By NEAL WAGNER / City Editor

For weeks, Andrew White, a 12-year-old student at the Thompson Sixth Grade Center, had seen news footage, headlines and photos depicting the devastation left in the wake of the state’s April 27 tornado outbreak.

He had read accounts of volunteer workers and first responders discovering hundreds of casualties after the storms, but the tragedy hit him the hardest as he began to draw small circles on an art project assigned to him by Sixth Grade Center art teacher Michelle McGraw.

“I really just wanted to show that those people are not forgotten,” White said.

After drawing a large red cross in the middle of his art project, White researched the number of deaths caused by the powerful storm front, and began sketching circles on the page representing each person who died in the outbreak. He then shaded each circle a different color to represent the wide range of demographics affected by the storm.

“The day I did the project, they had reported 356 deaths,” White said. “I colored the circles to show that the tornado didn’t just hit one race or age group. It affected all different age groups and races.”

White’s art project was one of nearly 100 created in McGraw’s classroom. After the storm devastated several parts of the state, McGraw said she began thinking of a way to give the students a realistic view of the tornadoes’ effects while also giving the students time to reflect on the tragedy.

“They are at that age where they start to think about things in real life, I guess you could say,” McGraw said. “It helped them to understand and process the images they were seeing on TV as a real-life event.”

Through the project, McGraw tasked the students to focus on either their feelings or emotions about the storm’s effects, the damage caused by the tornadoes or the importance technology played in preparing for and dealing with the aftermath of the disaster.

The students then picked one of the topics and created a flat piece of artwork describing their feelings or thoughts on the matter.

When the students were done, they had created a wide range of art pieces reflecting many different views of the event.

“One student created a Time magazine cover, one student made a drawing of her sibling in the closet during the storm and another made a self portrait,” McGraw said. “Another student made a collage using storm debris she found in her yard.

“Some students didn’t really know they felt so emotional about it until they started working on the project and thinking about it,” McGraw added.

After seeing the amount of work the students put into the projects, McGraw began thinking of ways to use the artwork to benefit the storm victims. After working with the Alabaster Arts Council and the Alabaster Library, McGraw decided to display several student projects in the library.

“We definitely wanted the projects to help the storm victims in some way,” McGraw said. “We will put a jar on the front library counter and say ‘If you liked the student’s artwork, please donate.’ Everything we collect will go to the Red Cross.”