Students from the Swift Current Comprehensive High School lined the sidewalk in front of the school yesterday for the second annual Chalk the Walk event. 

Mandy Herrick, the art teacher at SCCHS, said that the initial idea for the event was thought of during the height of the pandemic. 

“During COVID, when we got shut down, we came out here (in front of the school) and lettered ‘stay strong,’ ‘we can do it,’ and things like that, which was a really fun experience for the art class at the time,” she elaborated. Then last year, when I came back from maternity leave, we turned it into Chalk the Walk.” 

The students began their artwork at 9:00 a.m. yesterday and worked throughout the school day. 

“Each did their own little art piece, so, they practiced ahead of time,” she explained. They have a proposal and then they put down their work and they get signed up from classes for the whole day.” 

Grade 12 student, Justice MacDonald, explained that her artwork was inspired by the popular movie, The Hunger Games. 

“It's the second movie and it's when Katniss walks in and sees what Peeta drew,” she stated. “I just thought the art was really pretty and I wanted to see how it would look, because when you look at it from the movie, you only see a little bit of it. I wanted to lay it out and see how it would actually look.” 

All of the students that participated were enrolled in art at SCCHS either this semester, or last semester. 

“Artists don't necessarily get to perform very often and so for lots of them, they've never really got to put their art out there and really public way,” Herrick added. “So, I think it's an opportunity for them, also, I see them growing in their independence so well through the event versus being in a classroom.  

The level of pride that they have and also the staff and the students having a chance to support the artists and to sort of shower them with compliments all day, it's good vibes for everyone, I think.”