When elementary principal Susan Shelton asked if the art students could help with a project, teacher Amanda Harter was glad to jump on the opportunity.

“Collaboration is really important to me,” Harter said. “So when I was contacted by Ms. Taylor Shelton about the possibility of students helping with kindergarten face painting, I agreed immediately.”

The request was short notice, so Harter scrambled to put together painting kits for art students to use and quickly found juniors who would volunteer to participate.

“I felt really excited to be able to work with little kids and to see their faces after I was done with them,” junior Alexis O’Daniel said. “They were so excited and it was so much fun to do.”

Each art student had a bag of face paint, face wipes, an idea sheet for the kindergarteners to look at and their own creativity. None of them had ever face painted before.

“They had never face painted before and yet they did an amazing job interacting with the elementary students,” Harter said. “I was really proud of the work they did.”

One of the hardest parts of the project was keeping the kids still. Wiggly faces were hard to paint, but the high school students were patient and took their time with each kindergartener to make sure the painting was a success.

“I had conversations with them because when they were talking they would be still,” junior Litzy Gongora said. “They’ve asked us to come back and do it again, and I hope we get to.”