By SARAH FORD For Shaw Media
A pyramid and tropical scene, complete with flowers and birds, is the newest addition to the wall of Erie High School Spanish teacher Laura Windish’s classroom. The mural will greet next year’s Spanish class students and provide a unique backdrop while they learn the language and culture. Each year, the Spanish IV class has the honor of painting a mural in the classroom to recognize the students’ commitment in taking all four years of the class. Each student finds a way to contribute, whether drawing, painting, mixing paint or cleaning brushes, and their class year is hidden somewhere within the mural. The mural has been a yearly tradition since 2001, said Windish, though it first started with a couple of murals in the older school building. While she always picks out the design and subjects from inspirational pictures or places she’s visited with student travelers, such as the Galápagos or Machu Picchu, it’s the students who draw it out and do all the painting. This year’s bold and bright mural was extra large and covered up the murals from 2001 and 2003. “The reason they got such a large space is because they were an unusually large group for a Spanish IV class – 23 students from the class of 2022, which I’m pretty sure is the largest level IV I’ve had in my 32 years with EHS,” Windish said.
Photo provided
The Erie High School Spanish IV class is pictured with their colorful class mural. A few other murals from past classes already have been painted over, but there’s also been some murals completed outside of the classroom. Even if the art is fleeting, the tradition and the teamwork will be remembered by the students and their teacher. “I’m always blown away by how well the students do and how good it
turns out. As I tell them, ‘You will be gone next year, but I will be here seeing this mural every day, so I need to love it.’ And I DO love each of them,”
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NEWS BRIEF Work will consist of light fixture repairs and deck patching. Work will begin in the westbound lane starting at 8 a.m. before shifting to the eastbound lane. Flaggers will be used to maintain traffic during the project, which is scheduled to be completed by 3 p.m.
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The Illinois Department of Transportation announced that, weather permitting, repairs on the U.S. 30 Mississippi River bridge (Gateway Bridge) in Whiteside County will begin Thursday, June 2.
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U.S. 30 bridge repairs in Whiteside County on June 2
Windish said of the project. “Next year I will retire, so that will be the final one. After that, I don’t know what will become of them.”
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5 WHITESIDE NEWS Shaw Media / ShawLocal.com • Tuesday, May 31, 2022
Spanish mural an annual tradition at Erie High School
