Imagine walking into a room filled with all of your favorite childhood toys, such as stuffed teddy bears, ducks and monkeys. This was what viewers saw as they entered the new Eastern Star Gallery exhibit entitled “Stuffed Animal World,” created by seniors Sara Morris and Leah Abazari. The exhibit delves into themes of childhood, nostalgia and adulthood, and is open from March 3 to March 12. In an email Morris sent to students, she wrote how the exhibit aims to serve as a time capsule that emphasizes the importance of stuffed animals and the intimate memories attached to them.

“Stuffed Animal World” includes a variety of stuffed animals owned by the current executive board members of the Eastern Star Gallery. The curators placed each stuffed animal in its own glass case displaying the stuffed animal’s name, its owner and a small anecdote written by the Archer student it belongs to.

Morris said the idea stemmed from visions she and Abazari had separately but ultimately combined to illustrate the idea of childhood and people’s personal belongings.

“Leah was really interested in stuffed animals in general. I just moved out of my childhood home, so I was looking at my personal belongings from when I was little and had this idea to do this ode to childhood where we would make an archaeological exhibit,” Morris said. “When I heard about Leah wanting to do something with stuffed animals, we combined our brains together and honed in on the importance of them. These are our artifacts essentially — they’re an emblem to the past.”

Junior Maya Kakani is entering her last year of high school and saw “Stuffed Animal World” as an opportunity to re-visit her childhood.

“I realized how big of a love I had for my stuffed animal. I’m now a junior starting to think about colleges and all my life — that stage felt so far away,” Kakani said. “It was nice to be reminded by this exhibit how young we actually all are because we are forced to grow up fast sometimes. We are still young girls, and I liked embracing this moment of remembering my younger self and those animals I love.”

Abazari displayed her own stuffed animal in the exhibit and said one of the reasons why she wanted to create “Stuffed Animal World” was to learn more about her peers and the stories of their stuffed animals.

“I was so young that I don’t remember how I got her … she’s just always been there,” Abazari said. “It’s funny because it’s actually a monkey, but when I was a kid, I thought all stuffed animals were teddy bears, so I named her Teddy. That story goes with this aspect of being so innocent. Now, I’m 18, and I still sleep with her every single night, and I know everyone has a similar story to tell.”

Morris said she has seen the impact her stuffed animal, King, has had on her life.

“I was around 8 and my dad gave me King. It was actually around the time where I came to the realization that my parents’ relationship was failing. As a kid, those things are abstract,” Morris said. “My dad was emotional when he gave it to me and I knew something was up, so that was a turning point. Since then, King has been there with me and has been a constant in my life.”

Engineering teacher Mike Carter assisted Abazari and Morris in building the cases for the stuffed animals, and facilities staff member Enrique Montoya painted the pink walls of the gallery. Abazari and Morris wanted the exhibit to look like a formal museum, while also integrating fun decoration and color.

“Mr. Carter really helped us, and took a lot of time out of his day to help us. He didn’t have to do that, but he went out of his way to do something nice,” Morris said. “Mr. Montoya also painted the walls for the gallery and put a lot of effort to build this with us. Leah and I are so grateful to everyone who helped bring this to life because it wasn’t just us.”

Abazari said creating “Stuffed Animal World” revealed heavier emotions for her, as this is her last year at Archer and wishes others could see growing up in a brighter light through this exhibit.

“We want people to recognize the beauty of childhood and how it can be both happy and sad at the same time, because trivial objects are actually so important in our lives and can hold such significance,” Abazari said. “We all have at least one stuffed animal that means so much to us. [Sara and I] have been at Archer since sixth grade and leaving Archer and entering adulthood is a really scary thing. We wanted to look at this in an optimistic way through exploring what these objects can mean to us. It gives us a new look at growing up and can help us appreciate the little things in life.”