La Crosse Project Showcases Students’ Take On Compassion

This year, 6,000 students in the La Crosse area shared their thoughts on compassion, through paintings, drawings, and collages. Teachers hoped the La Crosse Compassion Project would get students to think more about kindness and empathy.

Third grader Denisha Randolph says that before she learned the meaning of “compassion” at school this year, she didn’t know what to do when she saw her classmates bullied. Now, Randolph says, she has the confidence to stand up to bullies.

“It’s very safe in our school now, because people aren’t bullying and pushing people,” Randolph said. “It’s also safe because people aren’t being tattletales and people are standing up for other people, telling the bully to stop bullying.”

Randolph is one of the 6,000 students that participated in the La Crosse Compassion Project. Each student drew their interpretation of compassion on a 6 in. x 6 in. canvas. With pencils and markers, Randolph drew people helping each other.

The Compassion Project is much more than a district-wide student art project. The theme of compassion was incorporated into conversations inside and outside of the art room.

Steve Michaels is the La Crosse School District’s Fine Arts Supervisor and an elementary school principal. He says it was beneficial to focus on something more than grades and achievement goals.

“This project really allowed us all to come back, as a district, and say, ‘We are playing a major role in shaping character education and helping our students discover who they are and what they believe in,’” Michaels said. “What are good things to be doing as citizens?”

Michaels says the next step is figuring out how to incorporate the Compassion Project into the greater community.

The art exhibit is on display at the Pump House in La Crosse through the end of June.