With such a bittersweet ending to this school year, final project deadlines are coming closer than they might appear. But for Mrs. St. John’s A.P. Art students, this isn’t your normal final project assignment. Their final project includes, of course, paint and the basic necessities needed for a normal day of art, but instead of painting on paper, students are painting on the walls of the school.

If you haven’t noticed already, a few lucky classrooms are having splashes of colors added to those boring bland school walls. Mrs. St. John said, “The inspiration of the murals usually comes from the subject of the class and what the teacher of that room would like on the walls.”

The murals could either be a context-based painting, like the one in Ms. Phillips’s room, which is a painting of Romeo and Juliet because it’s a part of the 9th grade English curriculum. But if a teacher decided to do something different they could get a mood-based mural. For example, the art mural in Mrs. Mecca’s math room is a cool and warm toned painting to relax and soothe those who look at it and it also probably helps to take students’ minds off the endless list of overdue spirals they have to finish.

Mrs. St. John said, “Since these murals are bigger and need an extra hand, usually an average mural would need about two or three people to work on it. These murals are not only a nice addition to our school but it also gets students to get to know other students they don’t normally talk to.”

Westhampton Beach graduate Connor Lynch recently visited the high school to help students with their murals and to further show us his incredible art skills. Connor said, “I was called in by a few of my friends here, and they asked if I could help with the murals going around in school.” Right now Connor Lynch, Daniela Tobar and Karen Quesada are now working on a Zen Buddhism styled mural for Mr. Hoyt and Mrs. Taylor’s room.

Many more colorful additions are going up in the school, like Jenny Joyce’s landscape mural of a National Park in Mrs. Cardo’s room and a very detailed monumental mural in Mr. Williams’s classroom by Valeryia Aksianiuk, Sal Valdespino and Beecher Halsey, so keep an eye out for them!