District 5 School Spotlight

Each month this school year we are going to spotlight a school in District 5. For the month of August we are spotlighting Eileen Savoldi from I.P.S. School 65, she has taught there for the last four years. Eileen was excited to share with the A.E.A.I. audience her experience creating a mural in her school’s lunchroom.

This is what Eileen stated about her experience:

Last summer the building was repainted leaving our lunch room with a stark white wall in need of decoration. Our Principal, Janet Troutman, requested a mural not just to add color and ambience but inspiration. A theme, centered around our District’s four basic values of Excellence, Scholarship, Respect and Courage, was chosen. Ms. Troutman desired that our own students’ forms and faces be employed to express each concept. Digital photos of students were taken, cast on the wall with an LCD projector and traced.

Latex wall paint was generously provided through I.P.S. Students from the 4th, 5th and 6th grades couldn’t wait to participate in the painting. The project took up the last quarter of the school year.

I overheard a number of lunch room discussions about the children in the mural. The boys and girls were saying “That looks like me.” I was delighted to learn that so many students personally identified with the art work and, hopefully, the theme behind it.

Executing a project of this nature takes a good deal of planning and preparation, but I believe it will have a lasting and positive effect on the school and its student body.