Doak Elementary School is having a week-long learning experience called "Just One Candle."

Doak Principal Jennifer Teague said Just One Candle is intended to teach the students that even though they may be a very small part of the world, together they can all make a huge difference.

Assistant Principal Catherine McCoy said, "We are encouraging the students to understand that they may only be a small part of this big picture but together we can make great things happen."

The highlight of the week was when students, faculty and staff gathered Wednesday afternoon for the formation of a giant image of a candle on the school's football field.

On Tuesday night, nearly 400 members of the community joined in a candlelight service for Just One Candle.

The base of the candle image was made of 4,108 cans of food the students collected in October for the Food Bank.

Also, random acts of kindness, she said, can spread like flames from a candle.

Daniel Dancer, international artist with "Art for the Sky" is visiting Doak School this week for the event that connects art with mathematics, science, history and character education.

Dancer, from Oregon, led participants in forming a huge candle as each person became a "human paint drop" in a giant image that only makes sense from the sky.

Participants wore clothing of particular colors and huddle to form an image that from the sky will be a candle. Most students dressed in blue, the school's main color, to form a blue candlestick. Faculty and staff dressed in yellow and red to form the flame.

Other students who were in the two classes that collected the most canned food dressed in orange and formed rays extending from the flame.

While in formation, the students sang the song Just One Candle, under the direction of their music teacher, Jodie Carter-Copeland.

Carter-Copeland braved windy conditions and boarded a crane that hoisted her and Dancer into the sky above the candle, where Dancer took photos.

The theme song "Just One Candle" reminds us that "with one candle, we can fill the world with light," McCoy added.

"We want them to know that one kind deed may spark another and then 'the world is glowing with the light that came from you and me,'" McCoy said.

To collect the canned food, classes have been having "friendly competition" titled "Let's Have a Food Fight!"

Winning were the third-grade classes of Deanna Bowman and Sunshine Broyles.

The candle was photographed by parent Leann Myers from an airplane flown by local pilot Steven Neesen.

The community members who gathered Tuesday night included representatives from the Greene County Board of Education, Tusculum College, Doak alumni and other stakeholders.

For more information about the artist, visit his Web site at www.artforthesky.com.