Nutrition Murals at North Hollywood High School: A Service Learning Project

(The Problem) After a test conducted at UCLA in 1998, it was discovered that an overwhelming amount of students were overweight to the point of obesity. In response, the Nutrition Network is running a program to promote obesity awareness. This program is structures in such a way that nutrition becomes an interesting topic easily incorporated into any academic subject. The idea behind is that if knowledgeable about proper nutrition, students will make better food and exercise decision.

The Nutrition Network provides grants to 236 schools within LAUSD, the total amount of money comes to about one million dollars a year. This money is used to create and support programs such as school gardens, Harvest of the Month, Chefs in the Classroom, Farm-to-School Connection, and many others. The list of possible approaches to nutrition awareness and existing programs are virtually endless.

(The Solution) Over the past three years, the Nutrition Network’s grant has funded the creation of murals along the North Hollywood High Schools cafeteria’s outer walls. To bring about awareness, the colorful murals depict proper nutrition. Originally, this year’s mural was to be painted on the third wall of the cafeteria to complement the existing two and create a patio area for students. The area is currently occupied by vending machines that were unmovable, thus a new places for the mural had to be found.

The mural project provided an ideal base not only for education on proper methods of nutrition but also for inclusion through the service learning model. Randal Vail, came up with an innovative idea for the placement of the murals. The “traveling murals” will be painted on 4 by 8 feet of plywood and will be attached to fences around the campus.

(The Process) Over an eight week period students from the Community Based Instruction (CBI) program, Resource Specialist Program (RSP), horticulture classes, and various Naturalist Academy classes at North Hollywood High School worked on the murals under the supervision of their respective teachers and under the artistic direction of Edith Merlescu. Funded by the Nutrition Network, each mural is a student creation. Design ideas were provided by the students through a design contest advertised in the school bulletin. Ten submitted designs were chose and slightly modified by the Edith Merlescu to fully incorporate the theme of nutrition. On Earth Day 2004, the murals were presented to the school and the students who worked priming, outlining, and painting the murals were recognized.