Using their creativity to build large sculptures out of papier-mache and found objects, Needham High School students will bring their artworks to life as outsized puppets during the town’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration Jan. 19.
The event, which will be held at the NHS auditorium and will feature a variety of youth performances, is being cosponsored by the Needham Diversity Initiative (NDI) and several other community groups.
The celebration serves as a way “to educate, encourage, foster, strengthen and celebrate Needham’s diversity,” said NDI board member Amelia Klein.
Honoring the civil rights leader’s message of peace, the observance will highlight the hard work, creativity and talent of 80 teens, said Kate Jellinghaus, a Needham High School visual arts teacher.
The celebration will be “very much student-led,” said Kim Marie Nicols, another NDI board member.
Entitled “We the People,” the event also will honor the country’s 250th anniversary through a collaboration between Needham Public Schools students and the OrigiNation Cultural Arts Center, a Boston-based performing arts nonprofit.
Of the 80 teens involved, 55 will perform on stage, as puppeteers; spoken word artists; dancers on the high school’s Bomb Squad step team; and origami artists. Members of Needham High School’s Jazz Quintet and choral program will play and sing. The students will be joined by guests from OrigiNation.
Community officials also will speak.
Highlighting student creativity
Jellinghaus, who has been teaching at Needham High School for two years, considered how she could provide opportunities for students to demonstrate their creativity during the MLK Day event.
She felt it is important that people think about “how to foster a community that is truly based on a loving spirit,” justice and nonviolence. The Needham MLK Day celebration, “a really beautiful event … [that’s] a collaboration between many different groups,” offered a chance to highlight student artistic achievement during the free community event.
Jellinghaus reached out to OrigiNation’s artistic director and the nonprofit will collaborate on a dance performance with Needham students during the celebration.
The 30 sculptures/puppets include giant ears, animal heads and jellyfish. The student puppeteers will wear black as they animate the objects.
“It’s meant to be evocative and more poetic,” said Jellinghaus.
She and the students came up with a framework for We the People that includes five themes: We the writers, we the activists, we the innovators, we the naturalists and we the artists.
“Through art making and performances, the innovative program highlights the importance of writers, activists, innovators, naturalists and artists whose creativity and vision have helped shape the nation we are today and provide opportunities for Needham High School students to bring their own creative and critical voices to the table,” said Klein.
More information
The following community groups are cosponsoring the 2026 Needham MLK Day Observance: the Needham Diversity Initiative, Needham Human Rights Committee, Needham Interfaith Clergy Association and the Needham Public Schools.
The event will take place Monday, Jan. 19, at the Needham High School auditorium. Doors open at 9:30 a.m. for refreshments and the program runs from 10-11:30 a.m. No registration is necessary.
More information is available here.
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