Local art students with an eye for portrait work came together once again to continue a local program managed by Sharee Price, Gifted Services Coordinator at the South Central Ohio Educational Service Center.

The program, known as The Memory Project, is dedicated to promoting intercultural awareness, friendship, and kindness between children around the world through the universal language of art.

“I love the fact that students complete their portraits close to the Christmas holidays because creating these portraits is a labor of love which embodies the spirit of giving. Students often tell me that they feel a connection to the child for whom they’re creating a portrait as they study their features trying to capture the child’s likeness,” Price said. “It’s great to see the students using their artistic talents to create something meaningful that will be given away for such a good cause. These are gifts from the heart.”

According to Price, The Memory Project is a national program that was founded by Ben Schumaker in 2004 and has involved over 330,000 youth in the programs it provides. It is a unique initiative in which art students create original portraits for children who have been abandoned, orphaned, abused or neglected and who don’t normally have keepsakes of their childhood.

The project strives to give them something precious they can keep and to give them a sense of self-worth, knowing that someone cared enough to take the time to create a portrait of them. Local high school art students receive a photograph of children who are waiting for portraits, then work in their art classrooms to create the portraits. The portraits are delivered to the children and a video is made of the event and shared with the students who made the portraits.

“We are so grateful that 29 art students and their teachers from Scioto County are continuing their long-running partnership with our organization. Ms. Sharee Price has been outstanding in coordinating these efforts for the past 17 years. This year, the students are creating portraits for Syrian children living as refugees across the Syrian border in Jordan. Scioto County art students created portraits for Syrian children six years ago who were born in Syria but lost their homeland to war. The Syrian children who will receive the portraits this year are children who were born as refugees and never knew their homeland. This is our way of using art to show them that youth in the United States see them, recognize their struggle, care about their well-being, and honor their hope for a brighter future,” commented Schumaker

Art students and their teachers from 12 local high schools participated in the Memory Project this year by creating 29 portraits of children living in Syria.

Participants include: Breanna Cooper, Leia Lynn, and Mrs. Kate Claxon of South Webster High School; Caroline Ridenour and Mrs. Tiffany Moore of Clay High School; Jala Boggs, Olivia Hilton, Emilie Johnson, Jessica Martinez, Noelle Smith, and Mrs. Kelly Montgomery of Valley High School; Bree Lodwick of Oak Hill High School; Caroline Mauk and Kailee Ogier of Notre Dame High School; Avala Abrams and Mr. Charlie Haskins of Green High School; Emily Cram and Erika Parker of Minford High School; Miranda Kilgallion of Portsmouth West High School; Mahayla Blevins and Jadelynn Lawson of Glenwood High School; Kylie Underwood of Portsmouth High School; Linden Crabtree, Tayler Freeland, Brooklyn Hawes, Bailey Kingrey, and Carson Ruby of Northwest High School; and Shelby Gillum and Haidn Lintz of Wheelersburg High School.

The portraits will be delivered to the children in Syria in early 2024. “In the past 17 years Scioto County students have created 446 portraits for children in 15 countries,” Price said. “It is my hope that this very worthy and meaningful project which enriches the lives of so many children will continue for many years to come.”

Reach Joseph Pratt at (740) 353-3101, by email at [email protected], © 2023 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved.