Hundreds paint MLK’s lasting memory on schoolhouse walls
BY PATRICK ROCCHIO
A group of volunteers took
a day out for service to spruce
up a school building and fi ll it
with inspirational images.
Volunteers from City Year
New York, an organization that
provides AmeriCorps mentors
and tutoring to students in underserved
elementary and middle
schools, painted a myriad
of murals depicting the borough
at its best on a building
shared by two middle-schools
in Soundview.
In honor of Martin Luther
King Jr.’s legacy, approximately
600 volunteers produced murals
on Monday, January 21 in
what was surely a welcomed
surprise for students at J.H.S.
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, F 16 EBRUARY 1-7, 2019 BTR
Volunteers from all walks of life came together to paint murals at the
Soundview school building shared by J.H.S. 123 and M.S. 337 on Martin
Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, January 21.
Photo courtesy of NBCUniversal
123 and M.S. 337 when they returned
after the MLK holiday.
“Part of the reason we serve
on Martin Luther King Jr. Day
is that King was a proponent
of service,” said Laura Hamm,
City Year New York vice president
and executive director.
“We honor (King) by having a
‘day-on’ instead of a ‘day-off,’
so we encourage community
members and our partners to
come and serve with us during
an amazing day.”
Taking part in the painting
of the Soundview school building
were professional WNBA
basketball player Swin Cash
and Avril Haines, fi rst woman
deputy director of the Central
Intelligence Agency, said a City
Year NY spokeswoman.
To compliment J.H.S. 123,
which has a STEM theme,
murals of great mathematicians
and those depicting science
related endeavors, such
as power-grids, were painted,
said Hamm, who supervised
the volunteers at the Morrison
Avenue school.
At M.S. 337, which has a social
justice curriculum, the art
celebrated celebrity Bronxites,
she said, who are from Soundview
and neighboring communities.
These included murals featuring
images of quotations
from U.S. Supreme Court Justice
Sonia Sotomayor, Congresswoman
Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez and pop star
Jennifer Lopez, said Hamm.
There were also murals
painted of President Obama,
Martin Luther King Jr., pioneering
African-American
entrepreneur Madame C.J.
Walker and New York Yankee
legend Derek Jeter.
In addition to these murals,
facts and well-known fi gures
about the borough were placed
in many of the murals, said
Hamm.
These included depictions
and notable information
about the borough, including
images of Pelham Bay Park,
noting it is three times the
size of Central Park; that the
borough was home to writer
Edgar Allan Poe; that High
Bridge is the oldest standing
bridge in New York City;
that George Washington led
troops here during the Revolutionary
War; that Bronx
residents Bob Kane and Bill
Finger created Batman; that
the Haagan-Dazs ice-cream
company was founded here
in 1961 and that the famed
Pregones Theater is known
for producing plays by Latin-
American playwrights.
“Our kids need inspiration,”
said M.S. 337 principal Andrea
Cyprus in a statement. “They
need passion. And that is what
is happening in this school today.”
Hamm said that many of the
volunteers were talking about
how they were bringing life
and excitement into the schools
for the students.
City Year NY has programming
with a goal of helping decrease
drop out rates at P.S. 75,
P.S. 48, P.S. 154, Bronx Grant
Avenue Elementary, Bronx
Early College Academy, J.H.S.
123 and C.I.S. 303.
Volunteers paint a mural at the Morrison Avenue school building during
a day of service for Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, January 21.
Photo courtesy of NBCUniversal