ART GOING PLACES
Morgan Milligan, 10, and his grades 3-4 classmates from Ecole College Park School will get to see their artwork on the sides of some city buses until September after they and three Grade 7 Sylvia Fedoruk School students won a Saskatoon Transit contest.
Morgan Milligan is 10 years old and loves buses.
According to his mother, Dawn, it started when he was three, but around the age of 10 is when kids on the autism spectrum, like Morgan, can become fixated on something.
Although she’s not exactly sure where her son’s love of buses came from, when they lived in rural Saskatchewan he had a 40-minute bus ride to school every morning, and one of their neighbours drove a school bus that Morgan got to see up close.
So when Saskatoon Transit opened its first student art contest, it was perfect for her son, Dawn said.
Out of 130 entries from 19 schools, Morgan and his grades 3-4 class at École College Park School were chosen, along with three Grade 7 students from Sylvia Fedoruk School.
“He was our inspiration because he regulates with drawing buses on a daily basis,” said educational assistant Donna Irvine, who has been working with Morgan for two years.
One of their goals is for Morgan to connect socially, and working on a piece of art for the contest was a way for him to connect with other people in the classroom, Irvine said. Morgan had the chance to draw most of the artwork they submitted for the contest, including two buses and a skateboarder.
“We decided for Morgan we would, as a class, come together and celebrate his artistic ability, and add everybody else’s artistic ability in. So if someone drew then someone else coloured. We brought it all together that way,” Irvine said.
The artwork done by Morgan and his classmates, and the other winners, will be on display on the side of certain city buses until September.
Saskatoon Transit director Jim Mcdonald said the contest’s goal was to advocate for active transportation, which can include buses, bikes, or even skateboards.
“It’s an attempt for us to just get these concepts out in the community, and it’s a great way to do it engaging children and getting them to have some fun,” he said.
“If you don’t have a car and if you don’t know about the bus and you don’t learn about the bus, how are you going to take it? So it’s one of those things where we’re trying to provide information about transit to everyone in the community, so it adds to their options.”