Sixth graders at Lake Bluff Elementary in Shorewood created a student-led art project to celebrate America's 250th birthday, culminating in a presentation at the Shorewood Library.The project was developed in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution and involved the entire class.It began in the first semester with the Smithsonian's Democracy in Dialogue virtual conversation, held in partnership with students in Hawaii. In the second semester, students created two large quilts connecting historic stories to key moments in American democracy.Watch: Shorewood students create quilts for America's 250th birthday: Shorewood students create quilts for America's 250th birthdayThe hexagon quilt highlights hidden stories focusing on figures and communities that were underrepresented or marginalized throughout American history. Among the stories featured is that of Katherine Johnson, an African American mathematician whose spaceflight calculations were critical to the historic space missions of John Glenn and Neil Armstrong."We decided to choose a community that was underserved or marginalized and that didn't get to make decisions in what happened to them, said student Phoebe Shearburn, so we wanted to spread awareness and bring justice to them and show what we could do throughout pieces of history."Shearburn also reflected on what the project taught her about the country."I think that we have a lot of stuff to work on, but there are so many good things that we have here too," Shearburn said.Fellow student Allen Hamann described how the project shaped his outlook."We first celebrated, like it's 250 years, let's celebrate - and then we contemplated," Hamann said.Hamann said the experience left him feeling hopeful about the future."When you actually celebrate those things and try to work to make it better, it really makes you like optimistic and knowing that you're gonna help the country in the future," Hamann said.The quilts are expected to travel to the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., for others to see.This story was reported on-air by Charles Benson and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.Its about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for TMJ4 on your device.Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.Report a typo or error ...read more read less