Classmates reunite at Santa Rosa school for unveiling of tile art mosaic

This post was originally published on this site.

Austin Creek Elementary School held a class reunion of sorts this week when a group of former students returned to the east Santa Rosa campus to see the unveiling of an art project started more than five years ago.

It was all smiles and hugs, as nearly 30 students from the sixth grade class of 2020, now high school seniors, braved the rainy weather Wednesday to view a newly installed mosaic made from, in part, pieces of tile art they painted in their final year at the school, a time interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ceremony included the viewing of an end-of-year video made in 2020 to commemorate the class that many of the students had not seen in years. The old classmates, and their parents, also spent much of the afternoon catching up with each other and their former teachers at the school.

“It was everything I had hoped it would be,” said school librarian Patricia “Trish” Poole, who led the project. “It was great to see them all embracing each other and talking about what their future plans are now that they’re seniors.”

Poole, whose son Jason was in the class, discovered the painted tiles, done as a distance learning project, hidden away in a box in the school’s office in 2021.

At first unsure what to do with them, Poole said inspiration struck when she noticed the bare wall around the flag pole that the library overlooks.

“I thought, ‘wouldn’t it be beautiful if we could put some art there to decorate the campus a little bit,’” she said. While the idea took time to get off the ground, Poole received the support of the school’s parent club, and she and a parent volunteer, Ann Brown, began constructing the mosaic in August by hand after school and on weekends.

“The kids that are currently on campus got to see the whole process of the wall going up, which was really cool,” Poole said. “They were great with their inspirational messages of ‘It’s looking great, Mrs. Poole!’”

Poole said she received an outpouring of community support when she went on Nextdoor and Facebook Marketplace asking for donations of more tiles, grout and other supplies to create the mosaic.

“So many people stepped up,” she said. “Most of the tiles on the wall were donations.”

Poole added that the wall art includes dozens of “hidden” objects, from bracelets to Lego pieces, that will be fun for current students to discover.

Once the mosaic was completed, Poole sent invitations to the former students to see the unveiling, not knowing if she would receive much interest back.

“I had an overwhelming response,” she said. “The kids and the parents were so appreciative. It was so meaningful for them to come back together again.”

Poole added that many of the students went on to different middle and high schools, so this was the first time that some of them had seen each other since sixth grade.

“It was kind of like a time warp,” she said. “It was nostalgic for me.”