Cadwallader Middle School Students Build Angel Wings to Honor the 58 Oct. 1 Victims

by Ryan Rose

What Happened

The Las Vegas Sun visited Eclarin's advanced art class on Sept. 23 and shared the story on Sept. 28. Reporter Grace Da Rocha found students at thick wooden tables, working with glue, paint, feathers and cardboard cut into the shape of wings. The room was calm and focused. Each pair of wings on those tables belonged to one person.

Here is how the project works. Every eighth-grader in the advanced art class chooses one of the 58 victims. Over about a month, the student researches that person. Then the student designs wings that reflect the life they lived. Many students add details such as a hometown, a favorite color, a college, or family members. When the wings are done, each student writes a short artist statement. The statement explains the design choices and how the student connected with the person they chose.

One student, Ilianna Huenta, felt an instant bond when she learned that one victim came from New Mexico, the state where she was born. She chose Lisa Romero-Muniz, a former high school secretary. Her wings are covered in green, purple and yellow feathers, which were Romero-Muniz's favorite colors. In the center, three hearts hang from a music note. The note carries the insignia from the New Mexico state flag, a New Mexico chili pepper and the phrase "NM True." Each heart stands for one of Romero-Muniz's children.

Huenta told the Sun that the project matters because people should not forget the victims or the families who lost someone. Her classmate, Breille Garza, worked beside her, pressing small white feathers onto her own set of wings. It is slow, careful work. That is part of the point.

Eclarin does more than hand out supplies. He opens the unit with a short video of artist Colette Miller explaining the idea behind her Global Angel Wings Project. Students then listen to survivors' stories and watch other videos so they understand why the day still matters to so many families here. The lessons are handled with care, and the focus stays on the people, not the violence.

Eclarin told the Sun that his students' creativity and care surprise him every year. That makes sense when you look at the details. A favorite color becomes a row of feathers. A hometown becomes a symbol painted in the center. A family becomes a set of small hearts. None of it is flashy. All of it is personal, and each pair of wings looks different because each life was different.

The wings will be shown at a free exhibition on Wednesday, Sept. 30, from 6 to 7 p.m. at Ralph Cadwallader Middle School, 7775 Elkhorn Road, in far northwest Las Vegas.

Why It Matters to Las Vegas Residents

Every city carries a few dates that shape who it is. For Las Vegas, Oct. 1 is one of them. The loss of 58 people, and the way our community responded, is part of the story of this valley. As the years pass, the number of people who remember that day firsthand keeps shrinking. That is true in classrooms most of all.

Eclarin put it plainly. He said the project gets a little harder as time goes on, because many students were not even living in Las Vegas in 2017. Some have moved here from other states. For them, the anniversary can feel like something that happened to someone else. His answer is to make it personal. He reminds students that many of the victims were young and are no longer making memories. So it falls on the rest of us to keep sharing what they did in life. He said that means a lot to the families.

That lesson reaches far past one art room. Clark County keeps growing. Thousands of families have moved to Centennial Hills, Skye Canyon, Summerlin, Henderson and the rest of the valley since 2017. Many of them arrived after the blue ribbons and "Vegas Strong" signs first went up. A project like this helps newer neighbors understand why those two words still mean so much here.

It also opens doors at home. Eclarin said he learns something new every year when students go home and talk with their parents. Some students find out that their own parents have a connection to that day, or to someone affected by it, even though it never came up before. A school project becomes a dinner table conversation. That kind of quiet, family-level remembrance is how a community keeps its history alive.

And it teaches empathy in a hands-on way. Researching a stranger, then choosing colors and symbols that honor who they were, asks a 13-year-old to see the world through someone else's eyes. That skill matters in every part of life. Some families of victims have told Eclarin they appreciate how thoughtful the students are. That feedback shows the work is landing the way it should.

There is also something special about where this is happening. Cadwallader sits in the far northwest part of the valley, a long way from the Strip. Centennial Hills is a neighborhood of families, parks and busy school pickup lines. It is not the place most people picture when they think about Oct. 1. Yet this is where a group of teenagers spends a month every fall learning 58 names. It is a reminder that the whole valley, not just one corner of it, still carries that day.

Background and History

The project began with a request. Christine Janette and her husband were at the Route 91 Harvest festival with friends when the shooting started. They got out safely and sheltered with several other couples near the south end of the Strip. Eclarin had only been teaching art for about a year at the time.

After the tragedy, Janette came across artist Colette Miller's Global Angel Wings Project. Miller started it in 2012 on the streets of Los Angeles, the "City of Angels." Her human-sized wing murals invite people to stand in front of them and become part of the art. According to Miller's website, the goal is "to remind humanity that We are the Angels of this Earth." The wings have since been painted in cities around the world. Janette saw photos of people posing with those wings and asked Eclarin a question. Could his students paint 58 sets of wings, one for each victim?

