Students at a Texas elementary school raise funds and awareness to help orcas and belugas
It all began five years ago when Rachel Friend, a 4th Grade teacher in the Chicago area sent some of her students’ writings and drawings to Steven Dunn, the Founder of Munchkin, Inc., which makes unique products for young children. Rachel discovered that Steven also had a passion for ending the captivity of whales and dolphins and that he had just become the founding sponsor of a new organization, the Whale Sanctuary Project. So, she and her students decided to host their own fundraisers for the whales.
In the two years that followed, they performed plays and created presentations and other events around the theme of whale captivity and the solution of sanctuary.
Fast forward a few years and a family move to Texas. Now teaching at Schluter Elementary in Haslet, Rachel began introducing her 4th graders to the plight of captive whales and the work of the Whale Sanctuary Project, this time through our award-winning short film “Whales Without Walls”.
The students invited our Executive Director, Charles Vinick, to join them for a Zoom chat and shared Charles’s TEDx talk with their families, who, in turn, began having conversations with their children about the topic.
“It’s essential to provide children with opportunities to impact our world for the better and inspire others.”“As educators,” Rachel says, “it’s essential to provide children with opportunities to impact our world for the better and inspire others.” To share their concerns, some students decided to write about whales in captivity. One writer asked, “Should the show go on?” Another writer described going to a marine park to see an orca show and “when the orca comes out, you see his face and he’s sad and he looks like he doesn’t want to perform.”
As their interest and concern took hold, the youngsters not only learned more about the lives of whales and dolphins; they also grew their art skills. “Through writing and art,” their art teacher Keisha Casiano, explains, “our students learn that their voices make a difference and promote change in a positive way.” And what better way to do that than to mount an art show and raise funds for something they felt passionate about. From there, the hard work in preparing for an art show began.
And so it was that on February 1st, 2022, Showcase Art Not Whales and Dolphins took place in the school’s gymnasium to rave reviews. The vibrant, underwater scenes painted by the students depict orcas in an ocean environment, robust with bright green sea grasses, sea life, and a sandy ocean floor, some of the many natural elements that will be their new sanctuary home.
Rachel and Keisha were thrilled with the accomplishment of their students, and how this project was embraced by families and the school faculty. And all of us at the Whale Sanctuary Project are hugely impressed with their work and very appreciative of their remarkable fundraising and awareness-raising effort.
“It was a really special evening, one we will never forget,” Rachel says. “We are so proud of the kids for how they took over the project and wanted to share their passion with others.”