Campbell transforms Hawk country

    Back in June, the big brick wall on the far end of the elementary school’s soccer field got a makeover. What was once a boring and a washed out dark green color is now a bright, eye-catching hawk of green and gold that reads, Hawk Country.

    Designed and painted by art teacher, Lisa Campbell, North Harford has had some other recent improvements to make our environment more welcoming and visually appealing. The new Hawk Country banner and Hawk flags that are displayed in the parking lot are a part of the continued initiative to build “One Hawk, One Nation” pride.

    Campbell commented her inspiration “is to build up morale and motivation, and school spirit.”

   Freshman Cadence Alampi said, “It looks way better than it did before when it was very plain. It represents us;  the Hawks and looks good.”

    Not surprisingly, Campbell’s project took multiple weeks of suffering in the heat of June to complete the mural.  “It took me over 40 hours, start to finish,” noted Campbell. She did the whole mural single-handedly, and added that, “it was a fun and hot experience.”

    The heat didn’t stop Campbell, but it did add in another challenge. “It was very, very hot during those last weeks in June, and the paint was not working. It was sticky and not flowing right, but when you’re a sign illustrator and sign painter, that’s what you have to work with during the summer months.”

     Another difficulty Campbell faced was her height and her lack of help. “The only thing I had to figure out was how to get real high up without scaffolding, so I did certain things with my husband’s truck and stuff like that.”

    She said there weren’t any major obstacles that she had to directly face considering principal  Mr. Colin Carr did a lot to get the project approved because he was right on board with it.

    To ensure that her weeks of hard work did not go to waste, Campbell used specific paint and tools.  “I have special paint that I use for lettering; it’s exterior paint. It has certain materials that aren’t allowed to be on school grounds, so I had to use specific paint that Harford County allows. It took me longer to do than it should have because I had to do it in multiple layers, like paint it three four times, but that’s how it goes,” the art teacher added.

    In recent years, our students, staff, and art department has been doing multiple things to beautify our school. Campbell expressed her interest in continuing to makeover our school with the art students. “I definitely want to do some more murals but I think we are going to have some help from students. The interior isn’t a big deal but the exterior takes a lot of time and thought but there’s a lot we can do.”

      Campbell is proud of her hard work along with the rest of the North Harford community who gets to admire the beautiful artwork everyday on their way to school.

    Seniors Brooke Wiley and Kylie Cowan commented that, “When you first come into the road by the school and you see it (the mural),  it feels like more than just a school.” They also agreed that the mural, “shows off our school and represents us.”

    “I really just like where your going to school down 165 and you finally see that ugly wall that was there, it gives a morale, its cool,” said Campbell.