Hanna Swan, a Grade 11 student at Eaton School in Eatonia, explains the vision behind the hexagonal wall mural the school’s mentorship program students painted in a lobby at the school. The school’s Spartan logo was also painted beside the hexagons. The mural is part of several projects the students helped to create in the school.
Kenneth Brown
of The Crossroads
High school students in Eatonia have been busy sprucing up areas in Eaton School by painting murals on walls and messages on stairs among other projects.
Eaton School has a mentorship program and students involved in the program came up with an idea to revitalize spaces in the school. A lobby between the gym and classrooms, a stairwell next to the lobby and a study room have all received some tender, loving care.
The school’s older students, along with Grade 1 and Grade 2 students, gathered in the gym for a presentation on Dec. 7 before the murals in the lobby were unveiled. Different students spoke about the projects as they were unveiled or presented one by one.
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One of the murals consisted of a pattern of hexagons with a symbol inside each of the hexagons. Each symbol represented an aspect of the school such as programs or subjects. There was also a giant Spartans logo next to the hexagonal wall.
Another mural was a graduation tree, so every student that graduates from the school will put their fingerprints on the bare branches of the tree. Students spruced up a bulletin board, painted a trojan warrior on a wall and painted messages on the front of stairs in the stairwell. The students painted three doors and a wall in the study room to make it a more vibrant and colourful area.
During the presentation in the gym, students Amber Adams and Adrianna Graham spoke about the initiative before students watched a slide show presentation on the making of the projects. Adams said the initiative gave students a sense of accomplishment for their contributions. It was a lesson in collaboration.
“We found it’s important to communicate with others and collaborate in order to work towards a common goal,” said Adams, recognizing that a large team effort was needed to complete the murals and other revitalization projects.
She noted that the students also learned more about being confident and supportive of their fellow students. The students also developed their problem solving skills, and they learned from their mistakes, she said. According to Adams, the final lesson was that making a symmetrical hexagon is “very difficult.”
Adams said several people helped the students to gain new opportunities at the school. One of the students’ main influences is Principal Lisa King because she is focused on leadership and development of staff and students, she said.
Graham said the project also helped to build trust. She noted that both students and teachers had to learn to trust one another. She said the faculty lead for the group, Nichole Bredy, once commented she had to have faith and trust in the older students to be leaders.
The students were given permission to come up with ideas and paint walls in the school, so it was a big lesson in trust, Graham said. The student leaders also pointed out that another new teacher in September, Kallin Mays, was put in charge of supervising a group of students she had never met before as they painted a huge mural in the school.
Graham, a Grade 12 student, said engagement was a big thing for her throughout the project, but it was important for her to connect with her fellow students. She said it helped her to build trust and “it built a better school community for the older grades.”
She noted that the students are grateful for the continued personal electronic blended learning and mentorship programs because they have helped the students to develop several skills that are essential to their future.
Eaton School was awarded $7,500 from the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation in the spring because a video the school made for the Student Project had more views than any other video by other participating schools. Bredy said the project is tied to the $7,500 because the money helped to fund the project.
She noted that her husband told her she was crazy when she first told him about the idea. Bredy said she started to show pictures to her husband as the project was progressing, and he questioned why he was not able to do something similar when he was attending high school.
“It all started with you guys,” the faculty lead said, recognizing that it started with the students saying they wanted to revitalize the lobby using funds from the Student Project and she is thrilled by the result. “That’s pretty amazing.”
Bredy said she believes it was good for the students to prove to themselves, the staff and the community that their hard work and collaboration could result in such an amazing gift for the school. The leadership and pride shown by students was amazing, she added.
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