjoyed chatting with Kitty and KNX anchor Randy Kerdoon. Please tune in to see what our students had to say!
The podcast is now available to download here:
If you enjoyed this podcast, past episodes can be heard here.
In an effort to create a fun forum for Eliot-Hine MS feeder families to gather, this summer Friday book swap series was born! Join feeder families and members of the community for a picnic and fun every Friday. Bring a book, leave with another. All ages and levels welcome. Everyone is welcome to join, even if you do not have a book to bring. There are extras! Contact Amber.Gove@gmail.com with any questions.
This past weekend Eiot-Hine hosted an event to kick off enrollment for School Year 2017-2018. Families enrolled their students while everyone planted peas and participated in a Kusama inspired painting project from a field trip students took to the Hirschhorn Museum earlier. Check out the photos from the event below and stop by Eliot-Hine to see the new artwork!
If you missed this event, below are other opportunities you can come enroll your student or learn more about Eliot-Hine in person. Please call the main office if you have any questions about enrollment: 202-939-5380.
Heather Schoell: Parent of current Eliot-Hine 7th grader and Eastern HS 9th grader, an Eliot-Hine alum
Thank you, Heather, for speaking to us. Our next post will feature a parent interview of a current Eliot-Hine 8th grader.
A reminder we currently have a survey out to learn more about our current Eliot-Hine and feeder families. Please fill out the below survey. It will take no more than 5 minutes!
DCPS School Planning 