Ceramics students have been assigned the annual “Ceramic Cakes” project in which they are to honor a time in history or theme by creating a ceramic cake.

Students can choose any time in history for their project. The students are required to research the time, place and event to create a ceramic cake that represents that particular time. The time and place can be real or historical.

Ceramics teacher Susan Simonds said that the event for the cakes is up to each group, and that the cake is designed for “royalty.”

“Royalty is a loose term,” Simonds said. “There can be royalty in music, athletics; generally it’s for whom we consider elite.”

There are requirements for each cake: it must have at least 2 layers and a platter that enhances the cake. The cake must be 12 inches tall and the story must have cited references.

Simonds said that she does not give extra credit because she find that those who do extra credit are not the ones who need it.

Senior ceramics student Theo Williamson said “Students are graded by their peers while they give a presentation on what their cake is about.”

Simonds said that as a group project, it makes the quality of the the work go up because all [the students] are getting critiqued in front of the class.

Williamson said, “I think Mrs. Simonds chose this project because she wanted us to think about the things we admire in life.”

Williamson said they decided to honor Harvey Milk and LGBT equal rights. He let his group members decide what they wanted to do and he just made the cake.

Senior ceramics student Julia Pitner said, “My group and I chose to make a cake for North West, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s daughter, honestly because we wanted to do something funny.”

Pitner said they could have done something more practical for a person or more inspirational, but what is the fun in that; creating a joke cake was just more interesting.

“I feel that Mrs. Simonds chose this project so that we could all step out of the box,” said Pitner. “Usually we work on our own pieces, but in this project we were able to work with partners and collaborate to make something bigger.”

Simonds chose this assignment because it requires students to do art and history research also incorporating a creative story. The open ended assignments force students to think for themselves and work together to create a unified work of art.

“This project is important because it allows the class to see what each group finds important in life,” said Williamson.

Pitner said that this project is important to her because she got to work with her friends to create something that they will remember for a long time and have fun doing it.

“Who could ever forget a cake for such an important person?” Pitner said.