2020 marks 10 years since the formation of the Conservatory of Fine Arts [COFA] program at Sunny Hills, and to commemorate such a feat, COFA students have partnered with the Art Club to start a mural project for the newly remodeled Performing Arts Center.

However, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the project has been halted because of school closure and will resume during the 2020-2021 school year.

“I’m sad and disappointed, but it is what it is,” said COFA president senior Alia Scroggins, who initiated the idea. “I was really looking forward to [having] this memorabilia come together, [but now] my hopes are to pass this down to the next COFA student director and have [him or her] carry through with it.”

Scroggins said she first talked with the COFA council about her idea, giving it many options, and in the end, they all came to an agreement to work on getting a mural painted on one of the exterior walls of the PAC.

To get approval to add the design onto the PAC, Scroggins had to go through the following steps:

• Contact art club president junior Arianne Sisk to see if Sisk and her club members are interested in coming up with a design and helping to paint the mural.
• Review the mural concept with principal Allen Whitten.
• Obtain approval from an official from the Fullerton Joint Union High School District.
• Inform campus art teachers to ensure that this project would eventually be completed.

“I love the idea of this project,” Whitten said. “I know our [students] can produce an amazing work of art.”

Another stall for the project is that a mural design has yet to be decided upon. A total of five drawings are up for consideration, most likely in the new school year. Once that’s done, the plan was for the art club students to do the painting.

Sisk said she’s looking forward to the project’s completion.

“I feel really excited because the mural will set the entire mood of the PAC and really make it feel like our COFA sanctuary,” she said.

COFA director and Art Club adviser Brian Wall said the cost for completion of the mural project — including paint and supplies — will range from $700-$900, which will come out of a $6,000 donation COFA received earlier this school year from South El Monte-based VACCO Industries.

Wall added that the mural will most likely be painted on the back side of the PAC facing the 40s and 60s wings.

“I’m totally behind it—It will adorn our newly renovated PAC, branding the space as a center for art/performance and artists at Sunny Hills, and it will give students the chance to create a mural that will stand for a long time that they can be proud to have been a part in creating,” he said.