Last year, then Peperzak Middle School art teacher (and current Regal Elementary School Dean of Students) Kim Vandervert started an ambitious project with her students that found support from multiple areas of the Spokane community.
“I was thinking about a way to honor our namesake, Carla Peperzak, and I thought I’d love to do a graphic novel with my kids,” Vandervert said.
With encouragement from and collaboration with Spokane artist Corinna Ren – who has also supported Franklin Elementary School and Yasuhara Middle School artists with projects – Vandervert applied for and received a Spokane Arts grant to create a 30-page graphic produced by 150 students.
Vandervert invited “Carla the Rescuer” filmmakers Clement Lye and Kristine Hoover of Gonzaga University to help students fact-check their information, and also had an in-person Q&A session with Carla to help guide their storytelling.
“How many schools get to have their 102-year-old namesake as a reference when they’re doing a project?” Vandervert remarked.
In small groups, students collaborated on creating the artwork for each page.
“Once I heard that we were going to be authors and illustrators, I was super pumped,” said Colson, a current 7th grade student, who worked on page 24.
From their hand-drawn illustrations, students used Procreate on iPads to create digital tracings – thanks to help from SPS technology support – to complete the artwork for publishing.
Colson had the honor of giving Carla a copy of “The True Story of Carla Peperzak” at a school assembly last year with Holocaust Center for Humanity speaker Ingrid Kanis Steppic.
“It’s been just such a great community builder,” Vandervert reflected.
Just in time to celebrate National Arts in Education Week, co-editors Vandervert and Ren received a Spokane Arts Award in Youth Leadership for this project. They will be recognized at the Spokane Regional Arts Celebration on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026, at the Central Spokane Public Library.
We are proud of these educators who are creating unique opportunities for students to engage with art in their community!