Museum Displays Broken Arrow Student Art Honoring The Lives Lost In OKC Bombing

An art project that Broken Arrow High School students created last year for the 25th anniversary of the Oklahoma City Bombing is now on display in a museum.

A tragedy can become personal when you make a human connection to it, especially if you weren't alive to experience the tragedy.

"I think it helped me see them as people and not just something bad that happened to them," said Broken Arrow Senior Katie Glowacki. 

Adults who were alive on April 19, 1995, can recount exactly what they were doing when news broke of the Oklahoma City Bombing.

Students learning about that day by looking at photos of rubble and mountains of concrete being sifted through by first responders, will learn 168 people died. But there is a way to learn how each victim lived before that day, to celebrate and remember their lives.

Broken Arrow art teachers wanted each one of their students to pick a person who died in the bombing, research them and then create a piece of art they felt best described that person's life.

"It helped me feel more connected to what happened," said Broken Arrow Senior Macy Foster. 

The Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum now showcases the pieces of art created by Broken Arrow students. 

"It is really special to me. I have just been dreaming about this going up for like a year and it is really awesome to see it coming together," said Broken Arrow Senior Grace Velasquez. 

More than 40 of the student artists got to and see the pieces for themselves.

Broken Arrow teachers told the crowd at the museum one of the most powerful parts of this project was the emotional response from their students, who made committed efforts to remember perfect strangers and made a connection they will never forget.

"I am just really grateful I was able to be a part of something like this," said Foster. "I never knew this person, but I feel like I knew her now."