After weeks of priming and painting a wooden bench with a colorful design, fifth graders unveiled their class’s legacy project Thursday morning.
Students at Eudora High School built the bench out of old church pews during their woodworking classes, and the fifth graders designed and painted the bench.
Kania Shain, who has taught art at Eudora Elementary for nearly 10 years, began the tradition of legacy projects in 2015 when she was a volunteer teacher.
Shain said the legacy projects are a way to commemorate the fifth graders’ time at the elementary school before moving on to middle school. This year, the bench was placed by the front desk office, where students of all grade levels walk by.
“I wanted to create something lasting, that represented each class and leaves their mark on the school,” Shain said. “But it’s also for the teachers, so we can walk by their projects and remember each particular class.”
The idea for a painted bench was inspired by the colorfully painted benches all over Lawrence, she said. She drew out the design for the bench while her students primed, painted and made decisions regarding the color scheme and wording on the bench.
Fifth grader Julia Miller helped come up with the wording on the bench. She said the phrase “fifth grade, fifth grade, we are the best!” and “be our guest” have special meanings for those at Eudora Elementary.
“Coming up with the wording was fun but also easy,” she said. “The words we chose are things we say all the time, over and over. It’s our fifth grade chant.”
Shain began working on this year’s project at the end of the last school year when she contacted woodworking teacher Jotham Andrews to make a bench. Andrews and his class worked on it during class periods this semester.
Shain’s art class began working on priming and painting the bench when they got home from spring break and finished in a few weeks. She said the legacy project reveals are always a lot of fun — and they also build excitement from students in lower grade levels for their legacy project.
“A lot of the younger kids are already asking me what project they’ll do when they’re in fifth grade,” Shain said. “Each reveal builds just so much excitement, not only for my fifth graders but for all the lower levels as well.”
Kate Keltner, another student in Shain’s art class, helped complete the project by picking colors to go on the bench and painting. She said her favorite part of the project was working together with her class.
“The project was so, so much fun to do especially with the whole class,” she said. “I’m really happy because it looks so good and we did a good job.”
Due to the spread of COVID-19, this was the first legacy project reveal in three years. Shain continued to organize projects for her students throughout the pandemic, including using online art programs to complete projects while students did online school.
Fifth grader Emma Dahlquist said the legacy project made her feel school pride.
“When they showed everyone our bench, I felt super proud,” she said. “Especially when I saw the colors I chose on the bench.”
Reach reporter Jenna Barackman at [email protected].
