Contributed by Erin Schwartz, Director of Communications and Community Engagement
It started with a simple request and a map. During my year here, I have become very familiar with the 3rd Grade Sound Project. At this step in the journey, the students had already crafted wheelbarrow-themed found objects into fully-functioning instruments and performed original compositions for the Hillbrook community. The project has shifted from musical exploration to thoughtful modern art installation. As is hallmark of the Hillbrook experience, it is the students who choose the location where each of the wheelbarrow projects will call home. With hand-drawn map in hand, I set off to find and photograph each student work. As is hallmark of my personal Hillbrook experience, I ended up discovering and experiencing so much more than I imagined. As I hunted for and discovered the location of each wheelbarrow, it became profoundly clear to me that this project had become a vessel through which our third graders invite other members of the community to see and interact with the campus through their own eyes, experiences, and hearts.
When I heard the term “art installation,” my mind instantly springs back to my art history days in London, where I spent a good deal of time traveling to galleries and spaces. It conjured up memories of artwork placed prominently into view.
Here, “art installation” takes on an entirely different meaning and is far more than an opportunity to showcase creative student work against the backdrop of a picturesque campus. Where I imagined a map that led me on a parade of wheelbarrows along one of the paved thoroughfares that connect our campus, I received a scavenger hunt, a hike, and a moment to pause from a busy day to reflect more deeply on what these projects – and the significance of their placement – say about the larger journey of our students here at school.
Practicing respect for the space and the artist
My first encounter with a wheelbarrow actually wasn’t on this hunt, but a week prior while I was supervising students on the JK-2 playground one morning. As experiential, hands-on learners, a group of first grade students were certainly curious about this new addition to their play structure. They knew about the Sound Project and this was, perhaps, one of the first opportunities they had to see one of the installations up close. In a space where everything is intended for multi-sensory exploration, the students acknowledged to one another that this object belonged to fellow students. Furthermore, it was clear they respected the time and effort that went into every stroke of paint and the placement of each piece of tape. With a deep emotional maturity and understanding for proper time and place, students played around the wheelbarrow, respecting its space and the efforts of its creators. I also admired the trust and mutual respect the artists expressed for fellow peers in entrusting their project and sharing it within one of the newest, busiest, and most playful spots on campus.
If you were to head over to the area below the treehouse to find this blue wheelbarrow, I expect you will find a powerful story unfolding. You will learn about a community where the care and wellbeing every individual and every artifact within it is the business and the joy of all who call Hillbrook home.
Celebrating ownership of environment, from the inside, out.
Each of the spots students selected for their wheelbarrows reveals a fascinating story and history about their relationship with the school and its campus. The locations our students selected were tucked away, sometimes hidden entirely from view. As I trampled through the brush that lines the “enchanted forest” that borders the JK-2nd grade areas, I encountered a green wheelbarrow that blended in so well with its surroundings that unless you were looking for it, you would miss it. It reminded me of the groups of children whose laughter and the rustle of leaves are the only evidence that let us know that imaginative, tucked-away play is underway. Did this secret spot hold a special memory for the third graders who have since graduated from this space?
Many of the wheelbarrows eluded me simply because, despite my best efforts to explore and experience the campus in the 10 months I have been here, there were worlds within our unique landscape that I had yet to experience. For instance, on the last leg of my trek and with work boots at the ready, I followed these directions: “take path lined with oak trees.” I was on my way on a well-worn trail that wound up and around the middle school and into the hillside.
In a world of homework, projects, meetings, and deadlines, children and adults need to find a safe space and an escape from the hustle and bustle of world that will only turn faster. As I followed this path, forged by the growing feet of our young explorers, I was introduced to a serene, bucolic space that I imagine hundreds of our students over the past 80 years have used for safe and calming introspection. As I looked around, I wondered how many whispered secrets, lunchtime adventures, and childhood memories these hills have experienced.
With two wheelbarrows, one settled into a vacant sandbox and another tucked underneath the wide boughs of a tree, our third graders invite all to take rare and precious glimpses into their lives here and into some of the most personal spaces on campus.
Back down the hill, we have inboxes and to-do lists brimming with tasks and appointments. Up here, with the oak trees and tall grasses, we have that intangible treasure – time – as long as we make an intentional choice to pause.
We often talk about the powerful role our campus plays in the educational experience of our students. As we celebrate our 80th year on this campus, we are acutely aware that the land itself tells a powerful story of a country haven that transformed into the Hillbrook of today. With the latest phase of the 3rd Grade Sound Project, an endeavor into which our students have poured not only their talents as intellectuals and creators, but their hearts and passions, we have a valuable opportunity to learn even more precious stories, that of 3rd graders’ lives and unique journeys here and now.