ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Monday, June 10, 1996                  TAG: 9606100064
SECTION: NEWSFUN                  PAGE: NF-1 EDITION: METRO 

SO!!?

It's not often that every single kid in a school gets to work toward a common goal. But that's what happened this year at Mason's Cove Elementary School in Salem.

The pupils - all 250 or so - contributed to designing and painting a mural or the border surrounding the mural on the wall near the school's cafeteria.

Some of the pupils, such as fifth-grader Keith Altice, helped paint the background - a scene of mountains and streams. Keith personally painted the moon.

Other kids either decorated a ceramic tile with acrylic paint or decorated tiles that fellow pupils had painted. Some kids put jewels or glitter on the tiles or collected twigs and glued them to the tiles. The border around the mural is made up of those tiles.

Planning for the mural started about four years ago when artist Sue Egbert had two daughters attending Mason's Cove. Because Egbert's daughter, Laura, is a fifth-grader and will not attend the school next year, Debbie Harris, an art teacher for Roanoke County, helped step up implementation of the plan. The pupils painted the tiles and worked on the mural during art class.

Brendon Damiano, a fifth-grader, painted the stars on the mural. "It looks really good," he said.

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