Making a US Map with Bishop Montgomery HS

It's not everyday you get a group of high school students to raise funds to sponsor a project at another school, hop on a bus from Torrance and head to South Gate, and give up a Saturday afternoon to paint a US Map on the playground.

But that's exactly what they did, and in record time I might add!

Aproximately 20 students from Bishop Montgomery High School teamed up with Operation Clean Slate and about 5 students at San Miguel Elementary in South Gate on Nov. 11th, 2008 to bring a large scale US Map to their campus.

What a gift!

Jake Roehl did a great job of getting everything in place to get his students over to the San Miguel campus. Once there the students jumped right in and got to work. Wasting no time they connected the dots to create the state borders and with paints in hand began outlining the edges and everybody helped fill in the middle.

We've never had 30 people working on a map at one time before... somehow it all worked wonderfully, and in record time too! It took them only 3 1/2 hours to complete. Just goes to show what team work will do.

Fernando and Melissa Espinoza both employed at San Miguel helped make everything run smoothly.

As a little bonus OCS supplied some hoola hoop fun by bringing in Jean Hooper, a hoola hoop instructor, to get everyone moving and grooving before rewarding the helpers with a little pizza for lunch. Jean cranked the tunes and got everyone's hips moving. Somehow my hoop didn't stay up around my waist very long. I tried to blame it on my cell phone holstered on my hip. Nobody agreed with that one.

The only thing missing was being able to see the smiling faces of the San Miguel students on Monday when they first saw their school's new map.

I think I have a pretty good idea of how they felt. Kinda like getting an early Christmas present.

USC Athletes at Vermont Ave. Elem.

We've painted a lot of murals over the years (about 560 to date) and they are all unique in their own way... but every once in a while we have one that really stands out.

As we prepared the wall for our mural project and got the paints in order out we noticed bicyclists quickly approaching. A sea of maroon and gold apparel and smiles singaling their readiness to help out. These USC student athletes ranging from track & field, swimming, diving, basketball and softball showed their colors and what truly good 'kids' are all about. Volunteering their time on a Saturday to assist with a mural located only a mile from campus.

They quickly teamed up with the Vermont Ave. Elementary students and made them feel important. There was no hesitation, it was natural, like a big brother or big sister.

Our goal was to complete a nutrition theme mural with fruits and veggies to beautify the cafeteria on Vermont's campus. We accomplished that and then some! The athletes took time out to start up an impromptu football game as the OCS crew dialed in on getting things ready for the next wave of USC participants.

After the football match we sat down for a pep talk from the USC kids. They told their ages, where the were from, what their sport and majors were and offered some good advice to the younger students about taying in school, eating healthy and having a positive attitude.

We were treated to a great lunch that Vermont Ave. principal Ms. DeBerry coordinated with one of her students parents who owns a local restaurant.

After finishing the mural - which turned out great - we walked the school's hallways where we watched parents placing photographs of our day's efforts on the inside walls for everyone to see.

This was a project that orchestrated itself better than I ever could. It was a beautiful thing to watch and a joy to be a part of. Thanks USC - you're awesome - let's do this again soon!!!