The English II students at Cypress Ranch High School recently finished reading the classic American novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. Written by Harper Lee, To Kill A Mockingbird is a novel that tells the story of a Southern family living in the 1930’s.

Upon finishing the novel, students received an assignment called “The Body Buddy” project, in which they were to choose a main character from the novel to create a full body representation. Regarding the project, Sophomore Xavier Sambrano said “I enjoyed the assignment because not only did I learn something from it, but it allowed me to interact with my peers and work as a group to accomplish the task.”

The poster requirements included a drawing of the students’ chosen character with the most appropriate attire, seated in a position that would most accurately represent him or her. Six quotes from the novel needed to be included to represent the character’s personality and attitude. Two objects also had to be added to the poster to represent two important parts of the characters life, along with a short explanation on why the students chose that symbolization. Five pieces of personal information surrounded the detailed figures that included information such as their likes, living situation, and obstacles. To finish the assignment, a student written poem for the character was turned attached to complete the Body Buddy project.

While speaking about how reading To Kill a Mockingbird was able to impact the student readers, Sambrano shared that he felt like “[he] learned to treat everybody as an equal no matter what.” The novel takes place during a time period when racial issues were prominent in society. However, the main characters in the story prove to break out of that typical social structure by fighting for justice, despite the color or background of the victim.

Reading Lee’s classic novel in class allowed for students to delve deeper in a chaotic community that once existed in our nation. The Body Buddy project helped students share their ideas and analyze the characters that grew up in that time period and better understand how they can relate to the fictional characters.

“I really liked To Kill a Mockingbird because the purpose of the book gave me a perspective of how decades ago, there was injustice for people of color and how wrong it was,” Sambrano said.