Walk the hallways of Lincoln High School and you’ll find a variety of murals decorating the walls: celebrating the school’s history, its namesake, and successes in sports, activities and academics.

Recently a new work of art was hung at Lincoln, this one to celebrate the school’s changing demographics and growing diversity. (See photos of the mural in the gallery to the right.)

“I wanted to do a collaborative piece of artwork that would promote unity within our increasingly diverse school. It was our first year as an Intensive English Learning Center school and we had a big influx of new students who came to their first American school at Lincoln,” said Heather Worthington, the art teacher at Lincoln.

The new mural was inspired by quotes Lincoln students felt to be meaningful in the Fall of 2017. With the chosen quotes, Worthington and her students then set out to see how those concepts could be best represented.

The mural features three quotes:

• The best way to predict the future is to create it. – Abe Lincoln
• There are a hundreds of languages in the world but a smile speaks them all. – Mark Twain
• We are only as Strong as we are United, as weak as we are divided. – J.K.Rowlings

“We saw the quotes evolving chronologically and ended up drawing them out that way with the analogy of planting and growing, much like students do with our minds and bodies in school,” noted Worthington. “From the first panel planting seeds, growing, nurturing, and ultimately showing our strength by joining together as one.”

In addition to being in its first years as an English Learning Center school, Lincoln is in its 4th year implementing Multi Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS). This district-wide program provided an opportunity to have smaller groups of students interested in helping with the project work on it together in one room. MTSS funded the project thanks to Lincoln’s MTSS coordinator, Cathy Clough.

“We hope this provides a sense of pride in our school, captures the spirit of our diverse population, and embodies the sense of unity that our students want Lincoln High,” added Worthington.