Las Vegas middle school teaches empathy through art as students learn about Oct. 1 shooting

Eighth‑grader Breille Garza sits at a sturdy wooden table, carefully dabbing the tip of a tiny white feather with glue and pressing it onto a cardboard cutout shaped like a wing. Beside her, classmate Ilianna Huenta works on her own set of cardboard wings, occasionally adjusting a bright feather or adding fresh glue to a painted section she designed to resemble a musical note. The girls were about four years old when one of the darkest days in Las Vegas history unfolded. On Oct. 1, 2017, a gunman positioned above the Route 91 Harvest Festival on the Las Vegas Strip opened fire. The deadliest mass shooting in modern American history left 58 people dead and more than 800 wounded. At Ralph Cadwallader Middle School in Centennial Hills, art teacher Francisco Eclarin gives his eighth‑grade advanced art students the opportunity to honor a victim of the shooting by creating a pair of angel wings in that person’s memory. When Huenta learned that one of the victims was from New Mexico—her birth state—she felt an immediate connection. After studying former high school principal Lisa Romero‑Muniz, she translated that connection into a pair of angel wings. Green, purple and yellow feathers, a nod to Romero‑Muniz’s favorite colors, adorn both wings. At the center, three hearts fashioned from a music‑note design are decorated with the state flag insignia, a New Mexico chili pepper and the phrase “NM True.” Each heart represents one of Romero‑Muniz’s children, Huenta explained. “These people were really important, and they each had families, so it’s just kind of sad,” Huenta said. “(This project) is very important because you don’t want to forget the people that had to go through all this and all the families that had to deal with the losses of their family members.” Eclarin and retired Cadwallader Middle School teacher Christine Janette, a survivor of the shooting, launched the 58 Angel Wings Project one year after the tragedy. Janette and her husband were at the concert with friends when gunfire erupted; they escaped and took shelter with several other couples in a hotel near the Motel 6 on East Tropicana Road. Eclarin had been teaching art for only about a year when the shooting occurred. Afterwards, Janette approached him with a request. She had recently seen Colette Miller’s Global Angel Wings Project, which began in 2012 on the streets of Los Angeles, where a pair of colorful angel wings was painted “to remind humanity that ‘We are the Angels of this Earth,’” according to Miller’s website. Inspired by photos of people posing in front of walls painted with wings, Janette asked whether Eclarin’s students could paint their own set of 58 wings, one to honor each victim of the Las Vegas tragedy. Eclarin said the first year was difficult because little information had been released about those who lost their lives, so students did their best to design wings based on what they could find online. Then Mynda Smith, whose sister Neysa Tonks was killed in the shooting, discovered the project. Smith attended one of the project’s early exhibitions and began gathering details about each victim from family members through a Facebook group. From there, the 58 Angel Wings Project evolved into its current form. Now, eighth‑graders in Eclarin’s advanced art class select one of the 58 victims and create a pair of angel wings in that person’s honor, incorporating references to the victim’s hometown, favorite color, organization or family members. Students also write a brief artist statement explaining the details of their wings, why they chose specific design elements and how they connected with the victim they selected. Throughout the weeks students spend building the wings, Eclarin integrates additional informational programming. He introduces the project with a short clip of Miller describing the intent behind the original Global Angel Wings Project, then has students listen to survivors’ stories and watch other videos to help them grasp the gravity of the shooting. “It’s a challenge because there’s a lot of kids who weren’t even in Vegas, like, they moved, so they’re like, what’s this?” Eclarin said. “It gets a little harder as time is passing, but I always tell (the students) that a lot of (the victims) are young; they don’t have any more memories they’re making, so it’s important to continue sharing what they did in life and it means a lot to these families.” Eclarin said his students’ creativity and intentionality continually astonish him, and he learns something new each year when they go home and discuss the shooting with their parents. Some students discover that their parents have a connection to the event or to someone affected by it, despite never having been told about it while growing up. Some families have also shared their appreciation for the project and the students’ thoughtfulness, Eclarin noted. The project has been so impactful that the team behind the permanent memorial for victims and survivors of the Oct. 1 shooting is considering a similar program for every Clark County School District student. The Forever One Memorial, slated to open by Oct. 1, 2027, will serve as a place to honor those affected by the Route 91 shooting and to teach younger generations what happened that day and how the community united in response. Executive director Tennille Pereira said the team is also exploring