At a Sept. 9 meeting, the Flossmoor District 161 Board of Education recognized a group of Parker Junior High students for a mural and other artwork they painted.
Last spring, district administrators commissioned art students from the school to paint a mural in the newly renovated Parker Junior High cafeteria. The goal was to add color to the white walls. Parker art teacher Jennifer Hall supervised the activities.
“We only had six weeks,” Hall said. “We really worked some magic.”
Hall said the students learned what murals were and looked at examples of other artists’ murals. They suggested multiple themes and considered the mural’s location before sketching their ideas on paper.
Video games inspired the final design, representing a battle between healthy and junk foods. Spider-Man and other characters join the fray. Hall said the students spent much time and effort on the project.
“You made this happen,” Hall told the students. “We wanted to make sure you got recognition for your hard work.”
In the short time they had left after painting the mural, the students filled more white space on the walls by adding grape vines to pillars and painting a significant portion of the cafeteria walls with irregular shapes in the Parker school colors.
A long list of students helped with the mural: Isabella Pletsch, Sophia Gaston, Addison Graham, Katelyn Faoro, Jalynn Newall, Daniel Ceron-Bazan, Danial Zeman, Macie Turton, Arie Keys, Autumn Robinson, Deleia Muhammed-Walker, Owen Roberts, Seanna Snelling, Isadora Gudino, Uche Okafor, Josiah Sharp, Paisley Horton, Denise Stout, A’layiah Taylor, Elle Davis, Maya Shodunke, Amaka Nwoye, Alexandra Jones and Regina Fields Sims.
A parent, Hamidah Muhammad, came to assist the students one day, and Mike Scandora, a security officer at the school, helped by repairing the walls and preparing them for paint.
