Lily Ljubicic

A new tradition has begun at North Toronto. One lunch hour in early
April, students gathered around the South entrance of the school to witness the
official ribbon-cutting ceremony of our new Graffiti ‘Leadership’ mural.

The idea to create a mural to add colour to the school’s walls began last school year. It
wasn’t until the first few weeks of this past September that the art students
began working on the mural.

“We are constantly at awe by the work produced by NT students”, Ms. Pyper said to the
entire team that worked on the mural. “Congratulations on your vision, and your
determination.”

Next up in the ceremony, art council president Samantha Chong-Luke, accompanied by Zack Brisebois and Anton Schefter, walked to the red ribbon hanging just under the
mural and, smiling at several cameras, each held on to a part of the scissors
and cut the ribbon.

Zack and Anton were the official designers of the mural. “We put a lot of effort into the
design, it’s so nice to see it finally up on the wall,” says Anton. And they
aren’t kidding when they say they put a lot of work into the creation. The team
spent many late nights in the school’s art room, hastily working to finish the
project. “There were many times I didn’t think it would get done,” Zack notes.
“It really worked out in the end.”

Designing and painting the mural wasn’t even all of the work that had to be done. Finding the perfect location to put the finished piece was a difficult choice as well.
Other places around the school that were considered were the cafeteria wall,
staircase A, the Spanish classroom, and various places on the third floor. “We
were going to do a new one each year that represents each floor”, explains Zack
as Anton adds, “We’re glad this kicked off a tradition to NT.”

It’s great to walk into the school in the morning and instead of simply seeing dull grey
walls, we instead see a beautifully designed red and yellow mural. The school
is definitely looking forward to see more murals being created and put up
around the school by the art students.

And as for why Zack and Anton decided to choose to use the word ‘leadership’? “It’s meaningful but not corny,” says Anton, as he proudly glances over at the completed mural, displayed for everyone to admire.