The Rainbow Hair

This week’s reflection was written by Michelle! 🌈

On park day this week, I noticed one of the younger voting members was sitting by himself and joined him to check in. He expressed that he just didn’t know what to do at the park that day. During the conversation, I mentioned that I had chalk in my car and offered to bring it out, but Julen politely declined and continued to try and decide what to do. Later in the day, he approached me again and said that he had changed his mind, asking if he could use the chalk. Other voting members overheard, and so they excitedly awaited the chalk and immediately got to drawing. 

A few other young people in the park also noticed the chalk, and voting members were quick to ask if others could also use the chalk - and then invited them to join. Julen drew a person with rainbow hair, and before we knew it the hair was getting longer and longer, so long that you could take a walk along it, and many did. 

People from outside of our school community noticed and it particularly caught the attention of a few young people at the park who asked the artist if he could make it even longer. He said he could, and recruited their help. They worked for a large portion of our school day on the rainbow hair until it literally wrapped around the entire park along the sidewalks. 

There was constant traffic of walking and running along the rainbow hair in any and every direction that it went. When parents came for pickup, they were amazed at the large scale art project that was created during the day. The student who spearheaded the project had a great sense of pride in his work, but also made sure to credit everyone who contributed for their efforts. He described his helpers as “not lazy!” 🌈