Before there was a mural, there were questions. What does unity mean to you? What languages do you speak? What parts of your culture would you want represented?
Students in Alex Aronson’s fourth-grade class at Wickersham Elementary School took those questions into classrooms and around Lancaster. The responses helped turn an idea to brighten a bare hallway into a mural that reflected the people who shared it.
The project began during a social studies unit on civic engagement. Students noticed the school’s empty wall space and wanted to add color. A lesson about murals gave them a starting point. A family connection helped move the idea along.
Their classmate Camila’s uncle, artist Adam Serrano, had painted murals in Lancaster. Aronson reached out, and Serrano joined the class to look through students’ research and explore ideas for the wall.
Students developed a questionnaire about the themes, cultures and languages people wanted represented. Aronson gave each student 20 copies. Some returned after the first weekend asking for 20 more. They gathered responses at Central Market, at the mall and in their neighborhoods, then sorted through the answers to identify common themes.
They also visited other classrooms at Wickersham.
“So then we can get different opinions of what people think and what people want,” student Victoria Rivera explained. After discussing community with Serrano and taking a vote, the students chose “unity” as the mural’s central word. They included it in different languages, a decision Jaylanie Abreu hoped would help classmates feel welcome.
Students contributed drawings, colors, shapes and lettering ideas. Aria Beattie, who loves to draw, helped develop a pencil incorporated into the letter “I” and a smiley face. Serrano taught students different lettering styles and listened as they described what unity meant to them.
“All the words, colors, and shapes the students collectively researched and chose made it into the mural,” Serrano said. “The process itself was a unified effort.”
With support from the Lancaster Education Foundation and Lancaster County Community Foundation, Serrano painted the students’ ideas onto the stairwell wall. Large letters spell “UNITY” against a black and gray background filled with smaller drawings, surrounded by colorful translations of the word.
Fitting the design to the wall took math, too. Students measured the space with meter sticks, created a smaller-scale version and divided the irregular wall into shapes whose areas they could calculate. Aronson watched students work beyond their usual friend groups and turn to classmates with strong drawing skills for advice.
“It’s cool seeing a group of 10 year olds put in the work that they put in to make something like that happen,” he said.
“Our students had a say in what their school looks like and whose stories it tells. They asked questions, listened to one another and created something that welcomes the whole Wickersham community. I’m proud that they can walk past this mural and know they helped make it happen.”
Aria remembered arriving at back-to-school night and seeing the finished mural, including details she had helped design. Victoria was happy to see so many cultures represented. Asked what she hoped other students would feel when they passed it, Victoria said, “Included and supported through everything.” For more photos, visit us on social media.
