St. James Catholic High School and Holy Trinity Catholic School students’ artworks will be showcased at local libraries, museums, and community centers over the next month, following their successful submissions to the City of Guelph’s Imagine a Day Without Water Poster Contest.
The City invited students from across Guelph to submit posters aimed at raising awareness about water conservation and efficiency and the importance of water, wastewater, stormwater, and source water protection services delivered by City staff. Out of 212 submissions in three categories, a judging panel of City staff selected six designs as the winners.
“The purpose for the poster contest was really to showcase our connections to water through original artwork created by local students. We hoped the artwork would encourage discussion around water conservation, wastewater, stormwater and source water protection – and so the various artworks were meant to touch on one or more of these areas,” shared Steve Yessie, Water Conservation Program Coordinator with the City of Guelph.
Recognized among the 212 submissions, were St. James’ grade 9 students Amelia and Adam. The pair created their posters as a part of a culminating project for their NAC students.
“We incorporated the contest into one of our Culminating projects for our NAC 10 students - Grade 9 Expressions First Nations, Metis and Inuit Cultures, as it nicely complemented our 'Water is Life' unit where students learn about Water Protectors like Water Walker Nokomis Josephine Mandamin, Indigenous artists and water activists like Isaac Murdoch, Christi Belcourt, and Autumn Peltier, and receive Water Teachings from Anishinaabe Knowledge Keeper, Jan Sherman, to learn about water concerns and advisories still at large in Canadian Indigenous Communities,” shared Katrina Musselman, teacher at St. James.
Creating the posters by hand, the class project used the theme ‘Imagine a Day Without Water’ to explore ways to communicate the importance of water protection, conservation, and the overall fact that water is life.
“As a culminating activity, students were required to plan a balanced composition and demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of the subject through personal symbolism and appropriate media selection,” explained Musselman.
In addition to the St. James’ students’ posters, grade 3 student, Nftaliem, from Holy Trinity also had a successful submission!
Amelia, Adam and Nftaliem’s posters will be displayed at Guelph Public Library branches, Guelph Museums and other City facilities for one month.