Education students paint murals at Stonehurst Hills Elementary

Equipped with paintbrushes and containers of paint, dozens of college and high school students took to the halls and schoolyard of Stonehurst Hills Elementary School on Saturday to add color to brighten the students' time there.

"I wanted to help out the school," Saraya Narayan, a freshman from Phoenixville Area High School, said as she painted tree limbs in the stairwell. "I did want to paint. I thought it would be fun and also to volunteer and help out the school."

Madison Kurtz said 15 students from Phoenixville Area's Rising Educators Club participated in the day.

Approximately 50 students in total spent a full day at the Upper Darby School District school as part of the annual Student Pennsylvania State Education Association's Outreach to Teach School and Community Service Project. There, they spent the day painting five murals in the hallways and stairwells and in the schoolyard.

Outreach to Teach is an experienced-based project in which participants connect and collaborate in a fun environment with other aspiring educators from colleges and universities across Pennsylvania.

Michaela Speers, the Mid-East Region president of the Student PSEA was on-site Saturday,

"We try to do this outreach project in different places every year," she explained. "Last year, we were out towards Pittsburgh so this year, we were like, ‘Hey, we haven't done one on the eastern side of the state in a while.' "

She said she and fellow event coordinator Bella Liberto had connections at Stonehurst Hills and were aware of the demographics of the student population.

"We kind of knew of the school's higher minority population, so we always try to look for a less-fortunate, or less-funded, school that we can … brighten up and help," Speers said, noting that they previously met with the superintendent, who directed them to a school that would be a good fit.

She explained why the association promotes Outreach to Teach as a project.

"The soon-to-be educators, they get such a cool opportunity to not only meet other soon-to-be educators but also kind of have a way to be helping in schools before they can actually be in the schools," Speers said. "Getting to do that kind of outreach community service before actually getting to be an educator helps them connect more with the profession that they're going into."

She said it also is important for the students to see where other kids go to school every day and seeing the change they can make in it.

"Everyone always loves doing this project and afterwards, everyone is so rewarded," Speers said.

She said they always receive big thank you's from the teachers after their work is done.

Speers noted that this was the first year that they were able to do an outside project with the painting of the blacktop yard that included red, yellow, blue and green squares and a repainting of the white lines that were already there.

Speers and Liberto said the neighbors showed appreciation Saturday as local kids often come into the yard to play when school's not in session.

"We saw a few students outside and they were peeking over the fence and you could see their smiles and they were just so happy," Liberto said.

On Saturday, teams of students were inside and outside of the school focused and busily painting the vivid murals.

For Allison Hawley, a education major at West Chester University, it brought back memories.

"I like being in an elementary school setting," she said. "I just remember in my elementary school, we had a ton of murals like this. They were always just so fun to look at and I think this is a really good opportunity to give back to the kids and beautify their school and make it a more welcoming and fun environment."

A fellow West Chester education major, Olivia Piccinotti, said she was excited for the day.

"It's a great way to give back to the community," she said.

Olivia Tarasiewicz, an education major from Kutztown University, explained that most of the participants were part of the Student PSEA.

As part of that, they participate in 10 to 20 service projects a year, she said, adding that Saturday's event was a great way to meet education majors from other colleges and universities.

The trio were also painting a tree, a hive and "Bee Safe" in the stairwell and there was a plan for all the participants to leave their personal mark Saturday.

"We're all doing fingerprints to leave our mark like bees," Tarasiewicz said.

On Friday night, Speers and her team visited Stonehurst Hills to prep for the following workday by sketching out the murals and organize the supplies.

"That way when they got here today, we could just say, ‘Ok, go!' " she said.

Speers and Liberto shared some of the reactions they've seen from past projects when students see their work the next school day.

"It's so exciting and so cool to see them be so happy about it and excited," Speers said. "And the fact that it can brighten their day so much."

"My hope," Liberto said, "is that when the students and the teachers come in on Monday that their spirits are raised and that they are just so happy to see the color that is brought in."

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