Haley Haas and UWM alumna Astra Valters (MLIS '06, SOIS) work on a mural with a Malcolm X quote about the importance of education. (Cindy Petrites photo)
Alumnus Reuben Harpole ('78, honorary Ph.D. '05) and his wife, Mildred, were among 36 UWM alumni and family members who joined in the painting. (Cindy Petrites photo)
A quote from Rosa Parks now brightens up a hallway. (Kika Meraz photo)
Sarah Terry, staff member at UWM’s Military and Veterans Resource Center, works on one of murals about UW System universities. (Kika Meraz photo)
This mural shows interlocking arms shaped like a tree. (Kika Meraz photo)
Favorite books are now part of the decor. (Kika Meraz photo)
Volunteers paint a quote on a wall. (Kika Meraz photo)
Tien Wong (far right), a sophomore in Letters & Science, joins other volunteers in working on a mural. (Kika Meraz photo)
Patricia Patterson (BS '86 Criminal Justice) and Dave Steele (MUP '04) were among the UWM alums helping out on Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. (Cindy Petrites photo)
More than 70 students, staff, alumni and family members from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee community brightened the halls of Rufus King International Middle School as part of a Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service project Jan. 16.
A couple staff members, 35 students and 36 alumni and friends took part in painting murals to brighten up the bare, undecorated walls of the school. Student volunteers were from the College of Nursing, the Muslim Student Association, UWM SHAC (Student Housing Administrative Council), Housing and the Black Cat Frisbee team.
“As an alumnus of an MPS school that looked like a prison when I went there, I cried tears of joy when I walked through the hallways, because if that was what I saw every day going to class I would have been way more successful and felt more inclined to believe in myself,” said Tien Wong, a UWM sophomore in microbiology who took part in the project. “I hope the students look at it and see that they are believed in.”