Nickelodeon interns recently completed a gigantic mural lining Joaquin Miller Elementary’s lunch shelter. The painting depicts the school’s mascot, a jaguar, in the forest, under water and in outer space.
The Nickelodeon volunteers spent hours of preparation designing the mural and multiple afternoons after school hours painting the colorful installation.
“We chose to put the mural in our lunch shelter because it was an area that students passed by and came to everyday,” commented Miller Elementary Principal Judy Hession. “There is a large wall that students look at as they are eating their snack and/or lunch. Why not brighten it up with a mural?”
“We also included a list of traits at the bottom of the mural that represents what our students are working on all year long in addition to the academics: Striving for Excellence, Respect, Honesty, Responsibility and Peacebuilders,” said Hession.
“I did want to thank Carson Smith from Nickelodeon for coordinating this project and all 14 of the interns who came out to Miller to paint the mural during this past week,” added Hession.
“A very special thank you to Annathalia (Thalia) Nalapraya for working with me at the school site, Catharina (Cat) Sukiman for designing the artwork and Chelsea Jauregui for putting together the color scheme for the mural,” she continued.
Eleven additional members of Nickelodeon’s Fall 2014 intern class helped realize the massive mural: Eli Barraza, Olivia Burgher, Sara Cook, Jeff Dirdack, Kenya Foster, Brian Hill, Lacey Kaelani, Kevin Lam, Andrew Megow, James Mosley II and Karissa Valencia.
“The students have been talking about how much they like the mural as they watched it being painted,” Hession also said. ” What a wonderful thing to have students excited and talking about”
