Wagshul Wonders 2024

Wagshul

W onders

IMAGINE THE FUTURE 2024

A Letter From

KAREN WAGSHUL Imagine the future... An interesting phrase that resonates with me. As a native New Yorker with many generations rooted on the East Coast, never would I have imagined at that time in the late 80s, that my future life would be in California. Never would I have imagined that I would change the trajectory of my future children growing up as native Californians, not native New Yorkers. Never would I have imagined that I settled in an unknown and unassuming area, where the "tech industry giants" as we know of them today, were tinkering in their garages fifteen minutes south, changing the future that we all live in today. It's funny how the future can unexpectedly evolve!

When you imagine the future, you generate mental images in your mind. These images represent pictures of something not yet in existence. My recollection as a child was watching the animated cartoon, The Jetsons, a family living in the utopian future of 2062. While we are still around forty years away from that time setting, The Jetsons had a profound effect on the way Americans (myself included) thought about what could be in the future. People lived in housing in the sky, worked a three-day workweek, drove cars that look like flying saucers, had videophones, smart homes, and whimsical appliance inventions in the kitchens, all done with push-button space-age technology.

And the family even had a robotic maid named Rosie. The sitcom show, although a satire, was synonymous for imagining what the future held, and in many ways depicted a world where entrepreneurship and technology were a part of their world. Moving forward, the goal of this sitcom was to dream of future changes that would make for a better and easier tomorrow.

Another memory was George Orwell's novel 1984. It was another sign of the future to be. While it had many political objectives in the forefront, what resonated with me was how "Big Brother" could watch everything we did. Well, that novel imagined the future we live in today. We are being watched all the time. Big Brother is now Big Data. Surveillance cameras, digital fingerprints, and digital footprints mark every move we make. Every swipe of a credit card, online purchase we make, movie we watch, music we listen to, Facebook group we engage with, or Google search placed, gets cross-referenced with other aspects of our lives. We are always being tracked, followed, scrutinized, categorized, observed, and directed. Orwell may have predicted this would horrify us.

But rather society, as I, have become thrilled with all the conveniences we live with on a daily basis in our lives today, which is due in part to this sharing of personal information.

The student contributors in this 2024 annual edition of Wagshul Wonders, each have a vision of what life in the future might look like. They incorporate topics of environmental concerns, global warming and pollution. They write about inhabiting another planet, industrializing nature, distinguishing between wishing for something and imagining something, and how fantasies can also become realities with a growth mindset and hard work. They also worry about the potential creativity of one's mind compromised by new technology like AI, while coincidentally enjoying the capabilities of futuristic digital tools we now use, to create breathtaking artwork.

In most of the submissions we compiled in this annual journal, the prevailing messages were at the forefront; the awareness of being environmentally astute, living clean, searching for other areas which would sustain life, and existing on a peaceful planet. There is an ever-increasing awareness to keep Earth Day in the forefront, and a commitment to a mindset, a lifestyle, and a journey, with intentional actions a big part of our everyday life; not just a solo moment one day a year. The overarching message of imagining the future is about sustaining our world peacefully and environmentally sound, and yet being cognizant that the industrial world of technology is very much an active and important part moving us forward in the global world we all share.

To all of you who are engaged with the most recent edition of Wagshul Wonders, the theme being "Imagine the Future," here are some final thoughts I leave you with. Remember your generation will open up doors for others to follow in your footsteps, as your ancestors also did for you. You are the founders of our future and collectively, the beacon of hope for the betterment of our world. Grab onto opportunities along the way, and learn from them, no matter how small they seem. They may turn out to be bigger than you imagined. Never be afraid to ask questions, reach out, or get support along the way. Be bold, brave, and courageous while imagining a better way to do something. Don't settle. Imagine differently. Keep your dreams alive and changing. You can be a part of change, improvement, and solutions that you haven't even imagined you need. Never forget that failure brings success, and success has much failure embedded in it. Nothing is impossible. Learning is a daily journey. Your tenacity and determination are the driving forces behind envisioning and imagining that better future you want to be a part of. And I know...

YOU GOT THIS! Keep me posted on how your future unfolds. I want to hear all about it.

