Doors unlock worlds of adventure, serve as portals of learning and provide great surprises behind them.

This particular door at room 102 in Eden Elementary School is about celebrations. Celebrating the lives that make up the door and celebrating the key to everything—-education.

Inspired by a New Jersey teacher’s Instagram post, Fourth Grade Eden Elementary School teacher Sunni Wyatt shared the post with her students. Two students who were especially inspired by what they saw were Kennady Boyd and Mya Swain. Boyd and Swain turned Miss Wyatt’s door into an artistic creation honoring Black History Month.

“My favorite person on her dress is Addie Mae Collins,” Boyd shared. “We read about her and watched the movie ‘The Watsons Go to Birmingham’.”

Moved by Addie Mae Collins’ story, Boyd, like many others, has a hard time understanding why Addie Mae was attacked. Addie Mae was killed in the 16^th Street Baptist Church bombing on Sept. 15, 1963. She was 14 years old.

“She didn’t do anything. She was just going to church,” Boyd added. She feels a connection to Collins because she is a young girl, too.

Swain chose Bessie Coleman. Coleman was the first African American woman to earn her international pilot’s license in 1921.

“I was her for the wax museum in second grade,” Swain said. Now in fourth grade, Coleman’s courageousness to follow her dreams has emboldened Swain to strive for great achievements in life like Coleman did.

Over the period of two weeks, in their “spare” time, these young ladies created a conversation starter for the student body at Eden Elementary.

The girls shared, “At first people were asking us ‘What are y’all doing?’ As we kept working, they got excited and couldn’t wait for us to get to the end.” 

This door has sparked a slew of creative ideas for Boyd and Swain to make more in the future. 

Honored to teach Boyd and Swain for the second year in a row, their Science teacher Sunni Wyatt said, “We’re excited to celebrate our students and these young girls.”

To find out even more ways Eden Rocks, like their Facebook page at Eden Elementary School or log onto: https://sites.google.com/a/g.pellcityschools.net/eden/