News | Article from Fontana Herald Press

New murals bring much beauty to North Tamarind Elementary School

By Bob Otto

Fontana (October 12, 2007) - The teachers and staff at North Tamarind Elementary School have long complained that their old school lacked "curb appeal." Sort of the ugly duckling of the Fontana Unified School District's 29 elementary schools.

But not anymore. Not after a talented band of artists and muralists finished their final brush strokes on Oct. 6.

Now when teachers and students walk around their school, colorful murals greet them at every turn. Murals in dazzling, vibrant colors painted on the sides of classrooms and on blacktop.

On the front of the school facing Tamarind Avenue, Redlands artist Christine Curry sketched and then painted mountain scenery of cougars in the wild. Why Cougars? Cougars happen to be the school's mascot.

Curry spent seven hours sketching the scene. She drew her inspiration by looking up at the mountains north of Fontana, she said. Her fee? Free, and happy to do so.

"The kids deserve to have something nice on the front of their school," she said, "to make it more beautiful."

But Curry had plenty of help. About 250 volunteers -- parents, teachers, business employees, and other generous souls, local and from cities miles away -- were on hand to tackle the workload.

They painted murals, garden boxes, and benches. They painted curbs and built backpack racks in classrooms. They remade the basketball courts and pulled weeds. And they had fun helping children they have never met.

"It's cool, it's fun," said Denise Martinez, 19, a former North Tamarind student whose mother and aunt teach at the school. "The school will be bright and vivid, more enjoyable for kids to study and play."

But if not for the students of Molly Gentile's third grade class of a year ago, the school revitalization project may have only been a dream. The students wrote a letter to Mayor Mark Nuaimi. They told him how sorrowful their school looked. They asked for his help. And the mayor said yes.

Soon the United Way's Hands On Inland Empire came on board. Then followed The Home Depot, Behr Paint, the City of Fontana, and a long list of willing businesses and organizations.

The Home Depot has worked in partnership with Hands On in revitalizing schools across the country. North Tamarind is one of 100 schools nationwide selected to receive a makeover through the Hands On Schools program.

A $3-million dollar challenge grant from The Home Depot finances the bulk of the program, along with providing hundreds of employees who volunteer their time and skill. The south Fontana Home Depot and 45 of its employees kicked off the revitalization on Oct. 4.

They built park and planter benches, installed tetherball courts and a new irrigation system in the school's garden, and created storage and sports ball boxes for the teachers -- and much more.

"When we were working, the children would walk by and say, 'Wow, we get tetherball courts again,'" said Home Depot Store Manager Matthew Wallace. "These kids were ecstatic. It was great to give back to the community. We had this feeling of accomplishment."

What Wallace and his crew started on Oct. 4, the 250 volunteers finished two days later. Volunteers such as the Kaiser Permanente team members who painted the garden mural on a classroom wall and on the blacktop leading up to it.

"We're going to have some bright, shiny, happy faces on Monday morning when the kids see this," said Karen Lord, who works in the school's office.

Many of the volunteers came from surrounding colleges and high schools. And one group came out of necessity. "We have 21 kids here from 14 to 17," said San Bernardino County Probation Correctional Officer Martha Zarate. "These are boys and girls putting in their community service hours for the courts."

And they left feeling good about themselves, said Zarate. "As the murals they painted were completed, they were saying, 'This is pretty cool.'"

Above all else, the murals stand out. And they all have names, including: Seek Wise People, Help Others, Praise People!, Peace Builders, and one with a "Wizard of Oz" theme painted on the blacktop. Ben Frank, an artist from Crestline, designed four of the murals.

"I like painting murals for schools and painting colors that are fun and make sense to kids but maybe not to adults," he said as he completed the finishing brushstrokes on Seek Wise People.

The mural shows a wise, older cartoon owl reading to a young cougar while sitting close together on a tree branch. A rainbow in red, green, yellow, and blue glows next to them as puffy, white clouds hover overhead. Its artistry and colors dazzle the eye. It's a mural the children will remember for the rest of their lives.

As Molly Gentile and her son, 11-year-old Michael, finished painting a tan, life-size Cougar on the front of the school, she said that her third grade students are proud of what their letter-writing campaign has accomplished.

"This gives kids a chance to see what can be done," said Gentile. "That group from a year ago knows this came about because of what they did. They are very proud."

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