Elly Bachmann
Students at Allendale East Area School have taken part in creating painted turtle artwork in an effort to raise speeding awareness.
With help from Allendale East Area School teacher April Hague, her class of students have completed the turtle signage project after almost two years.
Ms Hague said speeding drivers has been a big issue through the town of Allendale East, and obeying the speed limit was not only safe practice for drivers, but also helped ensure the safety of students at the school.
The idea of using a form of art to raise awareness came from school principal Kylie Smith.
She then suggested it to Ms Hague, who pursued the idea further.
At the time Ms Hague was teaching a year five and six digital technologies class, who were looking at turtle tracking and how scientists follow the turtle movements to collect data about the species.
She said the students did some detailed drawings of the different turtle species during the class, which then sparkled an idea for her.
“I thought, ooh, turtles!” Ms Hague said.
“Those artworks, they did look really amazing, and I thought, well turtles travel slowly…maybe we can use that idea in our sign and draw attention.
“So we got a heap of the kids drawings of the turtles, and our tech studies teacher Scott Hamilton cut them out of marine ply so it’s really sturdy and weatherproof on the laser cutter.”
The project was a good learning opportunity for students, focusing on both art and ways of raising awareness to important matters.
“I think it’s good because they can see the relevance of art to lots of different aspects of life,” Ms Hague said.
Ms Hague’s students said they enjoyed painting the turtles and taking part in the project.
If there were to be future awareness projects, student Tanner Jones said he would like to be involved in one about pollution.
