Soaring Toward a Bright Tomorrow

Soaring Toward a Bright Tomorrow was created at the Lewis Elkin School in Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood as part of the Philadelphia Eagles 2017 Annual Playground Build. The murals feature student drawings that were created when students explored the motivational themes of SOAR (safe, orderly, attentive, respectful) through various drawing prompts. These drawings featured the children playing in a new magical playground, imagining their futures and flying towards their dreams.

The mural on the D Street wall of the gym breaks down the acronym “SOAR” into its various parts. The D Street side is also the main visitors entrance to the school. The murals on this series of walls depict a butterfly garden, which symbolizes the transformation that will happen as children meander and flutter through their early school learning experiences.

The mural around the corner on the gym wall (facing the Little School House) pushes the idea of the students attaining their future aspirations further. There is a blossoming flower and a bee (which is a pollinator, and symbolically represents how children readily collect knowledge from every source in which they come in contact.

The next section of the murals is a stretch of wall with letters of the alphabet on it, and children’s drawings of birds flying their way through them. This is to symbolize the early elementary learning experiences happening within the school.

In the center of the Rorer Street side, the mural features a large book tree. The other door on the Rorer Street side of the building is surrounded by a patterned sun.

The Allegheny Avenue side has two retaining walls with mosaic murals made by David Woods in 2005. These walls are filled with geometric patterns and tile mandalas. They also have inspirational sayings in English and Spanish. David Woods created the mosaic tables that are part of the new playground equipment to match the geometric pattern found in these mosaic murals. The murals on this side of the building also borrow the patterning of the existing tile works and add them into the background.

Since 1999, the Philadelphia Eagles (as the Philadelphia Eagles Youth Partnership from 1999-2015) has funded an annual Playground Build that includes the entire Philadelphia Eagles organization, including players, coaches, and staff members, with a Philadelphia school community to transform asphalt school yards into beautiful, imaginative and safe spaces for play and recreation. Mural Arts Philadelphia joined this partnership between the Eagles and the School District of Philadelphia in 2002. Mural Arts leads the development and production of the murals and mosaic tables that are part of these projects. Once a school is selected, Mural Arts leads an introductory pep rally at the school, as well as drawing workshops and after-school art programs with students to involve the school community in developing a theme for the project. Murals are then designed around the theme, often incorporating student drawings and artwork. The projects also include installations of play structures and a mini Eagles turf field in addition to the colorful murals and mosaic tables.