CHARLOTTE — Looking for ways to show off students’ work this school year, an Our Lady of the Assumption School teacher turned to digital platforms to host the school’s first ever Virtual Art Show.
Rachael Wilken, art and computer teacher at the Charlotte school, found very unique ways to display students’ artwork for their usual end-of-the-year show.
Wilken, who is finishing her fourth year teaching at OLA, has created an art show for each of the past three years.
“My very first year at OLA was my first year teaching. I was brand new, out of college, and I didn’t have anything planned to celebrate the kids,” she said. “The second year, I made a huge deal about showcasing their work throughout the year, and we had an art show with themed snacks. It was all rainbows and adorable. The second show, last year, was even bigger.”
This year, Wilken said, she had decided to show all of the students’ artwork throughout the year. She was collecting artwork, labeling the pieces and getting them ready to show when schools were closed to in-person classes during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I was thinking, ‘How can I share all this great work with the students’ families?’” Wilken said. “Since we weren’t allowed to use the school building, I reached out to a couple places looking for warehouse space to hang everything. I found The Refinery in Charlotte, and they let me use an unfinished space to hang everything and create the virtual art gallery.”
In one day, she set up all the students’ work, took pictures and video, and then took it all down.
Wilken made a video highlighting the students’ projects and posted it to YouTube. She also added photos of the artwork to Google photos and even uploaded images to Google Maps. From the streetview, it allows for an interactive experience – as though you are walking through the halls filled with the year’s creativity.
Wilken said she knew the students were excited to share their art with their families, and it’s hard for them to understand what’s happening and why the school year ended the way it did.
“As life-long learners, we know that with new challenges, we find new solutions,” she said. “It’s something little I thought would lift the students’ spirits.”
And lift spirits it did – and not just the students, either. Parents flooded Wilken with positive emails, rejoicing that they were able to see their children’s work and share it with family and friends who don’t live in the Charlotte area as well.
— Kimberly Bender, Online reporter
More online
See the virtual room experience: https://www.google.com/maps/contrib/103618954204633669820/
More photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/wYiQw2P3b4kXrsYa9
CHARLOTTE — Students in 12 Catholic schools across the diocese will receive financial aid from the “C. Philip Johnston-Aline W. Kaneer Scholarship Fund,” paying all of their tuition for the 2020-’21 academic year.
The fund was created by C. Philip Johnston with $4 million from his estate before his death in 2017.
Johnston, a Catholic convert, was born in Charlotte but lived all over the country before retiring in the Southeast. He attended Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Md., and earned a master’s degree from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in 1958. He worked in the entertainment industry, but when acting work became scarce, he took a “temporary job” working for
Conrad Hilton in a new credit card venture called Carte Blanche. He rose to success in the emerging credit card industry and, after reaching the position of senior vice president at a large regional bank in St. Louis, he left the credit card industry to lead a non-profit organization specializing in consumer credit counseling.
Students from all 19 Catholic schools in the diocese are eligible for scholarship awards from the fund, expected to total $110,000 this year.
Students receiving awards for this fall come from Bishop McGuinness High School in Kernersville; Charlotte Catholic High, Holy Trinity Middle and St. Patrick schools in Charlotte; St. Mark and
Christ the King High schools in Huntersville; Immaculate Heart of Mary School in High Point; Our Lady of Grace School in Greensboro; St. Leo and Our Lady of Mercy schools in Winston-Salem; Sacred Heart School in Salisbury; and St. Michael School in Gastonia.
The scholarship awarded to each student ranges from $3,000 to $14,000 depending on the tuition cost and the need. Each student can continue receiving assistance through the scholarship fund every year for the length of their academic career as long as they remain eligible.
“I first met with Mr. Johnston back in 1989. He made his decision to put this (scholarship) gift in his estate back then,” said Jim Kelley, diocesan director of development. “He never wavered from that commitment, even though he moved away from the diocese in his later years.”
Kelley noted he is finding that “more and more people across the diocese like Philip Johnston are remembering different ministries of the Church – such as Catholic schools and parishes, seminarian education, and Catholic Charities – and making plans in their wills and estates.”
To date, the diocese has received 27 gifts of $1 million or more from individuals. Two of those gifts, Johnston’s included, are of $4 million or more.
Learn more
Interested in establishing an endowment to benefit the Church in western North Carolina? Set up an endowment in the Diocese of Charlotte Foundation by leaving a bequest in a will, a beneficiary designation from a retirement plan, a gift of real estate or life insurance, cash or securities sufficient to set up an endowment, or a life income arrangement such as a trust or annuity. For details, contact Gina Rhodes at 704-370-3364 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
— SueAnn Howell, Senior reporter