ANAHEIM : 32 Sixth-Graders Leave Impressive Mark on City

The sixth-grade students at Adelaide Price Elementary School have spent months cleaning up graffiti in the neighborhood surrounding their school.

Now, the 32 students are ready to put their own mark on the city, in the form of a free-standing, 5-by-8-foot mural they recently completed.

Since classes at the year-round school started in August, Pam Krey’s students have spent their lunchtime picking up trash and wiping away graffiti in a one-mile radius of their school.

To celebrate their efforts, students painted a mural featuring six students of different ethnic heritage and a handprint from each student. The mural was unveiled Friday at the school, where the students were honored for their ongoing project.

“The students told me this mural would inform the public of their efforts, beautify the community and show other kids a better way to use their talents,” said Mike Howard, director of a local anti-graffiti organization.

Krey’s class is the youngest group of volunteers to participate in the city’s Adopt-a-Block program. The class was divided into five groups, with each group responsible for canvassing the neighborhood one day a week.

“We bring a rolling cart with a special a solvent to remove graffiti, paint and trash bags,” Krey said. “Some days we clean up three ‘tags,’ other days it’s more than 20.”

Michael Lattimore, 11, said he didn’t want to give up his lunchtime to pick up trash at first.

“But who wants to go to school with trash and graffiti everywhere you look?” he said. “Now I don’t mind ‘cause it makes me feel good inside and it makes Anaheim a better place to live.”

The mural will be displayed from Monday through Jan. 1 at Anaheim Plaza, Jan. 2-6 at City Hall, then at the Anaheim Central Library Jan. 9-20.

It then returns to the school, where it will be permanently displayed.