Faces of 501: Adrianna Havens
Adrianna Havens has taught for Topeka Public Schools for the past four years, as an AVID teacher and volleyball coach at Chase Middle School. Havens and her students from an after school art club have created two murals that feature the unique aspects of the school. It took two school years, plus summers from start to finish to complete the “Performing Arts and Chase Way” mural and a semester and a summer to finish the “Multicultural” mural. Ten students from the Chase art club volunteered to work on the murals, using their summer vacations to paint on a daily basis to finish the murals. The end result is two large murals that cover the entire length of a wall at Chase and a hallway that connects State Street Elementary to Chase Middle School and highlights both schools’ commitment to the Performing Arts.
 |
| The "Performing Arts and Chase Way" mural connecting State Street and Chase Middle School. |
“The
performing arts mural came from the performing arts teachers. They were
motivated to have us brainstorm and create a mural that identified Chase as the
performing arts middle school. We shared ideas and what we wanted to portray
and how it would make the hallway connect the performing arts middle school and
the elementary school. We wanted to feel connected to both schools.
The
multicultural mural was originally brought to the table from our previous
principal. He just shot an idea at me about “knowing your culture” and I
created an after school art club that ran with it. It is completely kid
designed and kid created. They sketched ideas and ran it past me and then we
brainstormed how to combine all of the aspects they wanted to portray. This let
each kiddo who was involved in the Art Club and mural process have a voice as
to what they wanted and felt they needed to display to convey their message. The
“Performing Arts and Chase Way” mural basically encompasses all that we have
available at Chase from our performing arts program, to the arts and music, to
our clubs and programs we offer to students.”
 |
| Multicultural Mural at Chase Middle School. |
“I’ve
learned that you definitely need a layout that is super structured when
involving kids at the middle school level to paint murals of these sizes. It
was challenging to make sure that we were staying clean with our painting
skills and to make sure that each section was labeled and set out before we
even thought of applying paint. Some kids really took off with their own
creative instincts and applied their own touches to sections we were working
on, so making sure that they are all somewhat uniform and consistent throughout
the mural was challenging.
My
advice for students that want to paint a mural: make sure it's something that
will make an impact on those who view it. Don't be afraid to express something
that you strongly believe in that has positive values. Even though the performing
arts mural is bigger, I have more of a connection and internal response to the
Multicultural mural simply because it resounds with power about what they
wanted to express. They wanted to encompass celebration and diversity. And I
think the kids did a great job at planning how to symbolize both.”
 |
| The Performing Arts and Chase Way Mural. |
