A new mural is being painted in the basement by seven seniors as a way to liven up the art department. Painting teacher Ms. Leah Klister has wanted to create this mural for the past year and the idea was finally approved.“We wanted to make part of the basement feel more like the art department. It felt sterile downstairs,” Klister said.

The mural is from the floor to ceiling and is twelve feet wide. It will consist of a quote, a tree, and a red knight. The quote reads: “BSM, like branches on a tree, we all grow in different directions yet our roots remain as one.” “[The mural] has a red knight undertone and it also has tree roots, talking about our roots being one. I suggested we make it about our community at BSM, but not specifically using red knights or red and white,” Klister said.

The creation of the mural is mostly student driven and, although Klister was involved in getting the mural approved by administration, the students are in charge of creating the mural. The seven seniors working on the mural are Vivian Lu, Amber Fan, Lilly Johnson, Nick Gionet, Gale Gerada, Jesus Machuca, and Grace Brooks. “I asked if it was okay to do mural, reached out to National Art Honor Society (NAHS) students to see if they wanted to do it, and set up the first meeting. The rest is completely student driven. I just supervise after school,” Klister said.

The students started painting the mural at the end of February but they had their first meeting to discuss ideas for the mural right after Christmas break. Klister hopes that the mural will be finished before spring break. “The actual painting and getting it on wall has been for the last two weeks, but the mural was drawn out [on paper] months ago,” Klister said.

Klister hopes that soon more murals will be created and there will be more art put up throughout the school. She hopes that some of the art students, specifically those in NAHS, will make additional smaller murals to match the large mural that hangs up in the Great Hall during mass.  Klister also hopes more murals will be put up throughout the school. “Maybe we will get to a point where other departments want NAHS to create a mural for them too,” Klister said.