In addition to Inspiration Station, the Ector County ISD Development Office is gaining a reading garden complete with a mural created by art teacher Priscilla Hernandez.
Celeste Potter, executive director of development for ECISD, said the garden will be unveiled in the fall, but no date has been set yet.
It will be a space where Odessa High School students can come hang out during lunch.
The mural, which includes an open book, inspirational words and butterflies, took Hernandez about 18 days to create.
Her friend Maribel Aranda, Director of Administrative Services, helped Hernandez with the mural’s look. Aranda was Hernandez’ principal at Crockett Middle School.
Hernandez is now moving to Ector Middle School to be an art teacher there.
At first glance it doesn’t look like a mural would be hard to paint on the wall, but the texture needed more brush strokes to get it the way she wanted.
Potter gave Hernandez a sketch of an open book with butterflies and greenery coming out of it. Hernandez has words coming out of the book making it look magical.
She also got help during the process from students and the community.
She added that she appreciates the trust the Education Foundation put in her to do the project.
Hernandez said she’s ready to do more mural painting.
“You get so focused in on what you’re doing that it’s very relaxing. … You forget everything else that’s going on in your life,” Hernandez said.
