News
Heatly students paint mural to brighten Senior Center
A colorful, four-by-twenty-five foot mural painted by a group of Heatly students now brightens a wall behind the Senior Center.
Sophomore
Chris Brownell, and ninth-graders
Matt Etman,
Felisha Dingley,
Cayla Heffern,
Austin Horton,
Devyn Kelsey,
Zack King,
Tyler McHargue,
McKenzie Patalino,
Katherine Smith and Brady Towne spent much of the Columbus Day weekend
painting a mural on the bowling alley wall that borders the Senior
Center property.
The project was directed by Kathy Kirch, Heatly sixth-grade teacher. A special thank you goes to Tom Walsh, who owns the bowling alley, and Jill Alix of the Senior Center for their help in making the mural a reality.
The mural, which is titled "Garden with Care,"
depicts aspects of the community, including a church, ballpark and the
Senior Center painted on a bright blue background.
Ms. Kirch says the project is the culmination
of an idea that came about four years ago when the students
were in 4th and 5th grade. "Ms. Schrom and myself were co-teaching a
math/science class, says Ms. Kirch. "I had visited at Maple Hill School in Castleton and
was very impressed with their Service Learning projects--one being a
mural at a Stewart's store. I thought it would be such an easy project
for our students to do--design the mural, gather supplies and walk to
the Senior Center and paint."
However, supplies became an issue because of cost and tight budgets. Ms.
Kirch heard of a website, Donors Choose,
which helps teachers fund school projects. She applied last November and
shortly after placing the project
idea online, donations came in.
The site encourages teachers to reach out to friends through Facebook
for more exposure.
"It became May and I was afraid we would not reach the money needed...if
you don't, your donations are passed on to another project," she says.
"But Crate and Barrel came through for us and donated the remainder of
the money needed to purchase supplies by late May."
So
Columbus Day weekend presented three days of beautiful weather and the
students began creating. After figuring out the size of the mural, they
painted the entire background blue. "We pulled out the designs we had created
four years ago and
students decided which buildings they wanted to paint and where we would
place them in the mural."
On the final day (Monday), the group had a few community members stop by to take a peek at our work.
"They were very impressed," says Ms. Kirch.
Jill Alix of the Senior Center says the seniors
play bocci outside for six weeks in the summer "The mural truly gives
the area they play in a pick me up," she says. "It's nice to change this
up for the seniors so there not always looking at the same four walls.
We keep the inside decorated all year so this really makes the outside
even nicer."
The students will be invited to lunch at the Senior Center in the near
future for the seniors to thank them personally for all their hard work.
Photo Gallery
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Completed mural
