Boardman art students send smiles to India
Neighbors | Sarah Foor .A group of students from Jim Cliff's Boardman High School design class held up some of the coloring book pages they created for Operation Smile. The pages traveled to India to lift the spirits of kids after cleft palate surgeries, and were brought to the hospital by exchange student Mena Lisa, who studied in Boardman about 2 years ago and has kept in contact with the art department. The Boardman coloring book illustrators are, from left, Ashley Brunko, Maya Condori, Zach Demsky, Brad Dofka, Raven Logan, and Katie Durner.
Neighbors | Submitted.A 5 year old girl named Majeeda, who has been recuperating from the second surgery on her cleft palate in a hospital in Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India, smiled as she colored an illustration sent to the hospital from Boardman High School art teacher Jim Cliff and his design students.
Neighbors | Submitted.In photos sent by exchange student Mena Lisa from a hospital in Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India, a 12 year old boy named Sohela Makesh showed off the coloring book page he colored. The illustration is from a student in Jim Cliff's Boardman High School design class.
By SARAH FOOR
In coloring book pages recently sent to Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India by the students in Jim Cliff’s Boardman High School design class, a graphic in the corner of the pages reads “smiles link the world.”
The pages, which included illustrations of animals like iguanas, giraffes and birds, were a collaboration between Cliff and former Boardman exchange student Mena Lisa.
During a recent visit to Boardman, Lisa offered Boardman High School design students to be part of her “Smile Project.” Lisa is involved with Operation Smile, a non-profit organization that offers free corrective surgeries for individuals with cleft palates, and envisioned that coloring book pages would brighten the days of young children after their procedures.
Cliff said putting the coloring book together was a simple project for his students that made a big difference.
“I tried to make it a fun, laid back project — there were no stressful deadlines. The students all thought about animals they’d like to color and worked on the illustrations in Photoshop. We made the pages into a .pdf and sent it out to our friend Mena, and it was that easy,” Cliff explained.
The project was so laid-back, in fact, that the difference the students made didn’t sink in until Lisa sent back photos of children in India coloring the pages.
“Mena sent photos of the kids with huge smiles, holding up signs that said ‘thank you.’ I think my students finally understood it then, seeing that their illustrations went to the other side of the world and really made someone happy. I’m glad the students participated in something bigger than themselves and saw that art can make a difference in a real way,” Cliff added.