When Ashley Gleason, the fourth grade homeroom teacher at St. Adalbert Catholic Academy in Elmhurst, was searching for a way to help her students understand the meaning of the Stations of the Cross, she found the perfect solution.

She organized an art project in which students created handmade depictions of each of the 14 stations in shoeboxes using clay, cotton, wooden sticks, paper, and paint. 

The results are drawing a great deal of attention at the academy. 

“I thought it would be a nice idea to bring the stations to life,” Gleason said, noting that she knew the fourth graders would be up to the task. “This is a particularly creative class.”

The stations, affixed to the wall outside the Gleason’s homeroom, have drawn admirers from other classes who often stop and say a prayer to Jesus, whose suffering and death are depicted in the 14 artworks.

Gleason said she was inspired by the Diocesan Lenten Pilgrimage, a journey in which the diocese designates a different church each day for the faithful to visit, attend Mass, pray the rosary, and spend time with the Blessed Sacrament. 

“I was really inspired by that idea of going to someplace to pray, and so I wanted to put something together that the other children could come and pray at,” she said. “It’s a point of pride for my class. They can say, ‘Look what we made.’ ”

The children researched the Stations of the Cross before they began working on their stations in school. The students helped each other by sharing materials and offering tips on how to make the figures as lifelike as possible. Each of the stations, which were unveiled last week, is accompanied by a handwritten sign made by students describing what each one depicts.

“They were very focused on who was there,” Gleason said, adding that in addition to Jesus, care was taken with creating the Blessed Mother, Mary Magdalene, and other figures that were present on the day Christ was crucified.

While the art project was fun, it also made students like Aiden Capera think more deeply about faith. Aiden, who made the 11th Station (Jesus is nailed to the cross) and 12th Station (Jesus dies on the cross), said he feels closer to his faith now that he has thought more about Jesus’ suffering and death. 

“I want to be a good Catholic and be closer to Jesus,” he said. 

That’s exactly what Gleason said she was hoping — for students to come away from the project with a deeper understanding. 

“I’m hoping that they have a deeper appreciation for exactly what Jesus did for us,” she said.