With warmth and love, Karen Wagshul 1

CLASS 1B IMAGINE THE FUTURE Pencil on Paper 8.5x17"

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PEARL S.

1st Grade PEACEFUL CLEAN PLANET Mixed Media on Paper 8.5x11" I imagine the future to be full of healthy plants that are clean and green. So that would mean, people throw their trash and recycle things in the right boxes.

People should water their plants, but not use too much water because that wastes water. People should keep all the beautiful trees green and not cut them down, unless it’s a dangerous or unsafe. A clean future world is important because it will help global warming too. If you clean up the land you live on, it will help global warming stay away in the future. Global warming is when the earth gets hotter and hotter. Then there are more fires and dangers.

I imagine a future that is tidy and I want everything to be tidy. When you are tidy, you basically put things where you find them and you clean up your houses, and you do the dishes, and you vacuum, and you clean the closets, and you make the beds and stuff. A tidy environment is for everyone who lives and wants a nice future.

I imagine a world where people get along, and not fight or be mean to each other. If people keep fighting, they can get hurt. I imagine a world where people are friendly because then you can have trust in them when they give you love and compliment you. If you make friends when you are in first grade then you might have them in the future when you are a grownup. A peaceful world is a quiet world that people enjoy. There’s no violence, there are no wars. It’s a calm place to be outside and have picnics, go to parks and just have fun.

I imagine a peaceful, clean planet.

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SOPHIE T. 1st Grade

A FUTURE WORLD OF FLOWERS Mixed Media on Paper 11x8.5"

I imagine the future to be a world full of flowers. I chose flowers because I want there to be clean air and plants and flowers make clean air. They take in the bad air and give us good air. And humans like to breathe in clean oxygen air. I imagine the ocean will have flowers floating in it and surrounding it. I imagine flowers in the sky because air is there and I want clean air. Even buildings are covered with flowers, houses are covered with flowers, benches in parks and playgrounds are all covered with flowers. Flowers cover vehicles because vehicles can give off bad smoke, so flowers will stop that from happening and make bad smoke turn to clean air. Also, all buildings are covered with flowers.

I imagine a clean future because of all of these flowers and plants and trees. And the future world we live in will never get too dirty because of all these flowers.

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BAYLA C. 2nd Grade

IMAGINE THE FUTURE Mixed Media on Paper 9x12" (2 pieces)

Look at the Earth now. We are kind of in a cycle. We clean the Earth, then pollute it again. We clean and then pollute. In 1970, a genius who cared about the Earth made up a holiday called Earth Day. It was meant for us to take care of the Earth, pick up garbage, do beach cleanups, recycle and carpool together.

A long time ago, people weren't thinking about the Earth. They lived on the Earth. If you look at my first art piece, this shows how people do not take care of the Earth the way it should be taken care of. You see smoke stacks polluting the air and the entire sky. The water is orange because people are putting toxic waste in it, and animals who drink it get sick or die.

When I was making my second art piece, I was thinking about how people can take care of the problem and clean up Mother Earth. If people could just help Earth one day, and then do the same thing the next day, and the next, and the next, and the next, and keep doing that so Earth stays clean, they will be part of solving the problem. That is what I was thinking about with my second art piece. You can see a clear sky, blue water and green grass. You can see flowers and big strong trees. You can see birds flying and healthy fish jumping in the water. You can see a clean Earth.

When I close my eyes, this is how I imagine the future!

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NOMI T. 3rd Grade

THE MARTIAN FUTURE Mixed Media on Board 12x12x6.5"

I imagine that in the future humans will live on Mars. I imagine this because Mars is closest to Earth. Mars is a giant red planet covered in rocks and sand with winds blowing all over. Out of all planets in our Solar System, Mars is best for humans other than our own Earth. On Mars, robots have found the "building blocks" of life. Building blocks are little particles coming together and adapted to create like a life form, a living thing. Still, there is no oxygen on Mars. We, humans, need oxygen to breathe.

This is why humans will need the Oxygator, a made-up word, which in this case is the station in my art that generates oxygen using green plants and trees. All living things need oxygen, most importantly humans. Mars is cold and has no plants growing on it. Humans will need the Grasscobator also, which is a made-up word, which means the greenhouse where you can see people grow all sorts of vegetables, fruit, and other food.

