FORT WAYNE – Holland Elementary School is making plans for a memorial to honor Aliahna Lemmon, who was killed shortly before Christmas.Allison Perry, 12, lay as still as a mummy Wednesday as her friend, Nicole LaRue, covered Perry’s face with strips of papier-mâché.
“Do you think you need more?” LaRue asked Perry, who answered with silence. The papier-mâché was hardening, which made it tough to speak.
Last Wednesday was mask-making day at Create-A-Camp, a drama and arts camp for kids in third through ninth grade. The one-week camp, now about 12 years old, gives kids the chance to write stories, perform plays and design set backdrops. The papier-mâché masks are worn in the beginning of the camp’s final showcase, during which students perform a play they’ve written earlier in the week.
The camp, founded by Jeanne Imler, costs $165 a week and is meant to give kids a chance to let their creative juices flow.
“I just love to see them find that joy in cooperating and co-creating,” Imler said. “To me, those skills are just not skills of the artist but of living on this planet. This is a place where we can learn how to share and get along and make beautiful things happen.”
After about 15 minutes of lying still, Perry peeled off her mask. For some this was a painful process: hairs were pulled and eyebrows tugged. But for Perry, who could now speak, it was painless.
“It felt really gooey and it felt very slick,” she said of the papier-mâché. “And when it started to harden it felt really different.”
Scholarships
•Annette Hilger received a $1,000 Chick-fil-A scholarship
•Philip Wegmann was awarded a $2,000 National Rifle Association scholarship
