Sevier middle school students honor veterans through America 250 mural

MONROE, Sevier County — Sevier County middle schoolers hope to bring the community together through a mural they designed at a local park to honor veterans and commemorate the country's 250th anniversary.

Payton Ashby, a U.S. history teacher at South Sevier Middle School in Monroe, is passionate about American history and government. That passion drives her to help students become informed, engaged and productive members of society who actively participate in civic life and work to create the changes they wish to see in the world.

"I feel like our students are struggling to connect their day-to-day lives with our country and its history, and why it's so important, so there's a disconnection between current events. Because they don't understand our past and why it's important, it's hard for them to understand what's going on currently," Ashby said.

To create more opportunities for her students, she applied for a Teaching America 250 Award through the Jack Miller Center. The program provides a $5,000 grant to one teacher in each state to carry out a community project at the school to study and celebrate the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

Ashby received the Utah grant for a student-designed community mural that portrays "how the Declaration's story and values continue through lived experience and community engagement."

"By doing this, it helped us dive deeper into the Declaration of Independence, why our country was founded in the first place and kind of bring about that passion for our country and that spirit of nationalism," Ashby said.

Over the past few months, she had students apply to be on the mural committee to ensure those participating felt a desire to learn more and to make more of a connection "because this is something that is going to be in the community for a long time, and so I want them to take some pride in it," Ashby said.

As part of the project, the 21 students traveled up to Salt Lake City and met with Gov. Spencer Cox. Ashby said the governor praised the children for their initiative in engaging with the community and that being involved in local civic life will continue to impact their lives and communities for the better.

The youth worked with a local muralist who guided them in the design while still letting the kids have ownership of the process. The students went through several redesigns before settling on their final American Flag design featuring silhouettes of soldiers raising the flag, a reference to the Iwo Jima Monument and fighter jets flying.

"The (focus of the mural) kept coming back to how much we really appreciate our veterans and our current service members and everything that they go through, current sacrifices and the ultimate sacrifice at times of losing their lives to help protect this country and give us the life that we have today," Ashby said.

On Friday, the class held a public unveiling of the mural at Lion's Park, joined by city and county leaders and local veterans. The students made a dedication statement, read excerpts from the Declaration of Independence, and talked about their experience working on the mural before dropping the curtain to reveal the completed artwork.

Hadley Bagley, a seventh grader on the mural committee, participated in an art contest at the Richfield community pool a few years ago, where she got to paint a wall. She thought it would be cool to be a part of this mural project, so she could learn more about the country.

"My appreciation for America and my country has really grown throughout this as I've really taken the time to think about," she said.

Eighth grader Lynzie Hutchings said she was excited to be on the mural committee so she could celebrate the anniversary and help bring the town together through a public artwork. She loved getting to see the ideas of all her peers come together into one design.

"I appreciate that we dedicated it to the local veterans because that shows a lot of respect and civic virtue and I appreciate being in the mural committee and seeing how awesome this is," Lynzie said.

Both students said they loved getting to meet the governor and be recognized for their work. Lynzie said it felt like a "really American" experience getting to visit the Capitol, learn about the country's history and commemorate the nation's milestone.

"Government work is hard, but it is work worth doing," Ashby said.

Though the process was stressful at times, trying to get everything organized, it was also so worthwhile, Ashby said.

"I see how much the kids have gotten into it and that's what it's all about — trying to make sure our future generation feels pride in our community and wants to take care of it and wants to see a community that is stronger and more united than before," she said.

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