New mural at middle school sends healthy message

Thursday, September 23, 2004

Photo caption: Claire Karoff, HSP board member Marianne Fitzmaurice, HMS health teacher Judy Wilson and Rachael Gabriel stand before the new health room mural painted by Claire and Rachael.

New mural at Middle school sends healthy message

     The health classroom at the Middle school has a brand new dynamic mural that runs the entire length of the thirty foot concrete wall. It was funded by Hingham Sports Partnership and painted by Hingham artists Claire Karoff and Rachael Gabriel. The theme of the mural is "students following the road to good health." The mural illustrates student engaging in healthy behaviors such as exercise, making good food choices and saying no to drugs. The wall was painted in vivid colors with cartoon-like characters that will be enjoyed by generations of Middle school students.

     Judy Wilson, the Middle school health teacher was unable to hang posters on the wall to illustrate her health messages because of the new fire codes so she came up with the idea for the mural which has become a beautiful and permanent learning tool.

     Hingham Sports Partnership granted the money in a timely manner so that the artists could complete the project by the beginning of the 2004-05 school year. Rachael Gabriel graduated from Hingham High School in 2003. Rachael just started her sophomore year at UMass Taps program in Political Science and she is also working on a minor in Fine Arts. Claire Karoff also graduated from Hingham High in 2003 and will be attending Purchase College to study set design this fall. Both Rachael and Claire were members of Gerry Bliss's art portfolio class at the high school their senior year.