Put down the sidewalk chalk Verona and go find your crayons and colored pencils. The Digital Illustration class at Verona High School has created a coloring book.
Actually, there are five coloring books: One for each elementary school and H.B. Whitehorne Middle School (sorry, VHS). Many of the images are the same, but you can only find the Brookdale School sign in the Brookdale book and the image of Ray Bowes, HBW’s health and phys ed teacher, in the HBW book. The books also feature a street scene of Bloomfield Avenue in the center of town.
For Helene McKelvey-McLaughlin, the books are a chance for her students to have a sense of empowerment in a world that seems to have taken it all away. “I think we are all at home wishing we could do something to help people and in this small way we are,” she says. The students submitted their work electronically and McKelvey-McLaughlin gave them feedback online.
Meaghan Elliott coming up big! This senior (heading to Drexel) is an amazing talent & is generous w/ her time! I asked her to help me w/ a coloring book project for Verona elementary students and Maplewood seniors and she didn’t hesitate to say yes. #weareverona @DrexelDragons pic.twitter.com/JM9kGhRuoe
— McKelvey-McLaughlin (@mckmcl) May 8, 2020
A large contingent of students worked on the books: Milo Attal, Brianna Camp, Alyssa Deo, Jayson Dorrbecker, Cameron Duffy, Monica Egnezzo, Wednesday Fischer, Isabella Freda, Jack Huze, Ryan McLaughlin, Megan Moran, Grace Schulke, Josephine Shust, Rebecca Siclari, Abigail Smith, Catherine Swanstrom, Storm Van Derzee, Brooke Anquillare, Aaliyah Best, Tyler Coppola, Courtney Cullen, Luca DiNatale, Dashiell Greenberg, Rebecca Katsios, Christopher Lakin, John Lermi, Camila Mora, Alexia Popolizio, Faith Reed, Thomas Sabo, Sabrina Thompson, Ethan Forrest, Annie Swanstrom, Meaghan Elliott and Simone Conforti.
“Even though school looks a little different right now, our community still remains exactly the same,” the class wrote on the introduction page. “Verona is full of caring and compassionate people. We help one other and try and bring joy to those who need it. In that spirit Ms. McKelvey-McLaughlin’s Digital Illustration class at Verona High School has created these coloring book for you. Please fill these pages with all the color, fun and love that you bring to our community.”
You can access all the books here.
