Ridgefield art and English students write, illustrate book

Ridgefield — Illustration and language arts students at Ridgefield High School teamed up for a cross-curriculum assignment and created a book based on the American Dream. The language arts students read “Of Mice and Men” and this year’s State of the Union by President Barack Obama. They then wrote essays for National Public Radio’s “This I Believe” contest, which encourages high school students to explore their own belief systems. The students read their essays to each other, and classmates had to write key words or phrases on large butcher paper. The art students read the essays and looked at the brainstormed words on butcher paper, and discussed how to illustrate those concepts. The book produced featured more than 90 essays and illustrations. The project was led by Jill Uhacz, language arts teacher, and Tamara Hoodenpyl, illustrations teacher.