Art & Culture Day, formerly known as Art & Field Day— also formerly known as Earth Jam—is a WHHS tradition that spans back decades. The event was originally centered around Earth Day and celebrating all that Mother Nature has to offer. However, due to changes over the past couple of years, both the name and the celebration have taken on a whole new meaning.
“It didn’t really qualify to be called Earth Jam anymore,” Liz Lloyd, art teacher, said. “Even though that’s what everyone knows [it as], it’s not about Earth Day anymore because it’s not on Earth Day.”
Despite the name change, many of the day’s core traditions remain the same—the most notable being the annual chalk drawing competition.
“[For] chalk drawing, students form a team of four, they come up with a design and enter it,” Lloyd said. “This year we had around 27 to 30 different entries [for high school] and eight junior high entries… then staff votes on their [entries] digitally over a Google form, and then [final] judging is from alumni.”
Lloyd has been in charge of chalk drawing for the past seven years and is no stranger to the excitement and chaos that typically surrounds this celebration of the arts.
Likewise, Reis Golden, ‘28, has attended the event for the past four years, every year since he came to WHHS, but his participation this year has given him a unique perspective.
“Since I’m in the chalk [drawing] this year, I had a very different experience, but I’m definitely enjoying it,” Golden said. “Last year was also a lot of fun, and I can tell people are enjoying it too… I think it’s really great.”
Golden has participated in chalk drawing for two years and has grown more confident in his artistic abilities. This year, Golden and his teammates Evangeline Sucharew, ‘28, Lilian Stroh, ‘28, and Darcy Hughes, ‘28, won first place for their work.
“Basically [our design is] a spider,” Golden said. “The idea behind it is that people often consider spiders very scary and kind of creepy, but we kind of wanted to showcase [their] beauty. So not only do we have this spider, but it’s also surrounding a field of pretty flowers [and] the beautiful night sky.”
In a similar fashion, chalk drawing presents all students with an opportunity to showcase their creative side and allows for an escape from the worries of everyday school pressures
“Art is like humanity,” Golden said. “I think it’s so important to have people express their creative outlet because Walnut Hills is a very academic school, and that has its amazing perks, but there are a lot of creative souls that may not be as academically inclined that are still very smart with their talent and art… I just think it’s such a gr
eat day to help prop those students up.”
While the chalk drawing is always at the forefront of this event, at its core, Art & Culture Day is a chance for students and staff to come together and enjoy activities pertaining to their club’s message or central theme.
“[There’s been] a lot of student engagement,” Mishka Tibrewal, ‘27, said. “All the students are having fun playing games, [and] I think this is a great day… [There are] lots of different things for people to do.”
This year, the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEI&B) Council worked to incorporate students’ culture into the event. This included adding a cultural potluck and encouraging students to “wear their identity” to enter into a cultural clothing contest, the two largest factors leading to the switch from Art & Field Day to Art & Culture Day.
“Ms. Rayburn, who [is] in charge of DEI&B, [said] they were doing a cultural potluck after school, [and] asked if we could potentially think about retitling it,” Lloyd said. “It didn’t change the emphasis of anything; it was [still] a day to bring everyone together to kind of release some stress from testing, so I think the new title worked out.”
High school can be full of intense academic pressure and stress, and WHHS is no exception. Days like Art & Culture Day allow students to decompress and have fun, while also fostering a culturally diverse and enriching environment.
“The whole point of [Art & Culture Day] is to blend what we do on campus here,” Lloyd said. “It brings all these extracurriculars and all these elective-type options that we have from fine arts to clubs together to celebrate; it’s just a nice release day.”
No matter what name it falls under, the spirit of the event remains the same. From steel band to chalk drawing, it showcases all the creativity WHHS has to offer.
“It’s super fun, I love that it’s on the field, so people are able to go on the field, have fun, and then they’re able to also play different games with the different clubs that are available,” Tibrewal said. “I love how it’s super accessible, everything’s nearby and [there’s] a lot of different activities as well; I think it’s the best Earth Jam or Art & Culture Day so far.”