Hundreds of students team up

The shape of an elk’s head was formed on Crescent Elk Middle School’s field Thursday with the help of 600 students and school staff.

It was the third “sky art” project the school has done with artist Daniel Dancer.

Sky art brings a group of people together to form a shape that’s visible from above.

Students and adults at the school made an elk’s head with a circle around with four colors: red, yellow, blue and white, which represent the four directions to some American Indian tribes. A crescent can be found in one of the elk’s antler, connecting the two parts of the school’s name.

“It turned out just gorgeous,” Dancer said.

In doing this project, students have been learning about local history and why elk are so important to the area.

“We’re trying to connect with our history as Crescent Elk School,” said science teacher Joe Gillespie.

Students have been learning about local tribal culture and how Indians used natural resources. The Yurok and Tolowa people used elk in many ways: meat for food, hide for clothing and horns for tools, he said.

“We found that the elk was very central to their culture,” Gillespie said. “It is Native American Month. With this, we’re trying to celebrate our Native American population, our student population at Crescent Elk and our local culture.”

For more about Dancer and sky art, visit artforthesky.com.