ARTISTIC: New paintings decorate Poly’s campus as part of senior capstone projects.
By Guadalupe Meza, Staff Writer
Every year, seniors at Poly are tasked with a capstone project, in which they are able to make an impact on either themselves or the community. Some students decided to utilize their creative side and make paintings to brighten Poly.
Ashley Botello (12) created one of the paintings located in the 600s building for the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MECHA) club. MECHA decided to make the mural in order to represent Latinos at Poly. “We definitely wanted to express our love for our culture and I felt that a mural was the way to go because it carries a lot of meaning,” Botello said. The mural includes silhouettes of people surrounded by flags of different Latin American countries such as Colombia, Venezuela, Guatemala, Mexico, and Brazil. At the bottom of the painting is MECHA’s motto, “La unión hace la fuerza,” which translates to “There is strength in numbers.” “Latinos make up 62% of our campus and I feel like we deserve recognition to let everyone know that together we create a union. As Chicanos, we should not be viewed as minorities but rather assets to Poly campus,” Botello described. Botello’s mural aims to make Latino students feel acknowledged and proud of their heritage.
Caitlin Garcia (12) and Samantha Arballo (12) decided to paint the stalls in the girls bathroom by the 700s in an effort to decrease graffiti. “We thought it would be better for girls to to see something beautiful and encouraging rather than the unnecessary rude comments written on the bathroom walls,” Arballo said. They were inspired by famous artist Claude Monet’s “Water Lilies” paintings, and made a recreation of it on the bathroom stalls. Their artwork, which took about 30 hours to complete, served to cover up old graffiti. The two hoped that people will respect the painting and not graffiti over it. However, the paint was chipped away at until it was unrecognizable as a painting.
The senior capstone paintings leave a mark on Poly’s campus for the present and future Poly community to admire.