By Aditi Patil
Staff Writer

Recently, the National Art Honors Society participated in a charitable organization called The Memory Project.

The Memory Project is an international program in which students from schools in the US, Canada, and England draw portraits of children who are underprivileged or living in unfortunate circumstances. The children WA drew pictures for were living in an orphanage in Indonesia.

The Memory Project is run by a man named Ben Schumaker. While on a trip to Guatemala, Schumaker met a man who had grown up in an orphanage. The man explained to Schumaker how he had nothing to remember his childhood by. This inspired Schumaker to start the Memory Project.

“I had always enjoyed doing portraits in high school, so I thought it could be pretty powerful to get art students involved in making portraits for the kids,” said Schumaker.

The WA students received pictures of kids from around the world who have been orphaned, neglected, or disadvantaged. Then they drew or painted the child’s portrait and sent it back to the child for them to keep. Many students from WA participated in the project this year.

The students who drew the portraits had to be at an advanced skill level. The AP students couldn’t do it since all their work was going to a portfolio. Two years ago, Pobuck had the honors kids do it, and this year the NAHS was a perfect fit. In total, the Memory Project has created more than 30,000 portraits from schools in the US, Canada, and England.

Pobuck first heard of the Memory Project from a CNN special she was watching four years ago. Immediately, she was inspired by the idea.  Every year, the National Art Honors Society does something for charity, and this year it was the Memory Project.

Most of the disadvantaged children are left with almost nothing to call their own. This means not only do they have no possessions, most of the time they have no family.

“They are displaced either because of economic issues, war, or family hardships,” said Pobuck.

This highlights the meaning of the Memory Project. The self portrait may not seem like a big deal for children living in the US, since the average child has a fair amount of possessions. But to kids who have literally nothing, a portrait of themselves is a personalized memory that they will likely cherish forever.

Kids of all ages receive the portraits. Each child has their individual reaction. Teenagers are described as taking their portraits and opening them in private places. On the other hand, the younger kids are described as opening their portraits proudly and showing them off to everybody.

Usually the students get a thank you letter from the kids. But this year, Schumaker’s parents were in Indonesia and the students made a video. They were dancing, singing songs, and saying thank you.

“The children were so excited and appreciative. Especially this one little girl who was dancing,” said Pobuck.

“Now the whole thing keeps going thanks to teachers like Mrs. Pobuk who help their students participate.  I’d like to thank her and the students at Westford Academy for having such a valuable hand in the effort,” said Schumaker.

For more information, visit www.TheMemoryProject.org