The hallways were filled with the scent of fresh paint and the joyous sounds of hushed music and laughter as students of a variety of backgrounds met to express themselves with a paintbrush.
For the few weeks during the 2023-2024 school year when the Bridge to Asia and Model United Nations murals were painted, this was the experience those walking down the school’s history hallway would be greeted with.
There are two murals in total with “another one on the way” said Sarah Alexander, a social studies teacher who helped extensively during the mural creating process.
The first mural is for Model United Nations, picturing the iconic Cambridge bear next to a variety of countries’ flags.
The second is the bridge to Asia mural, decorated with a Japanese art style and themes.
“Students and teachers have to spend five days a week inside this building, the nicer the building is, the more pleasant our days are,” said history teacher Micheal Shea, the mind behind the social studies murals.
Shea said getting permission to paint the murals from Principal Ashley Agans was “very easy.”
Agans shows full support for murals and other projects to improve hallway aesthetics, as long “as it’s fun and it’s something kids really want, I think that’s great,” she said.
Students admire the murals for more than the aesthetics though, as they give kids a way to be involved and show off their talents.
Timothy Hart, a law and public safety teacher who worked on murals for the law pathway said, “the murals really represented everything the law pathway represents.”
“We wanted to highlight the hard work these kids are doing in Model United Nations and Bridge to Asia,” said Shea. “I wanted to let the students make a permanent mark on the school.”
The enjoyment of the student volunteers was put first, as the process was meant to feel like an exciting painting session with friends
“Someone would play a song on Spotify and we’d get to painting,” said Bug Levy, a senior who spent over 10 hours working on the murals.
While the teachers were the ones who got permission and prepared extensively for the project, the actual painting process was almost entirely run by the students.
“I almost never had to step in. If someone had a really good idea and they felt good about it, they could lead a segment,” said Alexander, who previously had experience with art.
When painting the murals, students wanted to be in a fun, easy-going environment, but also had to be aware they were under a time constraint.
“We were essentially dropping into the Bridge to Asia mural and told that we had two weeks to do it. It wasn’t easy,” said Levy.
However, this hard work was said to be far from fruitless for the many students who dedicated themselves to it.
“For National Art Honors Society (NAHS) we only need 10 service hours for the whole year,” says junior Annika Webhe, one of the students who worked on the bridge to Asia mural. “I logged 20 service hours from it.”
Now, the murals represent the collective artistic talents of Cambridge students and teachers, and what they can accomplish.
“It was really a group effort,” said Shea.
