Driving up to the front of the school, senior Hadley Hayes and her mom take out boxes of art supplies from their car and head into the elementary school, donating all of the supplies they gathered.
Hayes said she began her artistic journey when she was younger, beginning her passion for art at Kaiser Elementary in Oakland.
According to Oaklandside.org, Kaiser was shut down for over two years and has now been repurposed as an early learning center as of 2022.
Hayes said that while Kaiser did have art during her time there, it didn’t compare to the art that is offered in PUSD schools, where there’s an entire art classroom.
“We would have this little old woman carrying around a cart full of art supplies and we would have very few supplies to share,” Hayes said.
According to Oaklandside.org, Kaiser was shut down for over two years and has now been repurposed as an early learning center as of 2022.
As a way to give back to her community, Hayes returned to the Kaiser Early Learning Center and donated many supplies for the school’s art program.
“It had been in process for about a year. So I was reaching out to a lot of people and asking them, if they were able to, to donate art supplies,” Hayes said.
Hayes said that she met with the Early Learning Principal Alesia Eutsler to discuss the plans for donating and raising money for the Learning Center’s art program.
“She connected with me and said that she wanted to organize a donation of materials for other young children to use to spark their interest and enhance their creativity,” Eutsler said.
To begin the donation process, Eutsler said that Hayes created a survey for the teachers to take.
“She created the survey so that the teachers could have a voice in what materials might be suitable,” Eutsler said. “Because it’s not just an elementary school anymore—it’s an early childhood center—there are many different developmental levels.”
Hayes said that she spoke with many people she knew is her community, and urged them to contribute.
“I raised money by asking a lot of really kind people for art donations and they were able to help me out a lot,” Hayes said.
Hayes received both monetary and physical donations.
“I raised around $1,000 which went to buying new art supplies,” Hayes said.
Hayes said that after a Target trip to purchase all the art supplies, her room was full of crayons, markers, and paints which she and her mom then brought to the school.
In addition to the donation of art supplies, Hayes also set up a room dedicated to allowing teachers full access to the necessary supplies they need.
“It’s basically a room where all the teachers are able to go and take whatever supplies they need, whenever they need it,” Hayes said.
Eutsler said that Hayes created packets for the materials that helped keep everything organized.
“They were allocated for each teacher’s room and it allowed the teachers to make decisions about what they were going to utilize,” Eutsler said.
Hayes also spent the day with the kids at Kaiser, where she danced, listened to music, and helped the kids with the crafts they were completing.
“[The kids] were super sweet and I had a really fun time,” Hayes said. “I also got a full tour of the school and all of the classrooms during that day as well which was awesome.”
Eutsler said that Hayes and the kids made little beaded bracelets during their time together.
“It was just a sweet little touch and their bracelets said ‘I heart Kaiser,’” Eutsler said. “It was this little add on that nobody expected and everyone was delighted.”
Connecting to her contributions during the summer, the AP Art portfolio that Hayes plans to create this year in her AP Art class will encompass themes of childhood and aging.
“We were thinking about taking some photos of the kids from Kaiser Elementary, and if their parents allow it, using them as reference images,” Hayes said.
PHS Art teacher Gillian Bailey said that she believes the contributions that Hayes has given to the Kaiser Early Learning Center will allow the students to gain great art experience at such a young age.
“To see a need and to take action is a really fabulous quality to have,” Bailey said. “She didn’t do it for any other reason other than she just thought it would be good for the students, and I really admire that.”
