RA Program Spotlight: Mural Brings Community Together

Social Work

Frederick, Maryland

I am also involved in Student Government Association as the Diversity Chair for exec board which means I oversee and participate in Feminist Student Union, Queer Student Union, Black Student Union, La Communidad, and the religious groups on campus. My program was the "Meyran Mural," where I took large pieces of art paper and drew a black circle on each one that I cut up into fourths. The idea is that when everyone designs their own fourth of a circle, they can all be put back together to create a beautiful collage of art. I was inspired to do this program originally from RA Phaja's program of the handprint murals, as well as a program I saw online that had a similar idea. I wanted to take it to the next level and make it more creative so that people would really be invested in what they could do with these simple circles. My program was very well received by my residents! They were excited about the concept and invited other residents to come down and participate as well. A few of them even followed up because they wanted to see the finished project. They learned how important it is to express your individuality because when everyone is proud of who they are and what they are capable of, it creates a greater sense of community and support. I think that the mural symbolizes diversity on campus. Everyone's little piece of the mural was so specific to them and their interests, what colors they like, what they wanted to put in it, etc., so when they all came together you could see that within the vast differences between the pieces, there was the circle that brought it all together, just as living in this community brings us all together in spite of our differences.