ANAHEIM : Students Leave Mark With Mural

Most of the exterior walls at Glenview Elementary School are gray, a color eminently practical for buildings that house several hundred students.

But third-grade teacher RaMona Oakland and a dozen or so student-artists have spent the last three weeks applying what Oakland calls “kid colors” to one of those walls, and the result is anything but gray.

Using a wall in the lunch area, Oakland and a group of volunteers have created a mural depicting a grassy park, complete with children skating, riding bikes and playing in tree swings. The park sports a stream, hundreds of flowers and a bunch of balloons floating lazily in the sky.

Oakland has long wanted to help students put their stamp on the school. Recently, Principal John Best gave her the go-ahead for an outdoor mural. On a recent Saturday morning, Oakland blocked out the 8-by-20-foot mural with a crew of 10 students and two other teachers.

Using house paint, the artists painted in blue sky and green grass. About one-third of the mural is devoted to a swirling sun in red, orange and yellow, modeled after the quarter-circle sun children often put in the upper corners of their pictures.

Oakland said she based the design of the mural on sketches submitted by students. Several central themes emerged from the 70 pictures, Oakland said, such as balloons, the sun and children. About half had included the phrase “Be cool, stay in school,” so Oakland had that painted across the top of the mural.

Working every day for an hour after school, the students began adding the details of the mural. Hesitant at first to start painting, Oakland said the students grew enthusiastic after she demonstrated a few techniques.

The band of 10 grew to include many other students. Some came just for a few days, while a few worked on it every day.

Alberto Murillo, 12, was one of the original artists. While waiting for Oakland to come out with painting supplies Wednesday, the last day students worked on the mural, Alberto pointed out his contributions.

“I painted part of the sun and that boy in the tree swing,” he said. “It’s a lot of fun. I wish it wasn’t ending.”

As Oakland, clad in a denim work shirt and jeans, arrived with paint, paper plate palates, brushes and large bags of popcorn, students clustered around her.

One by one, the students got their paint and headed over to the mural. Some immediately started painting flowers, butterflies or touching up existing work, while others stood back to ponder just what they wanted to paint.

Watching them work, Oakland said she has dreamed of this project since she began teaching at the school 17 years ago.

“I’ve always wanted to help students put kid colors on their school,” she said. “I see them sitting here at lunch, talking about the mural. They are extremely protective of it.”

To protect the mural from vandalism, Oakland plans to apply a polyurethane finish over it. The finish will prevent spray paint, felt marker or any other product from sticking to the wall.

Next semester, Oakland plans to continue the mural around the corner onto another lunch area wall.

“My aim is to just keep painting until we run out of walls,” she said.