On January 17, South High School students, faculty, administration and distinguished guests joined together with artists and board members from Art to Change the World, Compassionate Arts in Action and Project for Peace and Justice to celebrate the installation of the South High Peace Post.

Created in a “Safety and Justice” workshop organized for the ACW “See.Say.DO” exhibition in October of 2018, the peace post project was a collaboration between South High students of color and artists Kira Corser, Barbara Bridges, Denny Sponsler and Jill Waterhouse. 

The essence of the project was to create an art piece which reflected their vision for peace, justice and safety as developed in a “Compassionate Conversation” with Officer Adam Chard, School Resource Officer for South High, and facilitated by artist FE Love (via video from California). Compassionate Conversations were designed by Compassionate Arts in Action to create a safe space for students of color and police officers to dialogue in a non-threatening environment to create greater understanding and empathy.  

Using that conversation, California artist Kira Corser artfully drew out of the students the key images and texts for the post and began to apply them. Some of the final designs and text, as well as the finish painting, were completed by the lead artists in the collaboration (due to the time limits of the workshop.) From December-January, local lead artists Denny Sponsler and Jill Waterhouse then created the ceramic “dove” base and wood “flame” top for the peace post’s permanent installation at South High.

In addition to the creation of the peace post, the students worked with FE Love, Kira Corser and Barbara Bridges, with input from Denny Sponsler and Jill Waterhouse, to create an ACW Youth Council. From that effort, a student essay competition emerged which engaged the students to write about safety, justice and “respectability politics” - from a personal perspective. The essays were juried by Assistant Principal Mercedes Walker, Officer Adam Chard, FE Love, Kira Corser and Herman Milligan Jr. of the Givens Foundation for African American Literature.The final essays of the winners, 1st Place - Carlos Ortiz, 2nd Place - Tiger Worku and Honorable Mention - Adriana Carreno, can be viewed on the ACW website, arttochangetheworld.org.

It was decided that the winners of the essay competition and the finished peace post should be celebrated publicly. So, Jill Waterhouse worked with Vice Principal Isabel Rodriguez and the students to create a ceremony during which the essay winners would read their pieces and the peace post would be revealed to the student body and the public for the first time.

“Lighting the Torch for the Compassionate Dream” was the result of this combined effort. Over 100 students, faculty and administration, including Superintendent of Schools Ed Graff, witnessed the powerful and moving performances of the three winning student essayists and were amazed and delighted by the finished peace post. Isabel Rodriguez hosted the event and collaborators, Jill Waterhouse, FE Love, Herman Milligan Jr. and beloved former South High art teacher, Denny Sponsler, were guest speakers. 

In addition, City Council Vice President, Andrea Jenkins, who had been invited but was unable to attend, sent an empowering message to the students which ended with this challenge: “Many people, many young people like yourselves, have been and continue to be engaged in the struggle for equality, fairness, and justice all around the world. So I encourage you to continue to stand strong in the face of adversity, to be intersectional in your approach, and to be fearless in your advocacy. Your work matters, your voice matters, and your lives matter.”

Funding for the Compassionate Arts “Safety and Justice” workshop, the “Posts for Peace” art project and the “Lighting the Torch for the Compassionate Dream” ceremony was provided in part by the Givens Foundation, The Minnesota Humanities Council, Officer Chard, Denny Sponsler and Barbara Bridges. These activities were also made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund. Support was also provided by Target.

Additional in-kind documentation was provided by two students of South High’s photography instructor, Corbin Doty, as well as Layl McDill and Elliot McDill.

ACW thanks the following people for helping the ACW collective meet their mission.

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