Their homes will be called "HU." The H stands for house and the U stands for ugainable, a made-up word, which in this case will mean "can hold a lot of things." For visits, travels, and communication there will be tunnels.

There will be tunnels because humans can't be walking on the surface of Mars. On Mars, it's safer to go underground, where there will be oxygen, food, and even water tunneled in, because these needs for humans will all be connected that way, underground.

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This is how I imagine humans will live on Mars in the future.

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MEENA R. 5th Grade

UNICORN MICE IMAGINE Once upon a time there was a poor family of unicorn mice. In this family there was Sistercorn Mouse, Babycorn Mouse, Mamacorn Mouse, and Papacorn Mouse. Each member of the family had one thing that they wished for except for Sistercorn. She did not wish for anything, she was not desperate for anything because to her, being desperate is not a way to get what you want. Her family was desperate for things and they did not have a good attitude, her strategy led to her having a much better one... To her, it is more likely that you will get what you want if you imagine getting what you want in the future (Sistercorn had gotten some of things that she had imagined that she wanted in the future), she called her strategy “Imagine the Future.” Anyway, Sistercorn imagined that one day in the future she and her family would not be poor and would live in a big castle and she would grow wings. Babycorn wished that one day soon he would learn how to talk so that he would not have to cry for everything that he wants much longer. Mamacorn wished that one day she could make more porridge for Babycorn. Papacorn did not really understand what imagining or wishing was and he had an ESPECIALLY bad attitude and was always grumpy so he just…. JUST thought that one day people would call him “Popcorn” and throw popcorn at him.

Papacorn Mouse

Mamacorn Mouse Sistercorn Mouse Babycorn Mouse

After breakfast one morning, Babycorn had a huge fit. He was super hungry. Mamacorn started crying because she felt bad that she didn’t have more food for him. After Mamacorn calmed the baby down she took Sistercorn into her bedroom.

“It is not fair, how have you got all of your wishes in the past and none of my wishes ever came true?” Mamacorn asked Sistercorn.

“But it is not about the past, it is about the future. And I do not get my wishes, I get what I imagine,” said Sistercorn.

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So after that Mamacorn went out of Sistercorn’s room, then Sistercorn looked at what she had imagined and drew on her wall: A huge castle, and her with wings. That gave her an idea. What if she had the whole family imagine what they want and then draw it on the wall in chalk and after that think about how they might get stuff like that in the future? She thought some more about her family and about how wishing for them was just wanting stuff and then whining about not having it. For Sistercorn, imagining the future was like dreaming about the things that you don’t have that you want you have in the future, it helped her stay positive and think that things that she doesn’t have now she might have in the future. Then she decided that her family would add to her drawing on the wall and draw all the things that they want to have, and imagine that they might be able to get them in the future!

So that night Sistercorn gathered the family and explained to them what imagining the future was.

Mamacorn drew a room in Sistercorn’s castle overflowing with porridge. Babycorn stopped Papacorn (who did not understand what imagining the future was) from drawing tears around his eyes in the picture (Babycorn was always crying, but maybe not in the future). Then Papacorn finally got some spirit and drew himself catching the popcorn that people threw at him. After that the family started to believe that they could actually get those things. When the family woke up in the morning everything that they had imagined and drawn came true. The porridge, the castle, the wings, the popcorn and no tears, all of it came true, thanks to Sistercorn.

One day when Sistercorn had grown up and became a mother of two twins she taught them to imagine the future and they started talking about it with each other.

“Brothercorn, what do you imagine you might get in the future? I imagine that we will get to slide down that rainbow,” said Sistercorn Jr. (one of the twins).

“Ya, and land in those puffy clouds,” said Brothercorn Jr. (one of the twins).

Sistercorn had taught everyone to imagine the future, her brother, her parents, her kids, and hopefully even you! Unlike this fairytale not everything just magically comes true, but that does not mean that you should not have a good open attitude because you should. In life it will take a little more work to get what you want, but that does not mean you can not have your dreams and wishes, you just have to remember to have a good attitude. The best thing to do is imagine and believe.

