"If you're going to live, leave a legacy. Make a mark on the world that can't be erased." -Maya Angelou
Each year, 8th grade students at Akira Toki Middle School are asked to develop messages that bring awareness to, or suggest change for, the things they are most passionate about. After collaborating with their teachers and a team of community-based teaching artists over several weeks, their creative works are presented in an all-school assembly that passes their legacy messages on to the future student population.
2019 Legacies
Read the IMPACT STORY to learn more about the 2019 legacy projects, along with the years building up to the current scope of the project.
2020 Legacies
All 8th grade students had a choice to implement ways to express and share their legacy messages with mentors from the community offering options in stop-motion animation, spoken word, poster design and mural design.
MURAL & POSTER DESIGN:
Led by teaching artists, Audifax, Carlee Latimer and Ollie Schaal, these project options walked students through the phases of designing a visual message and allowing each student to create a personalized legacy poster, followed by a group effort on the larger LOVE IS LEGACY mural design project.
The mural is first layered with hopeful messages for the future handwritten by all participants and then covered over with the popping design that incorporate the word "love" printed in several languages, which was the theme that rose to the top for all three CORE periods. This mural is one of the long lasting legacy messages this 8th grade class will be leaving with all future Toki students as it permanently mounted to the brick wall outside the LMC.
SPOKEN WORD:
Led by Bubbler Media Instructor, Rob Dz, this project option focused on providing the writing mechanisms and support structures for students to work on the different ways in which they can write and verbalize their message, paying particular attention to how each choice will directly effect the audience's emotional response to the message.
The 20 speakers delivered their messages in story, song and spoken word formats, and covered a wide range of topics such as pollution, drug abuse, police brutality, bullies, dementia, gun laws, climate change, suicide, stereo types and divorce.
ANIMATION:
Led by Bubbler Media Instructor, Nate Clark, this project option began with a crash course on the basics of stop-motion animation and the library's animation equipment, followed by intensive individual worktime to produce and edit a video relaying their legacy message.
