NORTH HOLLYWOOD : Young Dreams Take Wing in Student Mural

A large bird with a wing span of 20 feet is in the midst of flight at James Madison Middle School in North Hollywood.

The image, on an exterior wall of the school’s library, is part of a 500-square-foot mural that students painted to represent their limitless dreams.

Entitled “A Gift of Wings,” the mural was dedicated on Monday during an afternoon ceremony in which the students signed their names to the painting.

Its creation was the brainchild of 20 eighth-graders who are training to become Madison’s first group of peer counselors for the upcoming academic year.

While many of their fellow students were vacationing during the middle school’s spring break, they worked for three days to finish the mural, first tracing the image and then painting it.

The mural project also was intended to unify the future counselors, who will take an active role in supporting students who have academic or personal problems that they may be reluctant to talk about to faculty.

“A peer counselor sometimes makes it easier for students to talk,” said Monica Mayall, a teacher at Madison and coordinator of the group.

“They’ll be really good listeners and do some one-on-one intervention. There is such an incredible number of at-risk students that the only way to give them the help that they need is to have a large group of (counselors).”

Paint supplies, materials and cash contributions for the project were provided by teachers, local businesses and office workers, who also assisted when they could.

An inscription on the mural reads: “To the past and future graduates of Madison Middle School, ‘A Gift of Wings’ from the peer counselors, class of 1996.”

Each of the students will be honored and awarded achievement certificates at a later ceremony.