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Fairy tales ca n 14

. c o m e t r u e..

SORA Z. 5th Grade

PIGS WILL FLY Mixed Media on Paper 11x8.5"

I believe in a future for people filled with peace and love, and it will be lush and beautiful too.

Floofy the flying pig symbolizes this. Floofy is a funny fantasy name I gave to the pig, because the pig represents a future fantasy not a real situation. When I write about a lush and beautiful future, it's not only about green grass and trees. Parts of our world have that lush and beauty now, but not our entire world. In parts anger, hate, and violence live, and not lush and beautiful and peaceful. I also want to see a world with less man-made stuff.

That is important too. This image of Floofy the pig, aims to show the viewer that fantasies can possibly become realities. When I say, "Pigs Will Fly," we all know that is never going to happen, but there are other things we thought would never happen and now we see things or experience things we never thought of. What is meant by this expression is that it probably will never happen, but it's okay to hope that anything is possible and to leave open that window of possibility.

happen to you , if y o .. .it can u’r e y o u n g at h e a rt 15

NADIA E. 5th Grade

FUTURE DIVE Digital art As we all know, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has powerful capabilities for good and bad. It is a double-edged sword in some ways. It truly is. AI can be helpful. It can help people get things done faster. It can give them what they want, without them going through the hassle of doing it themselves. It scares me to think that AI could probably rewrite this comic strip submission one day. Other powerful and positive capabilities of AI are helping people with diseases and living in nursing care homes, and allowing people to create their own ideal person with virtual chat like Character AI, which can also help people with low social functioning skills by having them practice talking to people online in a virtual world. AI can also make certain tasks go faster. For example, I saw articles about AI working at a bakery and driving robo-taxis in San Francisco. But are these robo-taxis safe? There are a lot of safety concerns. In the end, I do not think AI should take over people’s jobs and compromise the human experience. Finally, AI doesn’t have human feelings. It can’t learn from mistakes the way humans do, although one could argue that I am sure. Sometimes humans don’t learn from their mistakes either.

A downside to AI is that people do not develop skills due to the use of AI for creative purposes. Many children have been using sites like ChatGPT or others to create pieces of work for things like homework, essays, and even contest submissions. Though I hope this will never become a possibility, someone could one day even submit an entry to Wagshul Wonders that was created at the hands of AI, and not by the hands of a student working creatively. AI will take on an increasingly important role in our lives and we cannot stop that. But what we can do is try to shut down people's and AI's attempts at stealing the experience of art and other creative processes.

I made this submission to describe a dystopian future where the heart and soul of creativity has been lost to soulless technology. My main character, Akemi, is sent to this future where a group of people are trying to stop her future self from further developing Artificial Intelligence with her art. Also if you look very closely at the name of one of the characters (Aidan Leed) you'll find a little surprise! (Hint: flip the first name backwards.)

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Continued...

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Visiting Artist HANOCH PIVEN We were very excited to welcome Hanoch Piven to Wornick this year. Mr. Piven is an awardwinning Israeli artist and children's book author. He is an exceptional artist who leads workshops that help us find hope within ourselves through the medium of found object art. Creating art with recycled materials not only fosters creativity, but also contributes to environmental sustainability by reducing waste and minimizing our ecological footprint. Parents and students enjoyed learning about Mr. Piven’s methods and had the opportunity to create their own personal collages.

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HARRISON B. & KOHL S-T. 7th Grade

STARRY NIGHT REMODELED Digital art

This poem and digital art piece describes one night when a person wanders into nature and looks back at the city they came from. They observe the sky and the city. The sky and the city look alike because they are both shining with lights, but one is natural from the beginning of everything, and the other is man-made. Our artwork and poem represent the theme of the future because they show what happens when humans take over and industrialize nature. Even as we progress through time, we should always preserve and protect nature. Our hope for the future is that there will always be enough beautiful nature around us to look at.

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I climb up to the top of the hill, So high, And I look to the sky, Star-speckled and frozen like ice, The view is very nice, I look down, Onto the town, So bright, A sea of lanterns, Glowing with exciting, Strong neon lights, Blinding all, Even in night’s fall, All will be seen, Reflected on the water, Serene

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