Art of Empowerment Mural Contest: bringing schools together!

With so many strong entries submitted to WWF and Earth Foundation’s Art of Empowerment mural contest, it was hard to choose just one winner — but, besides Holy Cross Regional HS’s amazing video entry, we loved that, if they won, Holy Cross students promised to involve the elementary school across the street, St. Matthew’s.

On their application, Holy Cross students said, “With this mural, we would like to inspire and encourage kids from the elementary school to take action to help our environment in any way they can, as they look up to us high school students as we make a change for our environment. And, hopefully, they’ll be the ones carrying that same motivation into Holy Cross as they enter high school.”

Grade 11 student Cielo Ramirez recounts working with the Grade 4s and stopped a few Holy Cross students to ask what they thought of the mural so far:
So much has been done these past few weeks! The wall has finally been painted an array of colours, blending together to make one giant backdrop. Now, the painters are starting to paint the animals, from penguins to octopuses, sharks to dolphins, and all sorts of tropical fish in between. With the guidance of Earth Foundation’s Todd Polich and Shayla Chorney, painters began the process of turning a blank wall into an incredible work of art. This time, St. Mathew’s Elementary brought in their Grade 4 students. This mural will be facing their school, so all the students will be able to look at this wonderful wall. They got down and dirty and helped paint the mural, with some guidance from the Holy Cross students, of course. With the mural in full progress, many students are raving about how incredible this project is:
“I’ve seen it half-finished — I really like the ombré effect.” – Dorothy Dinh, Grade 11 Holy Cross student
“I like the transitions and think that the gradient effects are amazing. I think animals are awesome.” – Erick Samera, Grade 9 Holy Cross student

“The animals look very realistic and it’s great to have a pop of colour.” – Eleanor Wong, Grade 9 Holy Cross student

“The first thing I saw was the penguins, and I thought they looked super cute.” – Chad Chia, Grade 9 Holy Cross student

Check back in the next week to see the final product. We’re sure that it will be amazing!