Honorable Mention - High School Division
Wyandotte Alternative School
Wyandotte, OK
This collage was created by the Wyandotte Alternative School -Moccasin Bend Ranch in Wyandotte, Oklahoma. The students in the school are in residential treatment for issues of abuse, drug treatment and criminal behavior.
The class began the project after a first semester of studying Oklahoma history. The discussion surrounded the theme of the collage. What symbolized Oklahoma political history? The class made a list on the board. There was a big discussion on the design and medium to use. As a class, the design was created. Our class loves to make therapeutic collages from words from magazines. It was from that thought, the class began to cut out words about Oklahoma. The teacher stopped by and picked up literature from the tourist office. Students cut out hundreds of words.
The center of the collage is the outline of the state of Oklahoma. Within the state, are black and white pictures capturing era's of the history of Oklahoma and those who lived during the growth of the state. On top of the state are the donkey and elephant representing the political parties Republican and Democratic. The governors of the territories/state are symbolized in the red and blue circles. The circle shape was chosen because of the never ending terms in creating political history, and how each situation that occurs effects the next - its' affects never end. The words on the outside enclose the past and symbolize where we are going to in the future as well as words of the present describing our state and its politics. The symbol to the left represents the center of the state flag of Oklahoma. It is placed there to remember our Indian heritage and its importance in political history for the state.
The actual creating of the collage began in January. The class organized into groups. Some students worked on the elephant and donkey. Two students worked on enlarging the outline of the state.
And still others continued to cut out words. Several students researched the names of former governors of the state and territories. Once the research and initial layout was finished, the class began to talk about color and how to achieve the look of a collage with magazine pages. The classroom has a tub of magazines and students began to organize color by placing pages in bins. Students then began to tear pages and begin gluing to the patterns.
The students have learned many things working on this project -group interaction and cooperation, elements of design, as well as political history. The era's of change and the acceptance of new ideas and culture have made the state what it is today.
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