‘Through Our Eyes’ pairs PALS with area students

STEUBENVILLE -- Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month capped off with local schoolchildren and members of the PALS Chrysalis Health of Steubenville painting pictures of kindness and inclusion.

Alex "Cookie" West, community facilitator for the Jefferson County Board of Developmental Disabilities, said the annual "Through Our Eyes" campaign in March addressed what it is like to live with a disability in an effort to foster understanding.

Pupils in the Indian Creek Local and Steubenville City school districts participated in events throughout the month and included those at Hills Elementary, Cross Creek Elementary, East Garfield Elementary, Wells Academy, McKinley STEM Academy, Pugliese West Elementary and Harding Middle Schools.

One activity paired students from Hills, Wells Academy and Harding Middle with clients of PALS on an art project where the children designed pictures for the adults to color, paint or add other unique touches. Their renderings were exhibited at the Main Branch of the Public Library of Steubenville and Jefferson County and judged by local educators and community members, but residents also had a chance to cast a virtual vote on March 29-31 on the JCBDD Facebook page.

There were three divisions for elementary school (grades three through four), junior middle school (grades five and six) and middle school (grades seven and eight), and each division received first-place honors with one overall Community Choice winner. Awards recently were announced, and honorees included Wells Academy, third- and fourth-grade winners and overall judges' pick; Harding Middle fifth and sixth grades, junior middle school winners; Harding seventh and eighth grades, middle school winners; and Hills Elementary, fourth-graders, Community Choice.

But West said the real reward was having the children and individuals collaborating for a good cause.

"The kids were phenomenal working with their PALS teammates. Overall, they were very creative and took it very seriously," West added. "You can have an expectation of how the project would turn out, but I was blown away seeing the details and opportunities they had to brainstorm ideas and that their PALS teammates were able to bring forth. I'm also excited others were able to enjoy seeing what they created. These students worked with someone with different abilities and did it organically. The art project stimulated a greater conversation for us to have beyond March."

The art project was a wonderful opportunity, she added, for expression and for more people to have a conversation without words.

Jamey Shannon, art coordinator for PALS Chrysalis Health, collaborated with the school districts and said about 10 clients traveled to the schools to work with the students.

"The kids and clients were sitting together and collaborating on ideas of what to paint, and the kids drew pictures and we painted them."

She said the adults enjoyed their experience and developed a real connection with their young counterparts.

"My clients loved it and some were just excited to go to the schools," Shannon added. "I really think they enjoyed working with the teachers and students."

She hoped to continue the activity in the future.

Meanwhile, West said several schools also conducted a simulation day on March 16 to better understand what it is like to live with blindness, deafness, mobility issues and more. Participants selected an activity and documented their experience.

"Many of the local elementary schools had simulation days, and I enjoyed seeing how Pugliese West third- and fourth-grade classes set up the simulation activities in the gym and worked with the second-graders while they participated in simulations," she said, noting she also read a book and spoke with the children while other sites such as East Garfield, McKinley STEM, Hills and CCE held their own events.

"The schools did a great job organizing and talking about being aware of people who are not less able but differently able," she noted. "If we can get the next generation -- the Now Generation -- to understand we all have different abilities, we can have opportunities to learn and grow. No community is a thriving community if all of its citizens are not included."

The "Through Our Eyes" campaign was initiated in 2020 when COVID-19 shelved community activities. Prior to that, county high school students were invited to the School of Bright Promise to complete a series of tasks which mimicked various disabilities, but the pandemic altered plans and West then distributed packets of activities for the students to complete within their own schools.