Students investigate how art can deepen community understanding of refugee experiences and resilience in Northeast Columbia by listening to lived stories, researching responsibly, and creating work that reflects empathy and accuracy. Over four weeks, they collaborate with refugee support organizations, library partners, and local artists to produce photo-poems, portraits, storytelling pieces, and artist statements for a public exhibit. The experience builds communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and content expertise through interviews, critique, revision, and curation. It also helps students reflect on their own growth in mindset, identity, and belonging as they share their learning with an authentic audience.

Students will develop respectful interview, listening, and research skills by learning how to gather accurate information from guest speakers, community partners, and library sources, then translate that learning into photography, poetry, visual art, and storytelling. They will strengthen communication and collaboration by participating in peer critique, giving and using feedback, co-curating exhibit pieces, and presenting their artistic choices and learning to a public audience. Students will build critical thinking by analyzing how art can represent complex experiences with accuracy, empathy, and nuance, while revising their work to better answer the essential question. They will also reflect on their own growth in empathy, academic confidence, and sense of connection to their community through artist statements, gallery walks, and a student-led reflection panel.

Students will create first-response poems or images after the kickoff, interview notes and research summaries from guest speakers and library sources, and weekly draft pieces such as photographs, sketches, portraits, and short stories that are revised through gallery-walk feedback. In collaborative teams, they will also produce audio recordings or storytelling station materials, exhibit labels, and reflection cards for visitors. By the end, students will curate a public pop-up exhibit at the library featuring photo-poems, mixed-media portraits, artist statements, and short written reflections that accurately represent refugee experiences and resilience in Northeast Columbia. They will also present selected pieces during a storytelling gallery night and student reflection panel for families, artists, library partners, and refugee support organizations.

Open with a Lens and Voice kickoff in which students listen to short audio clips or live stories from refugee guests and capture immediate reactions through a quick poem, sketch, or photograph inspired by what they notice, wonder, and feel. Follow with a silent image gallery of refugee journeys, community maps of Northeast Columbia, and artifacts or books gathered with the public library so students can build background knowledge and generate respectful interview questions. End by having students share one first-response piece in small groups, discuss how art can communicate resilience and experience, and introduce the challenge of creating a public exhibit for the library and community.

Host a pop-up exhibit at the nearby public library where students display photo-poems, mixed-media portraits, and artist statements centered on refugee experiences and resilience in Northeast Columbia. During a Gallery Night, students lead visitors through the exhibit, staff short storytelling or audio stations, and offer live readings of selected poems alongside community partners, guest speakers, and local artists. Include reflection cards or a response wall so families and community members can share what they learned, and use the event as the setting for students’ public explanation of their creative choices, research, empathy, and growth.