CES artists create new mural for school Main Office

Third grade artists at Chester Elementary School collaborated to create a new mural for the Main Office, the school district shared. A week before the 2024-2025 school year, the school hung up its newest student masterpiece in the main office, allowing students to see their completed work on the first day of school.

According to the school district, it all started this past spring, when the entire third grade class came together to help create a 16-by-4-foot mural for the school.

CES art teacher Emily Daunicht came up with the idea during the mid-winter break while the main office was being renovated. She noticed a large blank white space and was inspired to spruce it up with art. Daunicht discussed her idea with Principal Mary Kate Boesch and began creating the concept. She then worked with the third-grade students to brainstorm ideas. In an article about the project, the school district said the piece is meant to encompass images and themes that are a part of everyday life at the school, such as reading, writing, social studies, science, robotics, art, music, and technology.

“I really like that this is something that the students can see up in the building forever that students created,” said Daunicht. “A lot of times, walls might get painted, furniture might change, but this is an aspect that even if they did need to repaint that wall, it can come down and put right back up. I really love that it can stay here for as long as possible.”

Daunicht used a projector to magnify the design, then traced the mural, allowing each third-grade student to paint a portion of the piece during art class. In addition to showing various aspects of CES life, the mural also incorporates the school colors.

“It was fun,” said Selena Pierre Louis, a current fourth grader at CES who was in Amy Carola’s class last year. “I felt good about myself because when I was little, I painted all the time. I got to paint and we were playing music, it was just calm and relaxing.”