Posted on Mon, Sep. 06, 2010

Students arriving back to Grover Beach Elementary School in August were met with a surprise: brightly painted murals and surfboards adorning several exterior classroom walls. More are to be added before the end of the year.

“It’s something that makes this school more recognizable, different,” said 12-year-old Montana Dobbs, who helped her mother, TJ, and parent Jen Matsuura, paint throughout the summer months.

In all, TJ Dobbs completed six murals, which feature windsurfers, sharks and a patchwork design of a lighthouse and sailboats. There’s also a large mural of the school’s mascot, the golden gopher, that recently received an updated look.

Students last year participated in a contest to design surfboards. The student council voted on the designs, and then TJ and Montana Dobbs painted them onto the boards, which will hang in various areas of the campus.

“It gives us our own identity,” Grover Beach Elementary Principal Juan Olivarria said. “The appearance of the campus has improved so much.”