Hubbard High School art teacher Josh MacMillan has been awarded a $500 grant from the Trumbull Retired Teachers Association (TRTA) for his efforts to support innovative activities in his classroom and beyond.
TRTA president Marilyn Stanton, grant chairs Cindy Harris and Diana Bauman, and grant committee member Sue Datish surprised MacMillan with the grant, which will allow him to print nearly 300 copies of a coloring book that his art students recently illustrated.
The goal of the coloring book is to build upon the relationship between the elementary and high school art programs. Students in the high school art 2, 3 and 4 courses designed the 26 page coloring book. The artwork within the book was based on an assignment that required students to select a known piece of art and incorporate an animal into the piece. Copies of the coloring book will be given to the 30 high school students who helped to illustrate it, as well as to 265 students who make up the third and fourth grades.

“Through this grant-funded project, Hubbard Schools is able to help bridge the art curriculum in the elementary grades to the high school programs by introducing secondary curriculum to third and fourth grade students as they progress into middle school art,” said Josh MacMillan. “This connection will give our young students the hope that their interest in art will continue throughout their school career as well as encourage them to take art related course work when they arrive in high school.”
This is the second year of the TRTA grant program, which is open to all academic disciplines, grade levels and building activities. This summer, MacMillan will be recognized at a TRTA meeting and be able to showcase his grant-funded project.
