Franklin Regional students create art for 2 local nonprofits

Franklin Regional students aren’t just competing math problems and reading books during class — they are learning how to give back to the community.

An FR senior and FR fifth graders have created two separate art projects to support two local nonprofits.

Students in Franklin Regional Senior High School’s entrepreneurship program have served as interns for nonprofit East Suburban Citizen Advocacy, helping them extend their social media reach.

So when East Suburban Citizen Advocacy started thinking about rebranding, the program seemed like a natural fit.

“We realized that rebranding our logo might be something they could work on,” East Suburban Citizen Advocacy Executive Director Heather Speeney said.

FR art teacher Denielle DeSantis held a contest in her art class and provided more than 40 potential logos for Speeney and her staff to peruse.

“They looked through our website and social media and researched who we are,” Speeney said. “I sent them a small paragraph about what we wanted the logo to convey.”

East Suburban Citizen Advocacy’s final choice was created by FR junior Emily Rose, featuring a heart with two people embracing below the group’s acronym, all in different shades of green. Bordering the heart is the East Suburban Citizen Advocacy slogan, “Advocacy for those with Developmental Disabilities.”

“Emily’s was the one we felt was closest to who we are,” Speeney said. “It’s now our official logo, and we’ll use it for letterhead, advertisements, anything we’re putting our name on.”

Rose created versions with a few small tweaks for use in different places, but they all have the same basic design.

Meanwhile, FR fifth graders learned a bit about community support in intermediate art teacher Danielle Hartman’s class.

The students created a blue, white and orange mosaic for the Westmoreland County Blind Association. The 3D-printed piece of artwork depicts the association’s logo made up of small tiles.

Words like “FRSD Roar,” “God is good,” “I love turtles” and “Beauty is within” are written on some tiles, while other tiles have pictures of stars, dogs, the Kennywood sign, the Incredible Hulk and more. The tiles’ inscriptions are raised so blind community members can feel the mosaic.

“I think it’s nice that people who are disabled can get a taste of the art world that we can visually see,” fifth grader Kensington Carswell said.

Carswell and three of her classmates — Thomas Zahn, Julianna Morcos and Lily Rittko — presented the mosaic during the association’s May 23 board meeting. Board members expressed gratitude for the donation.

“It will be here forever,” board Chairman Anthony Bompiani said. “We all are so proud of you.”

Hartman said the project funnels into the district’s 5 C’s goal: creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, community and communication. She hopes this project “triggers” future community-based artwork for her students.

“I’ve been wanting to do something community-based with the kids for a long time,” Hartman said.