Community leaders from many fields selected three top designs from among the Sandy Hook memorial proposals presented by Scotts Ridge eighth graders. Shown here are jurors and winners with their designs: First Selectman Rudy Marconi, left, with Reaghan Briggs (second place), architect Peter Coffin, Natalie Silver (third place), psychologist Carol Mahlstedt, former Sandy Hook first grade teacher Kaitlin Roig-Debellis, Michael Dobson (first place), artist/sculptor Chris Curnan, and principal Tim Salem. Visitors to town hall may use their mobile devices to access voice recordings of Scotts Ridge students describing their Sandy Hook memorials by scanning the QR code near each design.
If you were asked to design a Sandy Hook memorial to be built here in Ridgefield, what would it look like? Where would you place it? What would it symbolize? How would visitors interact with it during their visit?
Those were the questions posed to the students in teacher Barb Jennes’s eighth grade English classes at Scotts Ridge Middle School. As part of their efforts to learn the skill of research paper writing, students were challenged to first explain why Ridgefield needs a memorial to the victims of the Sandy Hook tragedy, and then to design and describe the memorial they would build.
The next step in the students’ memorial-design project was to vote on the most outstanding designs conceived by their classmates. Those 18 students then presented their concepts to a mock jury composed of First Selectman Rudy Marconi; architect Peter Coffin; artist/sculptor Chris Curnan, who designed the town’s 911 memorial; psychologist Carol Mahlstedt, who evaluated each design’s healing potential; and Scotts Ridge principal Tim Salem. Kaitlin Roig-Debellis, a former Sandy Hook Elementary School first grade teacher whose quick thinking during the Dec. 14, 2012, rampage saved the lives of 14 students, also served as a juror.
The work of the three top memorial designers selected by the jury — Michael Dobson (first place), Reaghan Briggs (second place) and Natalie Silver (third place) — is currently on display in town hall. The designs of classmates Erin Hanlon, Nicole Nielsen, Lauren Prisco, and Aurora Joblon, who also created a model of her memorial, are showcased as well.
“The jurors were impressed with the depth of symbolic thought evident in the designs,” reported Ms. Jennes.
“It’s clear that the students approached this project with passion, creativity and great sensitivity,” added Ms. Roig-Debellis.
Mrs. Jennes also noted that visitors to town hall may access voice recordings of the students describing their memorials by using a smartphone or other mobile device to scan the QRC (quick response code) matrix barcodes adjacent to each design. Free QRC apps, including QRC Reader, are available for most mobile devices.
Some of the presentations can be heard by clicking the links below:
- Michael Dobson (first place ) – “Ridgefield Remembers”
- Erin Hanlon - “Sandy Hook in Our Hands and Hearts Forever”
- Aurora Joblon - “Tree of Angels”
The students’ Sandy Hook memorial designs will remain on display inside display cases located on the lower level of town hall through the first week in June.