Weekly Paint Party Spiffs Up El Camino

Not ones to let the holiday weekend interfere with their drive to beautify their school, seven El Camino Real High School students met on campus early Friday, brushes in hand, ready to paint the concrete wall surrounding the athletic field.

It is a task they have done faithfully every Saturday for more than two months.

“We spend almost the same amount of time at school that we do at home, so we’re trying to make it pretty,” said senior Tiffany-Ann Olsen, 17, the student council’s director of campus beautification. “And it’s good for the community to drive by and see that someone is trying to make it look nice.”

The volunteer effort--this week held on Friday to give volunteers a chance to have a free Saturday--was spearheaded by Woodland Hills resident Jonathan Lantry and his 14-year-old daughter, Yvonne, a freshman at El Camino.

Lantry said he has always encouraged Yvonne to give her time to the community. To bring the lesson closer to home, they came up with the idea to make the 28-year-old campus look better.

“Painting is something they can do easily. It’s not intimidating,” Lantry said. “And it makes them feel proud of their school.

“There has to be a certain affinity for what you’re doing if you’re going to get anything out of it.”

Since the start of the school year, the group has grown from Yvonne, two friends and a couple of brushes to a full-scale painting party that includes as many as 15 students at a time.

The effort had a somewhat rocky start as administrators expressed concern that the amateur painters would leave more paint on the ground than on the walls. But once the students proved they were up to the task, they have enjoyed the support of the campus community.

“No matter who the student is, I think they’d like to lean against a clean wall that’s painted, instead of one with words written all over it,” Yvonne said.

The students are now trying to drum up community support. Each week, local pizza restaurants and supermarkets have donated food for lunch, and a local graffiti-eradication group donated 25 gallons of paint. The teens are now working to secure a permanent sponsorship agreement with a home improvement store to continue their efforts once the paint runs out.

It has taken the kids only a few months to transform the outer perimeter of the campus from a dull concrete and graffiti-scarred brown to a uniform, muted gray.

El Camino Principal Ron Bauer said in a phone interview Wednesday that the students will have no shortage of places to paint on campus since there are many concrete benches and planters behind the schoolyard gates that need their attention.

“Their only limitation is their enthusiasm,” he said.