(1st two photos by WSB; after that, courtesy Troop 41169)
New art outside the Highland Park Improvement Club! This was in the works long before last month’s fire, and it has just been installed. It’s the “Bronze Award” project for the 5th graders of Girl Scout Troop 41169 – an “inclusion fence” along the SW Holden side of HPIC.
The project started with an idea for a mural in The Junction – but that didn’t work out (though it may eventually become a reality due to recent interest), so instead, the Scouts pivoted to this idea. Noirin Lynch sent us more photos and her troop’s explanation:
After 9 months of emails, phone calls, Zoom meetings, and painting sessions, we have finally completed our Bronze Award, the highest honor a Junior Girl Scout can earn. We are so excited to share our artwork with West Seattle residents and hope as they drive in and out of our community they are reminded of all the beauty and strength that our diversity provides. We were inspired to celebrate diversity and inclusiveness after watching our community, our city, and our nation become so divided this past year after the death of George Floyd.
Our troop started working on our Bronze project in 2020 and we have learned so much about working as a team, being responsible, and being resilient through the process. After our idea for a mural was rejected dozens of times, we were challenged to think creatively and persevere.
In the end, the Highland Park Improvement Club turned out to be a perfect match for us. They actively work to represent diversity and foster inclusion through all the work they do as an organization and this is exactly what our troop wants to celebrate. We are so grateful for their positivity and willingness to support our troop and we appreciate the invaluable role HPIC plays in lifting up our community. So as West Seattle residents are sitting in traffic trying to get on or off of our little “island” our troop and HPIC hopes our inclusion fence art brings you a little joy. Remember it is our diversity that makes our nation so unique and we are better for it. Differences in race, religion, gender identity, abilities, and politics should be a source of celebration, not divisiveness.
Congratulations to the Scouts – in the photo immediately above, front row L-R Vivienne, Akemi, Natalie, Harper; back row L-R Lena, Grace, Bereket, Ella. You can see their work at 1116 SW Holden.
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