Students apply new coat of school spirit

NEWPORT BEACH — Newport Harbor High School sophomores Lauren McGill and Lizzy Pratty were tired of going to school every day to see faded murals and a dirty campus, so on Saturday they, along with more than 80 of their peers and a group of hardworking dads, met at the high school to give it a fresh look.

“Our school was in need of some rehab,” Lizzy, 16, said as she painted gold-colored edging around the NH sign outside the gymnasium as Lauren, 15, repainted a sailor, the school’s mascot, on the wall. “I was tired of looking at it all day, and it looks so much better now.”

There’s something to be said about pride of ownership and school spirit, or so say the volunteers who helped beautify the school Saturday. Lauren, Lizzy and others repainted the Newport Harbor mural on the Ralph K. Reed Gymnasium, trashcans and the school’s iconic anchor that faces Irvine Avenue.

“When the kids come in on Monday and see how it looks, I think they’ll have a little more school pride,” Richard Riva, a father and the president of the Newport Harbor Navigators, said. “If we show somebody cares, the kids care.”

The group raked leaves, picked up trash, chiseled petrified gum off tables and benches and pressure-washed as much of the campus as they could.

Dailey Wiese, 17, a senior, helped paint the school’s massive anchor, which is underneath a sign that reads “Sailor Pride,” an appropriate message for the day’s work.

“It’s like we’re helping the community — our community lives around our school,” Dailey said, taking a break from lying underneath the anchor painting it. “We were just raking leaves, and I didn’t realize how much trash was around campus, it was disgusting. People may not realize how hard we worked, but at least they’ll see a difference.”

The Newport Harbor Navigators headed by Riva and Vice President Jack Heiser work toward creating a better educational environment for students outside of curriculum and books. The group of about 10 dads provides cheap manual labor, which they are all too happy to give. The group also supports the school’s culinary and performing arts programs.

“This augments what public funding falls short on,” said Heiser, who has a son who is a junior at Harbor High, two sons who’ve graduated and is himself a graduate of the school.

Saturday’s volunteers plan for their work on the 77-year-old campus to last. The anchor and mural were painted with donated water-based, urethane paint. They will all get a coat of anti-graffiti paint to ward off the effects of weathering and vandalism.

The student volunteers, who received community service hours for their labor, hope the shiny paint and clean campus will inspire their peers to feel good about their school.

“We put so much emphasis on academic achievement, but community involvement in the school is something we can really feel good about,” senior Luke Brunda, 17, said.