In honor of the late Mrs. Donna Fallon, UC High’s former AP Language teacher and ASB advisor who passed away a year and a half ago, a group of art students, under the direction of Art Teacher Delia Martin have come together to create a mural located next to the ASB room in the west 200 building.

   “The mural is a simple way to remember Mrs. Fallon and her love for learning,” said Martin, who took on the project to produce the mural.

   “I feel compelled to honor her every day by loving, inspiring, and serving my students and colleagues the way she would have done. I think those of us who knew her carry those pieces of her that we respected and admired with us – and that’s her legacy. In that way, she is still inspiring others – even those who never knew her,” said  AP English and AVID Teacher Jennifer Huszar, whose classroom sits just across the hall from Fallon’s former classroom in the 200 building.

   “I hope the mural will be something beautiful and inspiring for us all to look at. But more than that, I hope it will be a memorial to Mrs. Fallon for those of us who knew her and loved her,” said Huszar.

   “I’m hoping the mural will add beauty to the school and give those of us who knew Donna a place to pause and remember her. She was a special person on this campus and she deserves to be remembered in a meaningful way,” said AP Government Teacher Michele Fournier.

   “I love the process and how the students engage in discussion about the creation as they make decisions in every detail of the drawing and the choice of colors,” said Martin. “The colors should transform the line drawing to add life to the whole piece’s colors.”

   “I want them [the colors] to not only be cohesive, but something that contributes to that playful fantasy-like feeling,” said Senior Grace Yang, who is working on the mural as part of Martin’s class.

   “I like the landscape we’ve created. It acts as a base to the mural in my opinion and it gives the viewer enough room to really get into the details of the piece,” said Senior Javier Orozco, who is also contributing to the mural.

   “There are references to Harry Potter – a series that she loved. This is a story about bravery and perseverance, and it teaches us that death doesn’t separate us from those people we love – that we carry them with us in our hearts,” Huszar said.

   “The mural intends to express Mrs. Fallon’s love for Harry Potter, but also her love for literature as well as her 23 years of dedication to UC High,” said Yang.

   “Her legacy here is instilling a love of reading and writing in those she taught, as well as an example of what it means to be a real team player as a co-worker. She was a person who said yes when things needed to get done. She worked hard, she loved to laugh and she loved her husband and children more than anything. She is and will be missed by many,” said Fournier.

   “[The mural is] a depiction of a person that once was and her beauty, individuality, and love for others. [It shows] her love for reading and dreaming,” said Martin.

   “Although I wasn’t able to have her as a teacher, my cousin who did describes her as a kind and caring person who sought to support her students through thick and thin,” said Yang.