An impactful mural featuring artwork designed by area K–12 students now graces the home of Temple University’s College of Education and Human Development (CEHD). 

The Philly Cares mural located in Ritter Hall features 288 artworks designed by K–12 students attending schools in the Philadelphia region. Each square in the mural represents one of these students and their ideas about who they are and what they care about. 

The project is a collaboration between CEHD and the Art Education and Community Arts Practices Department at Tyler School of Art and Architecture. 

The mural was created after Monika Williams Shealey, dean of CEHD, approached Susan Cahan, dean of Tyler, in 2023 with a vision of having artwork decorate the walls of Ritter Hall. 

“Our vision as a college is to ensure that all have access to outstanding education. I know sometimes people have narrowed education to reading, writing and mathematics. But we know that education is so much more,” Shealey said during a reception held to celebrate the mural. 

“We know that embracing the gifts and talents that we all have inside us is important and we know that we can often leverage that brilliance through the arts. 

“So that is why this project is so important to us,” she continued. “Not only does it make our building aesthetically pleasing, but it helps us display the commitment to our ‘why,’ and the children of Philadelphia are our ‘why.’ They are why we are here.” 

The reception held on March 30 at Hank’s Café was attended by Temple faculty and staff, cooperating teachers, pre-service teachers, and school students whose artwork was included in the mural and their families. 

Through the Philly Cares lesson developed by master of education student Hanna-Mae Greenfield and adopted by Temple’s pre-service teachers, the K–12 students responded to the prompt “who are you?” and “what do you care about?” Their ideas are represented through mixed media collages. 

Renee Jackson, associate professor and art education program head at Tyler, acknowledged the project participants including the 18 pre-service teachers and school students who created the mural’s artwork. 

“Your artwork and your reflections are both beautiful and compelling,” Jackson told the students. “I continue to enjoy looking at this work, as it continues to reveal layers and layers of meaning, charm and joy each time.” 

One of the participating students is Emilia Yunusova, who described the images included in her self-portrait during the reception. Her collage includes images of a hawk to represent how fast life goes by, a ballerina for her appreciation of dancing, an image of wintertime (which is her favorite season) and the number 13 (which represents her age). 

“I created my artwork to represent myself and who I am,” explained Yunusova, a Haverford Middle School student. 

“I feel really grateful for getting the opportunity to have my project here.” 

Pre-service teachers Rah Catani and Ella Corson highlighted their experience of engaging with students on the project.  They are among the pre-service teachers who worked closely with mentor educators at 15 participating schools across the Philadelphia region. 

“This was our first time ever teaching in an official classroom setting,” said Catani, a junior in Temple’s art education program. 

“We were a little nervous going into it, but our students’ passion, their creativity and their excitement was so encouraging and inspiring,” Catani said. “Seeing their hard work and how much they genuinely cared about the project made it so much easier for us to teach and for us to engage them. It was such a wonderful experience.” 

Students who designed artwork for the mural attend 15 schools in the Philadelphia region including Haverford Middle School, Girard College, Potter-Thomas School, the Paul L. Dunbar School, Cristo Rey High School, Lower Moreland High School, Philadelphia Performing Arts Charter High School, Penn Alexander School, the John F. McCloskey School, the Gloria Casarez Elementary School, Clymer Elementary School, St. Peter’s School, Central High School, the J. Hampton Moore School and the Alliance for Progress Charter School.