A design competition for 5-18 year olds curated by second grade scholars at Spruce Elementary School

The Ar(c)t(ic) Design Exhibition was curated by the second grade scholars and environmental advocates in Dr. Jennie Warmouth’s class at Spruce Elementary School. The second graders put out an international call for Arctic focused designs following their teacher’s expedition to Arctic Svalbard as a Grosvenor Teacher Fellow with National Geographic and Lindblad Expeditions. The project’s purpose was to invite other children to learn about human impact on the Arctic in order to create something visual to help INSPIRE people to protect our planet’s wild places. The design contest was open to children 5-18 years old worldwide and received over 90 submissions.

The second grade curators would like to say, “We hope that people will slow down and take responsibility because each and every decision counts for our planet. We want people to notice their impact on Earth. Some animals are endangered and at risk of becoming extinct…because of OUR choices! You might just think that one little piece of trash is meaningless but it all matters! With this collection, we intend to show civilization the importance of healing and protecting the Arctic ecosystem. We envision a balanced and thriving world in the future.”

Here is some information about the work leading up to this (including our single use plastic policy change):

• https://blog.education.nationalgeographic.org/2020/12/01/how-our-cafeterias-plastic-sporks-sparked-my-students-empathy-for-the-earth/
• https://www.heraldnet.com/life/lynnwood-teachers-arctic-trip-inspires-kids-to-ditch-plastic/
  
• https://stories.spu.edu/articles/a-long-distance-relationship-a-national-geographic-grosvenor-fellow-takes-her-students-to-the-arctic/
• WEBSITE WHERE WE TOOK SUBMISSIONS: https://www.silverwarepatrol.com/art-judges-entry 
  

Read Dr. Jennie Warmouth's National Geographic blog article: "How Our Arctic-Themed Art Contest Honors Young People’s Calls to Action"

Check out this article about the exhibition by KING5: 

Lynnwood second graders curate museum art exhibit to shine a light on the Arctic