St. Helena teacher uses MLK Jr. art to help kids fix 'grown-up' problem of violence

In 2015, 17 lives were lost to violence in Beaufort County.

Many of those occurred north of the Broad River.

"That's a grown-up problem," said Margaret Thomas, glancing at her classroom of young students hard at work, said Thursday. "But they are the ones that will fix it."

For the past 10 years, Thomas, an art teacher at St. Helena Elementary School, has overseen a project in her classroom that has grown to impact thousands of area students and residents.

AN ANNUAL TRADITION

The hallway outside her classroom is decorated with dozens of brown paper bags, each artfully designed by her students to celebrate the messages of Martin Luther King Jr.

Some feature a portrait of MLK.

Others touch on the concepts of non-violence, tolerance and equality.

"We do it for Martin Luther King Day," Jameiria Davis Rogers, 8, explained quietly as she puts the final touches on her design.

Jameiria, like many of her classmates, has participated in the project each year she has been at the school.

This year, she focused on the man himself.

"I do it different (each year)," she said. "Last year, I did the school with whites going in the school."

PARTNERING WITH PUBLIX

Each year, between 400 and 500 students at the predominately African-American school design a bag.

And for the past several years, the Lady's Island Publix -- who donates the bags -- distributes the finished pieces of art to customers around MLK Day.

This year, Thomas said, the bags would be dropped off at Publix on Sunday so they could be given out on Monday's holiday.

Thomas doesn't take credit for the idea. She said she must have read about it somewhere on the Internet. But she has been the driving force behind the project at the school.

"I just felt very strongly," she said. "I focus a lot on conflict resolution."

She said she initially didn't received much feedback from the community.

But that changed in 2015 when a University of South Carolina-Beaufort professor was so touched when she realized her grocery bag came from a student that she reached out to Thomas and her class to personally thank them.

IMPACTING STUDENTS

As the students grow, their world view grows with them.

One older student this year designed a bag focused on stopping police brutality.

Jason Washington Jr. was one of the first students to participate in the project when Thomas arrived at the school. Washington now works at the school as a custodian and recently stopped by the classroom to ask if his former teacher remembered him.

"It's good for them," he said of the art project. "It can help them."

On the chalkboard are questions to prompt the students' work: "How can I be a change maker? What is my dream? If MLK Jr. was alive today, what would he want to change?"

"I'm the art teacher," Thomas said, "but I'm really here to get them to think."

Want to get a bag?

Bags enhanced with MLK themes by students of art teacher Margaret Thomas will be available at Publix on Jan. 18.

61 Ladys Island Dr

Beaufort, SC

Store hours: 7 a.m. - 10 p.m.

Follow Engagement Editor Graham Cawthon on Twitter at twitter.com/GrahamCawthon or email him at gcawthon@islandpacket.com.

This story was originally published January 15, 2016 at 12:38 PM with the headline "St. Helena teacher uses MLK Jr. art to help kids fix 'grown-up' problem of violence."