Young Leaders Beautifying the Community, In Their Own Words

[Every year, Middle School students are asked to participate in a project that gives back to their community. They are asked to identify a problem and a way to address that problem, and then work toward that solution between January and May. This is the story of that project taken to an inspiring place by one of our 7th year students, who has been with us since Kindergarten Bridge.]

By Darcy Wheeler, 7th Year (pictured above in foreground, with fellow MS 7th Gemma Snyder)

The idea for a mural project came about during Middle School’s service project week. During service project week everyone in MS chooses a project that will positively impact the community that they will work on for the next few months. I chose the service project of trying to get some murals painted in the East Bay. I didn’t really know how to execute this project so my mom, an artist, recommended I talk to Rachel who runs the Little Hill Instagram account, as she’s gotten murals painted in El Cerrito before. I talked with Rachel and she said I could find potential mural spots along the El Cerrito portion of The Greenway and contact the residents of these places, then if they agreed she would help organize the mural. I walked along The Greenway and found ten spots that I thought could work for a mural. I wrote and sent out letters to these places and soon enough I got responses back from five of them. I connected them with Rachel and we began the next steps.

The next step was finding artists willing to donate their time to paint these murals. Rachel put out a call for artists on her Instagram, and we found five artists willing to do it. The designs were worked out between the artist and the resident, so I didn’t actually have a part in that. Then in late February a group of people went out to clean and prime the walls. After that the painting of the murals began. One of the artists did the painting by themselves, but the other artists got some help. I was able to help paint two of the murals, and one of my classmates also helped with one. There are now four murals completed and one being done soon.

These murals are on The Greenway between City Hall and just past Potrero. The ones that were part of my service project have my name and The Little Hill in the credits on the murals.

I’m very happy with how this project has gone, as it has kinda started a mini mural fest along The Greenway. I think it’s cool that I was able to help make this happen, and I hope I can do more things like this in the future.