By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

NAPLES — A group of students transformed one plain white wall of their high school into a pair of butterfly wings.

The completion of the butterfly wings spanned from last spring through this past fall. That’s because COVID-19 closed the school and delayed the painting being finished. It was one of about a half-dozen community service projects that the Lake Region High School (LRHS) Student Council took on during the school year.

The butterfly wings are orange, yellow and black similarto a Monarch. The wings have space for a person to stand in-between for a photo. Above the painted wings are the words: ‘Be the change.’

A few of the teens who participated with student council commented on what ‘be the changes’ means.  

“I think that it means you can still change yourself for the better during the school year and not to get stuck in that negative loop of just not trying,” according to 10th grader Joe England. “[You can] put in the effort and change yourself for the better.”

Tenth-grader Brianna Lewis, who hails from Casco, believes that a person can be a catalyst for other people’s transformations.

“Be the change — probably being the reason someone is changing, but in a good way,” Lewis said. 

Casco resident Bhabnish Tucker, a 9th grader viewed it as a worthwhile goal. 

“Be that positive change that you want to see in your school, in your environment. Strive toward that,” Tucker said.  

About 10 students were involved in the Student Council, which met every Wednesday afternoon. Other people on the student council include: Cierra Grover, Rene Carver, Samantha Donahue, Alexia Cricones, Ioanna Katsigiannis, and Grady Bragdon Clements. The majority of those students were playing sports games during the time of the interview. There were two adult sponsors for the student council, Ann Bragdon and Jess Daggett. 

Some of the students talked about the process of completing the painting and also how people have responded to it. 

“I saw mostly positive reactions to it. I heard a few people talk about it. They enjoyed the presence of it. It made the wall seem more colorful,” Tucker said.  

Lewis said the teachers were more verbal about their appreciation of the art work.  

“All the teachers liked it,” she said. “I’ve seen some students take photos with it like for the yearbook.”

“A lot of the teachers who had seen us doing it, they liked it when it was finished,” England said.

It did take a while to complete. 

“They started it last year but got shut down because of COVID-19. So, I got permission to finish at the beginning of this school year,” Bragdon said, adding that the mural was finished in October or November. 

“It was really hard to paint all together because we had to social distance at the same time,” Lewis said. “We had to sanitize the brushes if we were gonna switch or something.”

England shared his take on the painting project.  

“To reiterate what Brianna said, we had to do the painting in shifts. We had to stay back while other people did the painting,” he said. 

According to teacher Ann Bragdon, the student council’s Wednesday meetings ended up being a valuable social time while quarantine and other COVID-related restrictions had reduced that in students’ lives. 

During the school year, some of the service oriented projects were writing inspirational quotes on masks to be displayed in hallways, a pumpkin carving event, and an Easter egg hunt. Also, the student council hosted a fundraiser for the family that lost their home in a fire in Casco.