Students at PS 316 are continuing their journey to learn to be peaceful warriors. In a recent lesson, they were asked to design and draw original characters that would embody the qualities of a Peaceful Warrior, such as grace, generosity, patience, etc. O’lijah asked if he could use the Beatles as his characters. He expressed that he drew inspiration from The Beatles, and that he saw them as role models because of their message of love. Teaching Artists Mary Cinadr and Shawn Ferreyra told him to go for it! From memory, O’lijah created the above image which bears an uncanny resemblance to the Fab Four.
O’lijah took the spirit of what the Teaching Artists have been covering in class, the qualities of a peaceful warrior. Using his own frame of reference, he created a drawing that, to him, represented what was important in his journey to be a peaceful warrior.
O’lijah independently thought outside of the box and took the initiative to create his own assignment within the context of Mary and Shawn’s assignment but he brought his own passion and unique point of view to the table.