The idea fit for a few reasons. Miller's website says the wings are "free to the world," meant for anyone to share. Wings are also a gentle symbol. They speak about love and remembrance without pointing to anything painful. For a middle school classroom, that matters. It gives students a way to honor real people while keeping the focus on hope.

The first year was hard. Eclarin said very little had been shared publicly about the people who were lost, so students designed their wings from whatever they could find online. Then the project caught the attention of Mynda Smith, whose sister, Neysa Tonks, was one of the 58. Smith came to one of the early exhibitions. After that, she began helping gather details about each victim from family members who were connected through a Facebook support group.

That help changed everything. With real stories from families, the wings became more personal. Students could include a person's favorite color, hometown or college. Over time, the 58 Angel Wings Project grew into the yearly tradition it is today. What started as one teacher's idea, shaped by a survivor, is now part of how Cadwallader eighth-graders learn about their city.

The wider Las Vegas story follows the same pattern. In the days after the tragedy, residents lined up to give blood and flooded donation centers with supplies. Neighbors helped strangers. That spirit is what the students are learning about, and it is what the project is built to carry forward.

What Happens Next

The next step for this year's class is the exhibition. The finished wings go on display Wednesday, Sept. 30, from 6 to 7 p.m. at the school. Admission is free. It is a chance for families and neighbors to see the work in person and read the artist statements that explain each design.

The project may soon reach far more students. The Sun reported that the team behind the Forever One Memorial, the permanent memorial for the victims and survivors of Oct. 1, has considered creating a similar program for all Clark County School District students. Executive director Tennille Pereira said the team is also exploring learning activities for students who visit the future memorial and for teachers who want to talk about the tragedy in class. Ideas on the table include a special curriculum, a website full of resources, and art projects like the 58 Angel Wings.

Pereira said the goal is to teach students about trauma, empathy and community, like the kind Las Vegas showed in the days after the tragedy. She told the Sun that the community did not simply become more resilient; it went through 1 October together, and that is what brought it out. Her point was clear. If these lessons are not taught, they will be lost.

The Forever One Memorial is expected to open by Oct. 1, 2027, ten years after the tragedy. According to the memorial's website, it will sit on two acres of the original festival grounds at Reno Avenue and Giles Street. The design includes a Remembrance Ring with 58 vertical candles of light, an Angel Wall, a Tower of Light and a community plaza. The Vegas Strong Fund, a nonprofit, is leading the effort with Clark County. For many families, the students' wings and the memorial's Angel Wall will speak the same language.

The memorial's website says it will honor the 58 lives lost, the survivors, the first responders, and everyone affected by that night. It also says it will celebrate the courage and care people showed each other. That is the same message the Cadwallader students are learning in class. As the 10th anniversary gets closer, it is easy to picture these two efforts meeting. A student who builds wings this fall may be standing at the finished memorial with their own family a year from now.

Ryan's Take

I usually write about homes, rates and neighborhoods. This story is different, and I want to treat it that way. What Mr. Eclarin and Ms. Janette built at Cadwallader is exactly what makes a place feel like home. It is teachers taking a painful day and turning it into a lesson about kindness. It is kids who were preschoolers in 2017 learning the name of someone they never met and honoring that person with feathers and paint.

When families ask me what they will find in Centennial Hills or any part of the valley, I talk about parks, schools and commute times. But the real answer is the people. A community shows who it is by how it remembers. Projects like this one tell me that the "Vegas Strong" spirit did not fade after 2017. It got handed down, one classroom at a time. If you live in the northwest valley, I think the student exhibition is worth an hour of your evening.

What You Can Do

If you are nearby, stop by the free exhibition on Wednesday, Sept. 30, from 6 to 7 p.m. at Ralph Cadwallader Middle School, 7775 Elkhorn Road. Take time to read a few artist statements. Each one tells you something about the person being honored and about the student who chose them. A kind word to a student or teacher goes a long way.

You can also join the valley's public remembrance. Clark County hosts the free 1 October Sunrise Remembrance on Thursday, Oct. 1, at 7:30 a.m. at the Clark County Government Center Amphitheater, 500 S. Grand Central Parkway. The county will stream it on its YouTube, Facebook and X accounts, and a recording will be posted later that day. A "Remembering 1 October" exhibit is open in the Government Center's first-floor Rotunda Gallery through Oct. 8. Our full remembrance guide has more details.

Finally, you can support the permanent memorial. The Forever One Memorial website accepts donations and offers commemorative pavers, and it has a "Learn" section with educational resources. If you have kids at home, this week is a gentle time to ask what they know about Oct. 1. You do not need to share hard details. Talking about the 58 people, and how Las Vegas came together, is enough.