Students make paper airplanes, grant wishes

IOWA CITY – Paper airplanes in school are, typically, a don't, but the they were a do at South East Junior High Thursday.

In homeroom, with a video providing instruction, seventh and eighth graders folded several paper airplanes.

The goal was five per student, although some exceeded expectations.

“I lost count,” said McKinley BarbouRoske, 13, said with a laugh. “It's just cool how with a few folds, a piece of paper becomes something completely different. It's art.”

Even Principal Deb Wretman managed to make two before being called to the office. She has plans to finish all five.

The paper airplanes, 4,000 total, will be used in an art installation project at South East. The airplanes, made from recycled paper, will hang on strings from the school roof and dangle, decorating the front of the building for at least a week, if not longer.

“It all depends if they remain intact,” said Rachael Arnone, the school's art teacher

The project is Step 2 of a three-part project Arnone's art elective eighth graders will complete throughout the school year.

Step 1, which took place during the first trimester, involved researching instances in which people have used biodegradable art to make wishes. This includes the Japenese paper crane legend, which promised that anyone who folds 1,000 paper cranes will be granted a wish, and learning about Jerusalem's Wailing Wall, where people leave written prayers in the wall's cracks.

Arnone and her students decided to bring this tradition to South East, using paper airplanes, with a wish written inside the wing. Adding a community service component to the project, students sold paper airplanes at several businesses in Iowa City. People could purchase one airplane for $1 and write their wish inside.

The goal is to raise $3,000 for United Action for Youth.

Second trimester elective art students will study installation art projects and complete the paper airplane installation, as well as continue fundraising efforts. Students will also work on paintings that illustrate installation art and feature paper airplanes.

The final step, which will take place in the third trimester, will have students creating a display for the Iowa City Public Library.

“I really like that everybody in the school is working on this,” said Grace Barrett, 13. “It goes through all three trimesters and involves everyone, even students who aren't in art elective.”

“It's a creative idea and overall a good thing for South East Junior High,” Cason Loveless, 13, added.

This is the second school-wide art project Arnone and her art students have organized. Last year's eighth grade art elective students helped create a community performance art project that showcased the school's love and spirit by creating a heart with a background of four puzzle pieces. Students assigned to the heart section of the puzzle wore red shirts while others donned white, black, brown and yellow shirts to symbolize different races.

Blue jeans and jean shorts were placed used to outline the puzzle pieces. The jeans are an extension of the project, which included a clothing drive for Shelter House.

“When we finished last year's project, the seventh graders were immediately asking, ‘What's ours? What are we going to do?'” Wretman said. “It's hard to top that one.”

But watching students measure the windows outside the school, cut strings that will hold 12 airplanes each or count the garbage sacks full of completed planes being stores in Arnone's classroom, it's possible she and her students have managed to do just that.

“Installation art isn't my favorite, so even I'm learning something from this,” Arnone said. “I just want my students to learn that this stuff isn't weird. There are many ways to do it and you can have an impact.”