Hollin Meadows’ principal, Jasibi Crews, cut the ribbon to applause.
Youngsters ages five to 15 and their parents eagerly got their hands and knees into the earth at Hollin Meadows Elementary School’s 22nd Earth Day celebration, where officials cut a yellow ribbon for a new bottle cap mural featuring the Earth as its centerpiece.
The new mural, four feet by seven feet mounted outside near the front entrance, is made of over 2,000 plastic bottle caps of varied sizes and colors collected by the students. Designed by Scott Curtis, owner of Lorton’s Signs by Tomorrow, the mural features Virginia symbols, including cardinals and a dogwood tree; a hornet, the school’s mascot; a student reading a mathematics book and another holding a ruler.
Fairfax County schools’ Superintendent Dr. Michelle Reid said, “It’s great to have young children involved. Art unites us.”
Supervisor Dan Storck saluted his wife, Deborah, standing nearby, who was a counselor at the school for 25 years and remarked, “This community showed us the way for Earth Day.”
State Senator Scott Surovell said he was an alumnus of “one of the three Hollins,” the former Hollin Hall Elementary School. He presented the school’s principal, Jasibi Crews, a commendation from the Virginia General Assembly honoring the school’s 60th anniversary, which prompted an alert student to pipe up, impromptu, that the school’s founding was one year before the first Superbowl football championship. Urging the children to “take care of our planet,” Surovell drew applause by “promising” to introduce a bill requiring that “students have only ice cream for lunch.”
Supervisor Storck credited Sue Conway, whose now grown children attended the school, with “harnessing people to make a difference.” Conway led the mural project team, setting up a collection box and engaging students to sort the caps by color and size. The plastic caps came from juice, jam, ketchup, chocolate milk bottles and felt-tip markers, for example.
Conway credited Anila Angjei, an alumna, as the “chief gluer,” and Angela Palmer with managing the collecting process. “This project took many people to come together,” Conway said. “It is a true reflection of what our school is. We truly are rooted in community.”
Around the campus, led by artist Ursula Seckel, some students made a rainbow artwork by gluing leftover bottle caps.
Page Bradford helped students make seed bombs by squeezing potting soil, clay, water and wildflower seeds into a ball to plant at home. Bradford owns Hooray for Art in the Hollin Hall Shopping Center.
Some families weeded the school’s raised vegetable and wildflower beds, in the shadow of two rainwater cisterns. “We want our kids to be outside,” said John Fulginiti. Some parents sold herb and vegetable seedlings.
Hollin Meadows Elementary made headlines in 2009 when former First Lady Michelle Obama visited the school as part of her healthy schools’ fitness and nutrition initiative. When the students showed Obama how they harvest lettuce, she remarked that she did the same in the White House garden that she initiated.
Hollin Meadows enthusiasts say that outdoor education fosters learning by enhancing the curriculum, creating immersive learning experiences, helping improve concentration and reducing anxiety, among other benefits.
By upcycling bottle caps into art, collecting and reusing rainwater and caring for outdoor gardens, the school’s leaders hope to set the example for environmental stewardship every day, not just Earth Day.
The mural includes a hornet, the Hollin Meadows’ mascot.