It might be hard to believe students are close to finishing the first half of the 2025-2026 school year. Our students have grown and changed in countless ways during the first semester. The fact that change is something we all experience is the focus of Read Across SMSD this month, celebrating how we all gain new skills, knowledge, and perspective.

The elementary featured book, centered on the Read Across America theme of “Embrace Evolution,” is “The History of We,” by Nikkolas Smith. It is a story about our shared history and the many achievements of our ancestors. It illustrates how the first people invented, communicated, built structures, and tried to learn more about the world around them, just like students today. The book also prominently shares that humans have been creative for many, many years.

In Shawnee Mission schools, community members can see not only the creativity of students, but also how they grow and change over time through their artwork. Dr. Jeremy Higgins, associate superintendent of human resources, highlighted how school open houses and district art shows highlight this progress.

For example, this fall the Shawnee Mission North Area Art Show featured work from elementary, middle, and high school students in the North area. 

Alyssa Kim, a fifth grader at Bluejacket-Flint elementary, shared a silhouette painting of a dragon at the art show. She has enjoyed creating art for a long time and currently enjoys sketching and making bracelets. The North area art show gave her some inspiration for the kinds of art she might make in the future.

“As I get older I’d like to do more sketching and learn how to make pottery,” she shared.

From Hocker Grove, eighth grader Ava Wiseman said she is glad to have art shows where she can show her work.

“One thing I love about art is it can help you be more open without necessarily saying anything out loud to people,” she shared. “It helps you gain more confidence and share more of yourself with people.” As she sees art made by high school students, she thinks about her interest in working with clay and with animation in the future.

As a junior in high school, SM North student Roland Walker reflected on how he has grown as an artist over time. He said he hopes younger students see his work and take inspiration from it.

“Your artistic style is a reflection of your headspace and it grows with you,” he shared. “What I like to draw hasn’t changed at all. I still doodle and draw monsters, but now I take aspects of the world and apply them to my own.” 

 About Read Across SMSD

Read Across SMSD is modeled after the National Read Across America program and is led in partnership with NEA-Shawnee Mission and the Shawnee Mission Education Foundation. Access to books for Shawnee Mission students is made possible through the Shawnee Mission Education Foundation.

Click here for the Read Across SMSD webpage, featuring resources from previous years, archive videos, and more information about the program.

 NEA Book List

Elementary The History of We by Nikkolas Smith. Click here to learn more.

Middle Grade The Doomsday Detectives- How Walter and Luis Alvarez Solved the Mystery of Dinosaur Extinction by Cindy Jenson-Elliott. Click here to learn more.

Young Adult A Dangerous Idea- The Scopes Trial, The Original Fight Over Science in Schools by Debbie Levy. Click here to learn more.