250 Mustangs Paint 5 Mustangs
Designed by Lin on Spirit Wall

By Margaret Lipman (September 26, 2005)

An estimated 250 Mason students turned out at the annual Grounds Party to help paint a new mural, munch on hot dogs and brownies, and celebrate the conclusion of the third week of school last Friday afternoon.

It has become a GM tradition to have this yearly celebration, which alternates between “fence-weaving” (displaying a spirited message on the chain link fence by the football field) and painting a new mural on the wall near the building’s Haycock Road entrance.  This year’s mural was designed by senior Laura Lin and featured the sprawling message of “Mason Spirit” superimposed on a herd of galloping black mustangs, as well as a quote by George Mason himself.  Mason’s quotation is, “All men are by nature equally free and independent.”

Senior Laura Lin’s creation was finally realized on the Spirit Wall by 7 p.m. Friday night after nearly 250 artists worked on it. (Photo by Jennifer Saldana)

The complete concept of the mural’s design remained a mystery to the students even as they painted.  The wall had been whitewashed, covering the mural painted two years ago, and divided into around 50 foot-long sections covered in a plastic grid.  Several students were assigned to each section and were given an instruction card showing exactly which squares of the grid they needed to paint.  It was only after an hour or two that students could step back and see the entire project that they were a part of begin to take form

Besides the painting, Mason students also enjoyed music ranging from Gwen Stefani’s “Hollaback Girl” to Diana Ross’s “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough;” the grilling talents of several gifted seniors, and quite a lot of lounging around on the school’s front lawn (with a few soccer balls and Frisbees thrown in, too.) 

The mural proved to be a more difficult task than many had expected; at 7 pm, four hours after the Grounds Party had begun, a small group of students (in addition to SCA coordinators Mrs. Tooze and Mrs. Jayson and Assistant Principal Ms. McCarty) were still putting the final touches on the wall.

“The school spirit here was ferocious,” commented sophomore Ramsey Kincannon, one of the few students still painting at 7 p.m., jokingly referencing the gigantic italicized “p” in “Spirit” that students had nicknamed “The Ferocious ‘P.’”