Students create portraits of Rwandan children as part of new art project (From St Albans & Harpenden Review)

Students create portraits of Rwandan children as part of new art project

2:00pm Sunday 10th February 2013 in News By Eden de Souza

Pupils at a school in St Albans have painted portraits of orphaned children in Rwanda as part of a new art programme.

A group of six Year 13 pupils from Sandringham School created the pictures from photos as part of The Memory Project which they began in October last year.

The students’ creations have now been sent back to the children as keepsake presents.

Eve Hellowell, Bethany Nelson, Holly Ringland, Florence Yexley, Holly Ringland and Nicole Stevens, who are all aged 16 and 18, took part in the project.

Nicole Stevens aged 18, said: “Our whole class was enthusiastic about the project.

“We had never heard of it before and were touched by the story our teacher had told us about the children.”

The students organised a cake sale to raise money to pay the participation fee, which covers the costs of sending the portraits back to Rwanda.

Headteacher Alan Gray praised the efforts of the sixth form students and the “fantastic” job they had done in producing the final portraits

He said: “The project looked very exciting and different so we were keen to be involved.

“We hope to be involved in the scheme every year.”