The outer walls of Mrs. Turner’s third grade class were once beige cinder blocks.
Now they’re covered in hand-painted murals and colorful illustrations while animal foot-prints line the nearby sidewalk.
The murals and sidewalk art are just a small part of the transformations Lake Forest Elementary School has undergone as part of last weekend’s three-day renovation during Project Makeover, an annual event in which UF students remodel a local school.
“The main thing it’s gonna do is continually educate them,” said Diane Hill, the principal of Lake Forest, talking about the murals.
This year the project exceeded expectations of 800 volunteers when 1,100 UF students signed up to lend a hand.
Lauren Gispanski, the volunteer director for the project, said every volunteer was called Wednesday to let them know they would still be going ahead with the project despite rain.
The project planted three butterfly gardens, painted more than 50 murals and shaped a new baseball diamond.
“In my elementary school, nothing like this ever happened,” said Maridalia Cedeno, a UF freshman, as she painted George Washington’s hair for the president’s mural. “We just came to a boring building every year, and this makes the school a brighter atmosphere.”
