Wellesley High School Evolutions program students on May 11 will honor WHS alumni and staff military veterans with an unveiling and dedication of a commemorative art project.
The event, which is open to veterans and the general public, will take place at 6pm in the courtyard behind the cafeteria, and those planning to attend are encouraged to RSVP here. After the dedication, the project will be brought inside and ideally reside in a location where it might encourage quiet reflection.
Fifteen students will work on the physical project over two to three weeks, though they’ve put in lots of work already identifying over 600 names by cross-referencing lists of residents who served in the U.S. Armed Forces by using information from the Wellesley Historical Society’s collection of old WHS yearbooks. Because there are so many names, they won’t be individually recognized on the project, but names will be recorded in an online database that the public will be able to add names to on their own.
Identifying the veterans “has been an incredibly time-consuming task,” and students say that has contributed to the project feeling so meaningful, according to Emily Shapero, a WHS history teaching who is working with the students on the project (and kindly shared the accompanying photos with us). “There is definitely an emotional connection when they see the yearbook photos of the graduates who went on to serve,” she says.
Inspiration for the project came from students taking part in an interdisciplinary unit on “War and Hope,” and visiting monuments throughout greater Boston. Students visited Armenian Heritage Park, the Crispus Attucks Memorial, the Shaw 54th Regiment Memorial, the Irish Famine Memorial and the Holocaust Memorial, among others.
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This makes me so happy! I went to school with David Ouellet and knew nothing of his sacrifice until I was at Little League practice with my grandsons and happened to see the marker in his memory at Ouellet Field. After practice we read the memorial together and they learned that a true American Hero came from their Town. I’m sure there are many more, Dana Frost for one, who lived in Wellesley that we don’t know about and, therefore, can’t honor; now we can. Thank you to this fine group of students and their teacher(s) for taking on this project. You have all done a wonderful thing.
And thank you for such a nice note…
Here are some links to videos of our test etchings on glass!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94t7-91OS0U
Thanks for sharing this Tiger
Wow, just wow! I have no idea how you do those etchings and you could probably never be able to get me to understand it. But, one thing I do know is the world is in great hands with this current generation. To turn your talents to creating a memorial for Wellesley Vets is a very generous act of kindness. Karma will be a wonderful thing!
Don’t mean to be rude but, you guys left the autofocus pin on. I am a current student at WHS and am pretty familiar with the laser engraver.
Not sure what that even means, but will take your word for it…