WeReclaim!

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Started in 2023, WeReclaim! is a STEAM-based program for area elementary students that asks them to illustrate what a healthy, sustainable world should look like.

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OVERVIEW

WeReclaim! began with a conversation between EC’s Director of Communications, Elizabeth Hughes, and a colleague, Beth Burkhauser, a former art teacher who now heads the Interdependence Hexagon Project. Started in 2006, the international Hexagon Project uses the visual arts to promote interdependence and global citizenship; the hexagon – like the cells within a honeycomb – symbolizing interconnectedness. The 2023 theme, Burkhauser explained, was environmental justice. Hughes recognized how it and EC’s work clearly aligned.

While most of EC’s efforts involve mine land reclamation, community outreach has always been part of our work. Often, during our interactions, we find students (and adults!) unaware of the region’s industrial past and the enduring environmental damages it wrought. EC was founded with the belief that local stakeholders should have a say in what happens to local lands. But to analyze problems and move forward with solutions, there must be knowledge. WeReclaim! seeks to start the conversation and, importantly, do so with the younger members of the community. Ultimately, they will be the stewards of the land.

Elizabeth reached out to the SHINE Program, an afterschool program operating in six school districts in Luzerne County. SHINE was highly receptive to partnering on this new endeavor, and through discussion, WeReclaim! was fleshed out. Each program cohort participates in five hands-on, STEAM-based lessons, which integrate science and the arts. Topics include local ecosystems, local mining history, and reclamation and land use planning. The lessons also reinforce the Hexagon Project’s emphasis on interconnection, as all these elements have intertwined to create the story of the region. Based on that learning, each student then produces a mixed-media collage artwork depicting what they would like to see in their community and/or for a better earth. An image of each child is part of the creation, identifying it as their vision. On display, their interconnected pieces will “reclaim” a vision for well-being in the community.

AWARDS

The Hexagon Project Outstanding Partnership Award, 2023

PRESS

Hexagon Project Recognizes Artwork at 17th Annual Event (Scranton Times Tribune, November 16, 2023)

A Call for Peace through Art (Scranton Times Tribune, September 22, 2024)

20-30 elementary students standing in front of art exhibit of collages, each in the shape of a hexagon, hanging on the wall in a honeycomb pattern.

Like to see some of the student artworks up close? Head on over to Artsonia to check out submissions from Nanticoke and Hanover Area and from Wilkes-Barre Area. You also can view all the artworks submitted to the 2023 Hexagon Project.

IMAGES

Multiracial group of elementary-aged students sitting on both sides of long table, covered with newspaper. Each has a palette with paint and hexagon-shaped canvas in front of them. They are painting.

Young girl smiles at camera holding a paintbrush in one hand. In front of her is a hexagon-shaped canvas with abstract painted designs in blue, green, black, and white on it.

Young boy sits at table. One hand holds a hexagon-shaped canvas, painted orange; the other hand holds a paintbrush, applying red paint

Woman (Laura Rinehimer) sits of top of long table at head, with elementary-aged students gathered around both sides. They arrange paper plates and arrows on the table to show relationships between animals.

Woman (Laura Rinehimer) sits at long table with elementary-aged students along both sides. They place small squares with graphics of buildings on a map.

Multiracial group of elementary-aged children stand in front of art exhibit on wall, each collage in the shape of a hexagon

Side view of woman (Elizabeth Hughes) standing in front of screen, which displays images of hexagons found in nature

Two girls crouch in front of exhibit of hexagon-shaped artworks on wall. The younger girl is behind the older girl, her arms hugging the other and her chin resting on her head.

Young boy stands with his arms outstretched with exhibit of hexagon artworks above him

Two women stand in front of screen, pointing to collage artworks done by Romare Bearden. Students sitting at tables look on.

Multi-racial group of three girls poke through small tub of birdseed with their hands, looking for beads.

Multiracial group of elementary students working at table on cutting and gluing pieces of paper to hexagon-shaped canvases.

Young boy cuts out a photograph of himself from a printout to include on hexagon-shaped canvas painted green in front of him.

Middle-school aged girl cuts small piece of paper to include on hexagon-shaped collage in front of her.

Elongated view looking down wood surface covered with newspaper, with drying hexagon artworks on top

Students sit on both side of a long table, each drawing on a paper plate, referencing identification sheets of local animals

Group of children and adults look at exhibit of student-made collages, each on a hexagon canvas, arranged on a concrete block wall.

One adult (Laura Rinehimer) and three students pose in front of exhibit of hexagon artworks on wall

Two young girls stand in front of hexagon artworks displayed on wall; one has her arm around the shoulder of the other

Side view of woman (Elizabeth Hughes) pointing a screen showing a map of Pennsylvania with the anthracite and bituminous coal fields shaded

GREATER NANTICOKE AREA ELEMENTARY

Woman (Elizabeth Hughes) stands in front of a screen with an image of miners and anthracite coal on it. She talks to group of young children, several of whom are raising their hands.

Two small groups of children of different races sort through small tubs filled with birdseed, looking for hidden beads.

Two girls sit at table covered with newspapers, each painting a hexagon-shaped canvas in orange, red, and yellow paint.

More than a dozen hexagon canvas placed on long wood table, painted in a variety of colors with abstract details.

