My Goal

By the end of this project I want to be able to say that...

I painted a mural in a club for children and in the process I made them smile, to prove that the smallest actions can brighten up a kid's day.

Reflection

The process of getting ready to actually do our senior project has been a pretty exciting one, full of surprises. We got excited when though we had found a place but then it did not work out. Then somebody showed interest in us and we were offered a place in a Boys and Girls club in Bay City. We have a lot of people to thank for this, but most importantly each other. We were really able to step it up and find a place. This is one very crucial part of our project because without it our whole plan falls apart.

Now that we were able to find a place we are going to start concentrating on getting our review panel together. People we have in mind are;
Bicente DeLeon. His official title is the maintenance guy at my school, but he is way more than that to us. He mentors us and gives us good advice. Last year, Rebecca participated in a project were we painted our entire gym. It was an arduous process but the rewards were endless. Having people walk in and have their jaws drop was definitely worth. Mr.DeLeon guided us throughout the whole process so we think that he can really have some good input and suggestions for our mural.
Janet Peden. She is the lady that was able to help us find a place by offering her club. She does not only want to give us a wall but she is actually interested in seeing the progress of our project. She even offered to let us take over an art class one day. Since, she is the person that donated the money for the club to be built she probably spends some time with the kids and she could provide us with information. She could also be present when we are actually painting the mural.
Sarah Callahan Baker. Sarah is Rebecca's mentor and she is a member of the Chinquapin School board. She is willing to help us with any assistance we need dealing with the research. She even has kids of her that we can spend time with to better prepare us to the kids from the club.
Emmanuel Martinez. Emmanuel is actually a professional muralist. It would be an honor to be able to have him in our review panel. We have seen some of his work and it is truly amazing. If Emmanuel accepts to be in our panel he could really helps us with the idea of the actual mural itself. For example, what to paint or certain painting techniques. We would not make him do the work for us. We would present our idea and let him revise it.
David LaVassaur. David is the director of the Boys and Girls club in Bay City. We could us his help with the children. He spends most of the day with them so it would be really nice to get input about the attitudes of kids from somebody who actually knows the kids.

With regard to the research, we have two major components to making our project happen. One of them is painting the mural, the other is whether we can accomplish our goal of making children smile. This semester we made some really good progress with the actual mural. We were able to find a place, which required a lot of effort from our part. We had to make a lot of phone calls and e-mail a lot of people. This is definitely something that has helped me grow. I am not ussualy the type of person that is good with talking to strangers but I knew that I had to overcome that if I wanted to get anything done. With the second part of the research, I have to admit that we haven't really made a lot of progress. At the beginning of the year I was able to research facts that prove that smiling actually makes children happy. I also researched the type of colors that create an environment with a good mood. We are planning to incorporate these colors in our mural. So were we stand now we need to focus a little more on not just painting a mural but proving our point; it is important to make children smile.

We have a Place!!

Well, it is very exciting to know that we found a place! The Make-A-Wish foundation office didn't really work out but thanks to some connections we were able to get a place. It is a Boys and Girls Club located in Bay City. We are so excited to know somebody was actually interested in what our project ans was willing to help. The person that helped us is Janet Peden. She donated the money for this club to be built. When she heard about our project she got very excited with the idea of having teens painting a wall. Specially, since the purpose is making children happy. We are so thankful to her and we won't let you down Janet!

Make A Wish!!

So... One of the places we would really like to paint the mural in is the Make A Wish Houston Office. We even have a really good idea as to what we could paint. But before we can even think about what to paint we have to ask them if they will give us permission. We have actually tried to make contact with a lady that works there. Rebecca sent her an e-mail and the lady actually called Becca back and left her a voice mail. Last Friday, Becca actually went to Make A Wish but unfortunately she wasn't there. She did get to talk to another lady there that gave us some pretty good information. This lady suggested that we could help Make A Wish come true! She said that there are a lot of little kids that want themed rooms. For example, there is a little girl that wants a Paris themed room and there is also this little boy who wants a soccer themed room. Becca and I were really excited to hear this because if can't find a place to paint we can always help these kids with their wish. And in the end we would still be accomplishing our ultimate goal; painting a smile!

Why Smile..?

For this senior project, people keep asking me; why this is making children smile so important? I have really put a lot of time into finding the answer to this question, not just to give other people an answer but to really find a purpose for this project. That is why I have decided to give my Ted Talk on this topic. I want to show people why smiling is so important.

In order to find the answer to this question I have to do a little - well actually a lot - of research. While doing some of this research, I found 10 interesting facts about smiling. The are in the link located below,
Reasons to Smile

Jacek Utko Ted Talk

This Ted Talk was given by Jacek Utko. He is the designer for a small newspaper in Poland. After he started working for that newspaper the popularity increased up to 35% in only three years. The newspaper also recieved the award for the World's Best Designed Newspaper. But what really caught my attetion about this Ted Talk is the lessons he wants us to learn from his story, especially the second one. He states, "You can put your work to the highest possible level and anybody can do it. You just need Inspiration, Vision, and Determination. And you need to remember that good is not enough."

I find what he says really inspiring because I can relate to it. Rebecca and I want to accomplish something that to us seems like a really big and hard project. I know by experiance that painting a mural is not something simple. And especially not this one because we have the pressure that it is going to be seen by a lot of people. I think if we just keep in mind what Jacek said about having Inspiration, Vision and Determination we will be able to accomplish it. I get the inspiration from the kids. The vision that when im done it will have a small impact on somebody, or that somebody will have an impact on me. Also the determination that, at the end, we will be able to say "WE did it."

What is this about?

For our senior project Rebecca and I have decided to work together because what we both know that what we want to accomplish requires a lot of work. So what we want to do is paint a mural in a place where children are located. For example, places like an orphanage, a day care center for little children, of a place where there are sick kids. We were considering the facility for Make-A-Wish Foundation since we know where its located but we still need to ask for permission. The theme of the mural would relate to the place we end up doing it in.

Our main purpose for doing this is to cheer up and bring joy to the kids for at least a moment and let that mural be a reminder of the good times we hope to have with them. For example, there are many places where you find little children fighting for cancer and it just breaks your heart to see them battle this disease at a young age. What we hope to accomplish is to make them forget their struggle and give them a little bit of fun. This would be done by getting them involved, like having their hand-prints on the mural or something of that matter. We wouldn't just go to a place and paint something, but we would also spend sometimes with the kids. Hopefully, one day when we grow older we can come to see this mural and let the amazing memories come back flooding into our mind. We have in mind that this isn't going to be an easy task and that it will require hard work but we are willing to put the effort and give our best.