College of Education dedicates bronze sculpture "Teaching to Change the World"

Fort Worth, TX

4/3/2008

TCU and the College of Education hosted a dedication ceremony for the new bronze sculpture "Teaching to Change the World" this week in front of the Bailey Building. The statue was given by G. Malcolm and Ann Louden, in honor of his parents, H. Malcolm Louden and Olive Gooding Louden.

The 850-pound, 96-inch-high bronze sculpture was designed by native Texan Angela De la Vega. The sculpture took about four months to sculpt in clay and another few months to mold and then bronze cast at the foundry. The sculpture, featuring a young girl on top of a globe, represents the College of Education's focus of "teaching to change the world .... inspiring and empowering children."

"This great, new work of art will enhance education at TCU," said Dr. Sam Deitz, Dean of the College of Education. "This beautiful statue represents what we accomplish in the college. Our task is to inspire and to empower - to make teachers and children more able to succeed in a complicated and intertwined world. All education students and alumni will visit the statue and it will make them smile and understand the heights they can reach. It is the new and permanent symbol for the College of Education - and one which all our students, staff, and faculty are very proud."

The young girl on top of the sculpture, a neighbor friend of De La Vega, is always the one climbing on the highest branch of a tree. Her spirit captivated De La Vega who noted how the girl's face glows as the enthusiastically tells her stories of nature adventures. "She's absolutely precious and embodies the pure joy that I hoped to capture for the little girl rejoicing 'on top of the world,' " noted De La Vega.

The piece was a significantly fulfilling and personal piece for De La Vega to create. Her father is a retired early childhood education professor and her mother is a retired teacher. Together her parents now travel around the northeastern U.S. giving conferences and workshops to schoolteachers.

"I am so grateful to them for their constant model of love for learning in our home," said De La Vega. "With my three children I try to follow their wonderful example and nurture a real passion for learning. The sculpture symbolizes everything that TCU's College of Education, and, really, what all educators, strive to achieve in education. It speaks rejoicing of the empowerment though education that we all want for our children."