West Valley Art Students Paint Walls, Lift Spirits
Five students at West Valley High School have been painting school walls for months, but they’re not going to get in trouble for it.
The art students have painted murals of the school’s mascot, the eagle, in the cafeteria and the band room.
Art teacher Mary Pat King, who started teaching at West Valley this school year, said the principal asked her to do something about the bland, institutional, buff-colored walls throughout the school.
“He said the halls are ugly and the walls are ugly. There’s nothing exciting to look at,” King said.
Two freshmen, Madeline McNeill and Tracy Hansen, decided to paint a mural in the band room and three seniors decided to tackle a mural in the cafeteria.
McNeill and Hansen had to climb around on scaffolding as they painted an eagle on a bass drum in the band room.
“You feel like a monkey,” McNeill said. “It kind of gets kind of fun, actually.”
Hansen and McNeill originally hoped to continue the mural around the room. They planned to paint musical instruments on a musical staff.
That may happen in the future. But not this year. McNeill’s not in art this semester and she’s had to continue the painting in her spare time. Not that she’s complaining.
“This thing is permanent here,” McNeill said. “It’s really cool to get involved.”
Meanwhile, down the hall, senior football players Joe Cariss and Alex Cox and student body President Jeremy McClintock are putting the finishing touches on the cafeteria mural. It shows a brown eagle spreading its wings wide as it grips an orange ribbon in its claws. A crest depicting music, sports, books and a diploma is painted on the eagle’s chest.
It wasn’t easy making the switch from painting canvases to painting walls.
“It just took some getting used to,” Cariss said.
The students first drew their design on paper, made a transparency and used an overhead projector to convey the image onto the wall. They then traced the drawing.
The painting itself wasn’t as easy. For instance, there was the wing snafu. McClintock painted one wing and Cox painted the other.
“They didn’t match at first,” Cariss said. McClintock then repainted the other wing.
Now the three, who started the painting in October, will touch up the painting, sign their names and date it.
“Overall, we like it a lot,” Cariss said. “I think everybody likes it.”
King, who’s planning more murals to spice up school walls, certainly does. She’ll make sure that everybody in years to come has a chance to enjoy the students’ artwork.
“It will be here forever,” she said. “They’ll have to get past me to take it down.”
Slinging pizza
Central Valley and East Valley high schools have thrown the first punches in their fourth annual pizza war at Godfather’s Pizza in Sullivan Square.
It’s not a food fight. Seniors from the schools are vying for the chance to win 30 pizzas for graduation night. The losing school wins 20 pizzas.
“It’s a win-win situation for all three of us, even Godfather’s,” said Gus Schmauch, a co-chairwoman of Central Valley’s grad night.
Every Monday and Tuesday, customers at the restaurant’s buffet can say they’re eating pizza for either high school. Each customer racks up a point for his or her chosen school.
If the customer doesn’t have a preference, a point is awarded to the school with the fewest points.
In the past three years, East Valley has won the pizza battle once and Central Valley has won twice.
“It’s been a friendly rivalry,” Schmauch said. “East Valley’s looking to even up the score.”
Happenings today
If you have no plans for tonight, here are two possibilities:
Orchard Center Elementary School will open its science fair to students’ families from 7 to 9 p.m.
Ness Elementary will hold its math night at 6:30 p.m. After Gonzaga University math Prof. John Firkins speaks to students and parents, parents can help their children make math games.
AIDS information night
Two Spokane-area women diagnosed with the human immunodeficiency virus will speak at an HIV/AIDS information night at 7 p.m. Monday at Bowdish Junior High School.
One woman has a son who’s not infected with the virus. The other woman, whose husband died of AIDS four years ago, has three children, one of whom is infected.
Both women belong to the Washington AIDS Task Force and the Spokane AIDS Network.
Tracy Mikesell, education coordinator for the network, will also talk about how to prevent acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or AIDS.
Help for quake victims
Students at Greenacres Elementary held a white elephant sale and raised $332 to help earthquake victims in Japan.
Teacher Joyce Roskelley said the sale was organized by the school’s fifth-graders, who are studying current events via a CNN children’s program.
The money will be deposited in a special account at First Interstate Bank and earmarked for earthquake victims in Nishinomiya, Spokane’s sister city.