Forest Hills — It grabs your attention almost immediately, the hand reaching out from a cracked screen to pull you back in with it.
“It represents addiction to the screen, and how when you just hover over it, it pulls you in,” said senior Brynley Smith.
Brynley created the diorama with classmate and senior Melanie Medina-Duque. The project was part of a senior English class project, Cabinets of Curiosity.
Teacher Anne Keller said the project was designed to showcase the student’s future goals, what the 21st century represents and how people 100 years from now might view Generation Z.
To prepare, the students explored what an artifact is by visiting the Grand Rapids Public Museum. At the museum, they looked at exhibits and artifacts and discussed with curators what items the museum keeps and why, Keller said. The students also visited the Downtown Market to learn about sustainability.
Each created a diorama, or “cabinet of curiosity,” that reflects themselves and their personal goal or goals for the future. They also worked together to create a cabinet that highlighted an issue or significant event of the 21st century.
The Political Climate
Seniors Connor DiLorenzo and Orion Roskam’s cabinet focused on the recent election, with half the box red with an elephant, a symbol of the Republican party; and the other half blue with a donkey, a symbol of the Democratic party. Slogans from each party surrounded the symbols, with a campaign sign on either side featuring the most popular sayings. In the middle of the cabinet was an “I voted” sticker.
“We wanted to show the division of the political parties and the hostile ways of communication and the use of words,” Connor explained. “We also felt it was important to include the ‘I voted’ sticker, because for many of us, this was the first major election we were able to vote in.”
Connor said he hoped a hundred years from now the political divisions would not be so wide, and that there are more political parties to help open conversations.
Trends & Social Media
Just a couple of cabinets away was one filled with familiar social media logos.
“We wanted to represent how we live by trends, and how we are very susceptible to trends because we follow people on social media that influence what we buy,” said senior Paige Jacobs, who worked on that cabinet with Cayden McNamar, Madison Hushak and Kinzi Tilton.
Paige pointed out discarded shopping bags in the bottom corner and a clothing rack with miniature T-shirts as she talked about how her generation over-consumes as a result of fast fashion: clothes that are produced quickly and cheaply.
“People will spend $100 and get almost a whole new wardrobe,” Paige said. “The clothes don’t last long and usually start to show wear after a few washes. Also, the trends constantly keep changing, so what you have may be out of style within a few weeks.
“Our idea was to be your own best self rather than follow these microtrends that will go away in a couple of weeks.”
The project has made Paige more aware of her own buying habits, she said, adding that she now looks for better quality items that will last longer.
Environmental Impacts & COVID
Perhaps one of the biggest impacts on the current generation has been the COVID pandemic, which was why seniors Amna Makic and Makena Smith said they featured it in their cabinet that contained plastic gloves, face masks and hand sanitizer.
“It is all scattered in there because we wanted to show how we really dealt with it,” Amna said. “It was chaotic. We were all over the place.”
The cabinet also included a cell phone as a symbol of how isolated people felt, when their only connection to the world was through their electronics, Amna explained.
The environment was reflected in several of the individual cabinets. The glitter background of Paige’s cabinet was marred by black streaks to symbolize oil spills that impact the environment, she said, adding that she has passion for preventing those spills along with supporting women’s rights. Around the edge of the box was a green ribbon, representing mental health awareness, Paige said.
Kinzi, a volleyball player since fifth grade, had a volleyball net to represent her love of the sport. She pointed out that woven into the net was a turtle, which she said symbolizes damage to ocean life.
Read more from Forest Hills:
• No cellphones in class? It’s a good thing, student and principal say
• State of the Student tackles four big topics
