Each student designed and hand-dyed multiple prayer-style flags, including specific earth-themed flags as well as flags representing their individual hopes and dreams for the upcoming school year. Many flags described the positive values and contributions the students wanted to bring to the school community; others explored global themes that had arisen during their four months at home. In creating these flags, our young artists experimented with multiple materials — including painting, dyeing, and embroidery — while also expressing a desire to come together as a community after the separation that had defined the previous months.

Remaining physically distanced and separated into groups based on grade level, the flags were strung up throughout the school, connecting the different learning pods on a physical and symbolic level. The flags remained strung up for all year long, inspiring students to remember that while we may be physically separated, our hearts, minds, and spirits can always remain united.