Town of West Boylston 200th Anniversary Celebration

Click here for a larger picture of the Mosaic

WEST BOYLSTON — The students at Major Edwards Elementary School have about 15,000 reasons to be proud, and those reasons are displayed in a one-of-a-kind original mosaic portraying historic sites in West Boylston inside the school. The mosaic was created by all the students in the school to commemorate the town’s bicentennial and is on prominent display on a central wall of the school, just inside the school’s main corridor.

Major Edwards students were asked to depict historic sites in town that mean something to them. The youngsters were helped by photographs of West Boylston’s historic sites taken by West Boylston High School students. Professional mosaic artist Cindy Fisher then pulled together the Edwards students’ work into the mosaic now on display.

“It’s really hard to just draw any building from memory, and Sarah O’Connor had the great idea of having the high-schoolers take photographs that the elementary kids could refer to as they drew their pictures,” Fisher said. “That was a great idea and it really worked well.”

Fisher was quick to point out that O’Connor’s contributions to the mosaic project were many.

“Sarah and her family did so much. Sarah’s father, Aaron Goodale III, built the frame for the mosaic and it’s just perfect. It displays the mosaic so beautifully, and we were so lucky to have that done for us,” Fisher said.

Major Edwards students were diligent and precise about getting the work for the mosaic done, according to Fisher.

Fifth grade students at Major Edwards worked on the Bicentennial Mosaic that now adorns the school’s wall. In front of the mosaic are fifth grade students of the month for this school year (from left): Abby Colangelo, Natalie Phelps, Lindsay Connor, Monica O’Brien,and Kyle Donaldson. Not pictured is student-of-the-month Ryan Farmer. (Banner photo/JONI KOOGLER)

"The kids were fantastic. They just did everything, and were so willing to do anything that needed to be done."
Mosaic artist Cindy Fisher

Students created the original pictures for the mosaic, and then helped Fisher to cut tiles, glue and grout tiles, and clean the work to get it to its finished state.

“It was just the older kids who did the cutting, of course. But they all helped with every single thing they could,” she said.

“The kids were fantastic. They just did everything, and were so willing to do anything that needed to be done. It was so funny to see all those little arms going at once, working hard to clean up the tile after it was in place. They were just great,” Fisher said with a laugh.

And the students enjoyed the professional artwork experience to the fullest. Conversation was light-hearted among a group of fifth-graders as they discussed the project last week.

Natalie Phelps talked about how the mosaic would be a lasting gift.

“I thought it was cool that it would be here forever and that we took part in it,” she said.

Abby Colangelo, who worked on the rail trail depicted in the mosaic, seemed to have thoughts along the same line about a long-lasting contribution.

“I thought it was fun, especially to know it would always be in the school,” she said.

Kyle Donaldson enjoyed the mosaic experience, and wasn’t shy about admitting it.

“I thought it was exciting and fun to put it together,” he said. “I enjoyed taking part in it.”

Monica O’Brien and Lindsay Connor were especially fascinated with seeing all the pieces of the mosaic come together.

“It was cool to see all the pictures drawn and see how it came together in one mosaic,” Lindsay said.

“I liked nipping the tiles. It was fun piecing it together and making the whole thing come together,” Monica agreed.

The students aren’t alone in their pride of and pleasure with the fruit of their labors. Major Edwards Principal Thomas Caruso is also proud about the work of the Major Edwards students.

“It’s a great project. It involved all the kids,” Caruso said.

The students made the work their own, according to the principal.

“They took ownership of it and pride in doing it,” he said.

Caruso sees the long-term good that will come from the mosaic.

“They’ll come back when they’re older, many with their own children. They’ll remember it all their lives,” he said. “They took great pride in it.”

Click here for a larger picture of the Mosaic