Map quest completed

Photo courtesy of Olivia Van de Weteringe Buys NEW LOOK—Adults in back row Lisa Skelley, left, Jess Daily and teacher Liz Mejia off to right pose with students who helped restore the map of the United States. The students, beginning in back from left ar

For more than 20 years, a forgotten, dilapidated sidewalk mural of the United States lay outside of Room 1 at El Marino Language School. Each year, third grade teacher Sra. Liz Mejia had been hoping for some intrepid parents to offer up a restoration.

Last year, she got her wish. Two parents of students in her class offered to repaint the mural and give her students a big geography lesson at the same time. Students got to paint two states each; many chose states with familial ties or places they had visited.

As they painted, the students learned important (and fun) facts about each state. They discussed reasons why California was founded much later than New York, why Wyoming was the first state to give women the right to vote, and why Utah became known as the Beehive State.

Last week the mural was completely finished, with Alaska and Hawaii added to the other 48 states. The parents behind the months-long restoration, Jess Daily and Lisa Skelley, are glad the mural is not just being considered a piece of art, but is being used academically.

“I’ve always had a vision of this map being used as an interactive geography lesson, with kids sitting inside and around the mural, learning about our country’s history,” Lisa Skelley said. “Liz Mejia is such an amazing teacher to let her class take part in such a project.”