GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A 2021 Forest Hills Central graduate spent the last two years of high school creating a kindness-themed mural for a local elementary school.
Ayesha Jeddy was a junior at Forest Hills Central when she approached Ada Elementary art teacher Mrs. Pachulski about using her artistic talents to give back to the community during the 2019-2020 school year.
Ayesha and Mrs. Pachulski collaborated on the idea of creating a mural with the theme of kindness, a theme the school says is central to the culture at Ada Elementary.
According to Ayesha, “the main intent was to highlight Ada Elementary’s overarching theme of kindness while making the entire process into an interactive and personal experience for the kids.”
Forest Hills Public Schools says Ayesha and her friends, Ana Ahmed and Valerie Greenwood, spent hours working on the mural during their junior and senior years of high school.
All three had attended Ada Elementary.
“We simply hoped to return the immense sense of community and goodwill we were embraced with eight years ago at Ada Elementary,” explained Ayesha.
The theme of the mural is “Spread Kindness to Everyone” and is portrayed with a large heart centered in the middle, surrounded by textured feathers that create angel wings on both sides of the heart.
According to Forest Hills Public Schools, the feathers were created from paper painted by Ada Elementary students.
The mural was placed low on the wall near the school’s library to give students the opportunity to pose in front of it with their arms spread open like the wings.
Overall, the mural took the high school students two years to complete.
“Ayesha, Valerie and Ana showed incredible dedication and commitment to this meaningful project,” said Pachulski. “It will have a positive impact on all who see it and inspire students, staff and Ada families to spread kindness to everyone.”
