A cluster of middle school students wearing painting aprons and wielding paint brushes were busy at work in the library.

With less than a month left in the school year, they were intent on completing a mural that would remain even as they moved on to the high school.

Matt Halm, artist in residence, was supervising the painters.

“We have five to six students working at a time, sort of like a station,” Hahn said.

Including the students in the mural project “created a sense of community,” according to art teacher Christina Fogel.

“[Each student] may be one little part but each part is important to the whole and is an extension of the Northwestern family,” she said.

The mural project was the brainchild of library media specialist Jillian Gasper.

“The library underwent a remodel in summer of 2024 and with it came a large group instruction room (LGI) that was very sterile and cold,” Gasper said. “The students loved the new library feel but thought the LGI felt cold and unwelcoming.”

The mural changes that.

“If you want to change the feeling or vibe of an area, a mural is a great bang for your buck,” Hahn said. “You can transform the feeling of a whole place.”

Gasper is thrilled that everything fell into place before the work.

“I proposed a mural to our principal and was provided generous funds from the NWLEF and Lions-Follweiler Northwestern Community Foundation to continue,” Gasper said.

“That led to a collaboration with our art teacher, Mrs. Christina Fogel. Throughout the project she has been instrumental in creating student involvement.”

After the two teachers gathered feedback, they shared it with Halm who used it to create a sketch of his vision for the mural.

Planning for the mural was essential. “Jillian and Christina brainstormed for themes and ideas,” Hahn said. “We came up with a concept and submitted it and after a few small revisions we commenced with the project.”

“We made a plan taking into consideration what the school and the funders would like to see,” Hahn continued.

Hahn was charged with devising the image that would be painted.

“At first I thought it would be great to have a tiger take up the whole wall,” Hahn said. “I managed to find imagery of a young middle school tiger.”

Since Hahn favors collage, he said he wanted “to put things together and create a collagey feel adding things like silhouettes of the kids, or the teams of the school.”

He said he “used a projector and traced the general shapes on the wall.”

Then he scored the mural into sections that the students could paint. “Sectioning it off, creates an opportunity for student ownership,” he said.

Working on the mural has a direct connection to art class.

“In my middle school curriculum, I help students to find ways to connect,” Fogel said.

“This is a symbol of what we do in our classroom and our community, especially for the sixth graders that are coming in and the eighth graders that are going out,” she added.

This was the second time Cobe Blanken worked on a mural.

The first was at Weisenberg Elementary School, on a mural in the cafeteria.

“I thought it was really cool,” he said.

Classmate Ella Kardaseski was in full agreement.

“It was cool,” she said. “It gives the room color. I think it’s better for the kids to do stuff, too, not just the adults.”

“We’ll probably have half of our student body have a hand on this,” Gasper said. “The library is always the heart of the school, and this is a place where they should want to be.”