Fifteen art students from Frontier High School produced more than 30 bowls in the ceramics room at Marietta College's Hermann Fine Arts Center Friday to help make a difference in the lives of some folks they may never know.

"I didn't realize that so many people use food pantries," Frontier sophomore Mackenzie Haessly said following a discussion about hunger with a team of five Marietta College students from the McDonough Leadership Program.

Molly Brady, a junior at Frontier, said she was happy to put her artistic skills to good use designing ceramic bowls that will eventually be sold to help support area food pantries.

"They really knew what they were doing and jumped right in to help with this project," said James Ink, a Marietta College sophomore with the McDonough leadership team, which helped coordinate the bowl-making event in anticipation of next spring's annual Empty Bowls luncheon, scheduled on April 24.

The bowls made Friday will be sold during that luncheon where people who buy a bowl are served soup from local restaurants, said Joe Davis, a member of the art faculty at Marietta College.

"The idea is not only to have a seminar on making bowls for the sale, but these kids also learn about feeding the hungry in their own community," he said. "And they were fantastic.... We thought they could do one bowl, but most of them made two."

Frontier art teacher Joyce Tharp said her classes have been part of the bowls project for five years.

"I really like the project because it benefits all of the area food pantries, and the students understand their work is going to support a great cause," she said.

Empty Bowls is one of 28 projects linked to Saturday's Make A Difference Day, in which more than 300 people will participate, including Marietta College students and members of the community.

Tanya Judd-Pucella, assistant professor and director of civic engagement at Marietta College, said some of the 28 projects like Empty Bowls are hunger-related, but others are community service opportunities.

"Make A Difference is a national day of service, and this is the fourth year we've participated," she said.