The Tzu Chi Elementary School invites all students to take
the visual arts class, which aims to enhance students'
intellectual and emotional development. Students are
encouraged to expand their creativity by working with
different art techniques and materials and to express
their observation of and interaction with their
surrounding environment.
Because the Tzu Chi Foundation devoted all its
attention and resources to rebuilding 50 schools toppled
by the September 21, 1999, earthquake, the construction of
its own elementary school was postponed. Therefore, the
students who enrolled in 2000 had to use the facilities of
Tzu Chi  University and later Tzu Chi High School. Since
the high school was near the site of the elementary
school, students could personally witness the birth of the
school. Every day was full of surprises--one day the steel
frame was suddenly erected, and only a short while later
the walls were put up!
Through physical participation and painting, the
students recorded the history of the school and stored the
memories in their minds.
When the school year commenced, the opening ceremony
was held in front of the  construction site. There the
students gave their blessings and expressed their hopes
for the future campus. To know more about how the school
was designed, teachers and students took part in the
presentation of the construction plan and expressed their
gratitude to the architectural team. Besides observing the
on-going construction, they even laid interlocking paving
bricks and turf in the campus along with Tzu Chi
volunteers. When the construction was finished, they moved
into the new classrooms with help from students of Tzu Chi
University, the College of Technology, and the high
school.
Various painting activities were held for all students
to depict the beauty of the campus, to record each step of
the construction, and to re-experience the wonder of  the
campus from different perspectives. All the visual
artworks made by the students were vibrant with life. In
order to further the students' talent and creativity,
the campus provided plenty of space to display their
works. Moreover in the learning process, the students
became comfortable with expressing their feelings and
creativity and opened their hearts to communicate with
people and appreciate others' work. Ultimately, the
visual arts class realized the aims of this school--to
create a happy environment and to provide an appropriate
education based on the aptitude of each individual.
In the sidebars on the following pages, a series of
paintings by Tzu Chi Elementary School students is
presented. Through their paintings, one gets to see the
school through children's perspectives and to
re-experience the beauty of the campus.
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