Old Rochester students connect with children in Armenia through art

MATTAPOISETT — Old Rochester Regional High School connected with students from Armenia as part of an international initiative known as the Memory Project.

Students in Art II and Honors Art III classes at Old Rochester created portraits from photographs of children from Armenia in the fall of 2025, with participation in the project coordinated by art teacher Kate Butler. 

Art teacher Joanne Molgilnicki also participated with students in her Honors Art lll class. The finished works of art were then delivered to their subjects earlier this year through the nonprofit Memory Project. 

Since 2004, the Memory Project has engaged 320,000 youth in 57 countries through school-based programs, providing student artists with photographs of children living in orphanages — and in other difficult circumstances — all throughout the world. 

Operating under a banner of "creating a kinder world through art," the Memory Project has connected student portrait artists to youth in countries such as Uganda, Sierra Leone, Romania, Guatemala, India, Honduras, Thailand, Nicaragua, Afghanistan, Peru, and Ukraine. 

In 2022, art students from Old Rochester Regional High School got the chance through the Memory Project to make and send portraits to children in Syria.

Old Rochester students used a variety of drawing and painting techniques to create highly detailed, realistic portraits. Each portrait was then signed by the student artist, and a photograph of the artist was included so that the recipients could see who created their artwork.

Most of the children who received portraits live in rural areas of Armenia. According to the Memory Project, the experience of receiving personalized artwork from students on the other side of the world was a new and exciting experience for many of the children.

After the portraits were delivered, students at Old Rochester Regional High School were sent a video from the Memory Project showing the children in Armenia receiving their artwork. 

The video captured the joy and excitement expressed by the smiling recipients as they received their portraits and spoke into the nonprofit's camera.

Superintendent Michael Nelson and Assistant Principal Lauren Millette praised the students and faculty involved in the project for embracing this opportunity to connect with other students from across the world through creativity, compassion and cultural understanding.