Special mural is tactile training

Michael Miller

Even before she began working on a mural for the Blind Children’s

Learning Center, Costa Mesa High School junior Kathryn Anne Connell

had gotten acquainted with the world of the visually impaired.

That contact came through a seventh-grader on the other side of

the school: Sarah Ann Brazer, who is blind in one eye and has no

peripheral vision in the other.

“I have seen her around school a lot because I go to choir, which

is on the junior high side,” said Connell, 16, a member of the

National Honor Society. “I always wanted to say hi to her, but I

didn’t want to trip her or anything.”

As luck would have it, Brazer soon auditioned and won a part in

the school’s spring musical, and she and Connell became fast friends.

However, they soon had a deeper connection. This spring, Costa Mesa

High’s National Honor Society participated in Disneyland’s Show Your

Character community outreach program, a countywide event in which

high schools work with nonprofit organizations on public service

projects.

Costa Mesa High’s project was building a “sensory mural” for the

Blind Children’s Learning Center in Santa Ana -- the preschool that

Brazer attended as a child. With her new knowledge of the blind,

Connell was better able to understand her target audience as she

helped to attach feathers, reeds, and other textural objects to the

4-by-20-foot canvas.

“I like doing artistic things and helping people,” Connell said,

“so when there’s the opportunity to do both at the same time, it’s a

lot of fun.”

Connell was one of more than 40 people who contributed to the

creation of the mural, which features a rain forest scene filled with

monkeys, spiders, snakes and assorted plant life. Today, students

will install the mural on the playground of the Blind Children’s

Learning Center.

“We wanted something that would give a lasting impression,” said

senior Carley Millian, 18. “As nice as after-school tutoring is, we

wanted something that would last for years and years.”

This year, to celebrate its 50th anniversary, Disneyland worked

with Volunteer Center Orange County to create the Show Your Character

program. Each high school entering the competition, aided by a local

nonprofit group, chose a project from a list of 45 that Disneyland

compiled. Costa Mesa High’s National Honor Society voted for the

mural project.

School counselor Ann Brown led the project in the garage of her

Costa Mesa house. Starting in December and finishing last week,

students crammed Brown’s garage and driveway to paint and apply

objects to the canvas. Participants bought some of the materials at

Michael’s, Home Depot and Sterling Art, and found others lying around

at home.

The purpose of a sensory mural is to recreate a scene both with

sight and texture, and students got creative on a number of the

pieces. For vines, they wound tape around rope, while vinyl served as

a monkey’s skin. Some youths at the Blind Children’s Learning Center,

who have limited vision, may be able to see the bright colors as well

-- but only barely.

Jackie Havens, Costa Mesa’s National Honor Society president,

noted that the jungle scene on the mural would complement the outdoor

area of the learning center.

“The wall has this backdrop of lush leaves, so we thought it would

be appropriate,” said Havens, 17.

With the project now completed, Costa Mesa High will submit it for

final judging in the Show Your Character competition. Each of the 50

high schools in the program will already receive $1,000 for

competing, while their nonprofit partners will get $5,000. In May or

June, judges will select one winner to receive the Show Your

Character Excellence Award for $25,000, which will go to the

nonprofit group.

“They’re looking for a project that’s really well-planned and

implemented, and can document the results of how they benefited the

community,” said Music McCall, a spokeswoman for Disneyland. “The

Disneyland resort focuses our community efforts on children and

families, so most of these projects involve children and families as

well.”

Brown said that, true to its name, the Show Your Character program

was designed to help instill values in students -- and Connell, at

least, found more than one lesson. In a reflection essay that she

composed about the mural project, she claimed that the experience had

taught her not just about charity, but also about disability.

“I have since tried to walk around with my eyes covered except for

one tiny hole,” Connell wrote, “and I’ve found that it’s really not

very helpful to only see that much.”