The halls of McNicholas are filled with artwork made by the McNicholas students and some classrooms are also adorned with student-made art. Junior Abbey Pour is currently painting a mural for Theology teacher Teresa Davis’s classroom. Pour previously painted a mural in Social Studies teacher Katherine Hayes’s classroom, modeled after cave paintings.
Pour was inspired to paint murals around the school “because they are visual representations of the subjects that each teacher is teaching,” Pour said. Though Pour has not yet completed Davis’s mural, it will represent the eight world religions that seniors learn about in world religions class. The mural will have a tree with a sunrise in the background, with the symbols of each world religion placed throughout the tree’s branches, and a statement from each religion at the base of the tree. “The mural is meant to show that these religions are interconnected,” Pour said. “No matter who we are or what we believe in, we are all human, working towards similar life goals.”
Davis first thought of the idea for the mural after she saw a tree of life with symbols of the world religions during a trip to New York. “The mural symbolizes that life contains all of these religions and we must learn and grow to love together,” Davis said. Davis wanted a mural reflecting a quote from the Nostra Aetate: “One is the community of all peoples, one their origin, for God made the whole human race to live over the face of the earth. One also is their final goal, God. His providence, His manifestations of goodness, His saving design extend to all men, until that time when the elect will be united in the Holy City, the city ablaze with the glory of God, where the nations will walk in His light.”
“I believe that the atmosphere in a classroom is a large part in people’s learning experiences,” Pour said. “A room with personality just does that.”
The McNicholas Milestone 