ELEMENTARY ART TEACHER NAMED NEW LONDON’S TEACHER OF THE YEAR

Arlene Morrison, an art teacher at C.B. Jennings Dual Language and International Elementary Magnet School, is New London Public Schools’ 2019 Teacher of the Year.

The school district, in a written statement Wednesday, called Morrison a “dynamic” teacher with 23 years of experience teaching kindergarten through fifth-grade visual art in New London.

Morrison is a member of southeastern Connecticut’s working artists community and has a passion for “igniting creativity, while simultaneously building essential character skills in her students.”

“She is passionate about opportunities to collaborate with colleagues that create authentic integrated art experiences for children,” the statement reads.

In 1998, Morrison collaborated with world-renowned mural artist James Wyland and, together with students from the former Edgerton School, painted a hallway-length ocean mural.

In support of the school’s recycling initiative, Morrison worked side by side with students to create a 4-foot by 38-foot mural that was constructed of 14,000 recycled bottle caps collected by students, staff and the community. A year in the making, the

mural was completed in 2018 and is located at the entrance of C.B. Jennings Dual Language and International Elementary Magnet School.