Art students sold ceramics and buttons during lunch February 12–14, raising funds for the local charities TABLE and PORCH, to help people affected by the recent partial government shutdown.
The sale was held “to support students at the school and other local families affected by the government shutdown, which was out of their control,” senior Calvin Herrera, an Honors Ceramics III student who staffed the sale, said.
For the sale, ceramics students designed pinback buttons and crafted ceramic hearts, some with little drawings or words painted in acrylic. Some of the glazed, solid-colored hearts had an added gold luster or had images printed on them with ink that burnt during firing.
Over three days, students raised $199, ceramics teacher Kristen Morgan said. In spring 2017, her ceramics students made what they called “Beloved Mugs,” adorned with photo transfers of their own drawings, to raise roughly $500 for the Orange County Rape Crisis Center and the Refugee Support Center.
“I feel it is important for my students to understand that advocacy work and charity work do not always come with a reward or recognition,” Morgan said. “The action speaks for itself. The purpose of being an activist is not to glorify the self, but to uplift those in need in a real, sustainable way.”
When parts of the federal government had no funding from December 22 to January 25, some 800,000 federal workers were either furloughed or forced to work without pay.
“Things didn’t really hit home until students started asking me when the government shutdown would end,” Morgan said. “I realized that these students were so stressed that they were looking to any reliable adult for answers—including their ceramics teacher.”
After students told her about “how their families were seeking new jobs or didn’t have grocery money,” Morgan said she and counselor Stefanie Kotzen sought out those in need. Morgan realized that trying to assist individual students was “like herding cats.”
“There were certainly students negatively affected that may have been too embarrassed to tell anyone, or may not have been able to articulate their needs,” she said.
Weeks before the sale, Morgan gave her students an assignment with the theme of Valentine’s Day—and the idea of helping others.
“Whenever there is a problem like the government shutdown, Ms. Morgan is the first person to ask to help,” senior Alexander Knight, an Honors Ceramics III student who gave school announcements about the sale, said.
Ceramics students and decided to direct funds the local food nonprofits TABLE and PORCH.
“There was no reason to try to be the hero when there are already organizations in our community which can support hungry students, which was the real emergency we wanted to address,” Morgan said.