Multicultural group of elementary-aged children sitting at a long table, smiling at camera. A large topographic map is on table.

Close-up of a dozen colorful collage artworks in the shape of a hexagon, each featuring a picture of an elementary-aged child.

Three, multicultural elementary-aged children sit at long table with small tub of birdseed in front of them. All three are giving the "peace| sign with their hands.

Multicultural group of young children at long table covered with craft supplies, smiling at camera; artworks in the shape of hexagons are in front of each.

View looking down long table, covered in newspaper and craft supplies, as several children work on cutting and pasting.

Young boy writes on a piece of paper at long while a young female teaching assistant, sitting across from him, helps.

Close-up of white cards with the statement: "I have the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable world where I...." Students have completed the statement in printed handwriting.

Group photo of +15 elementary-aged students in front of art exhibit of colorful hexagons.

Adults and children look at exhibit of hexagon-shaped artworks on a grey wall.

Art exhibit made up of hexagons, spaced in a honeycomb pattern. Each is painted and has a colorful collage with a photo of the student artist on it. On each side are cards with artist statements on them.

Close-up of art exhibit made up of hexagons, spaced in a honeycomb pattern. Each is painted and has a colorful collage with a photo of the student artist on it.

WILKES-BARRE AREA HEIGHTS MURRAY

Multiracial group of elementary students stand and sit along both sides of long table covered in newspapers. Each has a paper plate with dollops of paint on it, which they are using to paint a hexagon-shaped canvas.

A piece of construction paper turned into a card with the image of a globe drawn on one side by a child; the other side reads: "Miss Elizabeth, Miss Laura - You are the best science teacher" [sic].

Young students sitting on both sides of long table move small squares with graphics of different buildings on each around on a large map.

Two female instructors stand in front of a screen displaying images of different natural resources (e.g., water, trees). Students sit at long table looking on.

A selfie taken of a woman with four smiling children behind her.

Closeup view of colorful, hexagon-shaped artworks hung on a wall. Each features a picture of the student who made the artwork.

Two instructors stand in front of screen displaying information about hexagons with an image of bees on a honeycomb. Ten or more multiracial children sit along long table facing the screen.

Children and adults look at colorful, hexagon-shaped artworks hung on wall.

View of floor with students standing or kneeling around a collection of plates with animals drawn on them. Arrows are placed in between plates to shown relationships.

Multiracial group of 20+ children stand in front of wall with colorful hexagon-shaped artworks handing on it.

Woman (Laura Rinehimer) on left point to worksheet on table that is being worked on by young boy, holding a pencil

Several multiracial groups of elementary-aged students sort through small bins of birdseed and sort types of seeds on lid.

Two women (Laura Rinehimer, Elizabeth Hughes) stand in front of screen displaying images of the Blue Coal Corporation from the 1960s. Students sit at table facing the screen.

Woman (Laura Rinehimer) stands in front of group of students sitting at a long table, with a clam and snail puppets on her hands. Behind her is a screen displaying an illustration of a pond ecosystem.

Smiling young girl hold up a small white paper plate with a blue flower with green leaves drawn on it.

Female instructor (Laura Rinehimer) lays out white paper plates on ground in front of students with arrows in between to show relationships between the animals and plants drawn on the plates.

Young boy in striped shirt sits at long table drawing a black snake on a small white paper plate. A laminated sheet of different snakes is in front of him.

Three young boys sit at long table, some grabbing or using markers from tray; each has a sheet of different animals in front of him. A teacher looks on to their right

HANOVER AREA LEE PARK

Multicultural group of elementary students sit on both sides of long table covered with newspaper painting hexagon-shaped canvases

Young girl places pieces of paper on a painted, hexagon-shaped canvas.

Pairs of young students use their fingers to sort through small pans of birdseed. A worksheet is next to them.

Multicultural group of five smiling elementary-aged boys pose for picture while sitting at table.

Seven young students sit and stand around table with large map on it. They are moving around small, colorful tiles with pictures of buildings on them.

A woman stands in front of whiteboard pointing at a projection of artist Hannah Hoch and her artworks on it.

A woman, stands over a table, surrounded by elementary-aged children. On the table are paper plates with drawings on them and colorful arrows pointing in between them.

Elementary-aged students work on both sides of long table covered with newspaper. Scattered on top are glue sticks, scissors, and pages from magazines.

Two elementary-aged boys sit a table smiling. In front of each is a paper plate, markers, and a sheet of plants and insects.

Elementary-aged students stand and sit along both side of long table. The table is covered with newspaper. Containers of glue, brushes, photographs, and magazine clippings are scattered across it. Each student has a hexagon-shaped canvas in front of him/her.

Multicultural group of 10 third and fourth graders smiling, standing in front of exhibit of colorful hexagon artworks on wall

WILKES-BARRE AREA KISTLER

We’re happy to share our lesson plans with you. Although our focus is on anthracite mining in northeastern Pennsylvania, ecosystems and industry in your region could easily be substituted. Each lesson, with supporting resources and references, is available as a pdf below. Visit the Interdependence Hexagon Project’s website if you’re interested in participating in 2024. Other questions? Send an email to the program director, Elizabeth W. Hughes, EdD.