Greenwood and Woodside library art project hits ceiling
Posted: April 2, 2026
A group of Greenwood Elementary School second graders got a massive surprise when they visited their school’s library on March 24.
Library and book-inspired drawings they had made in art class had been interpreted into paintings by Woodside High School students on ceiling tiles that will adorn the library’s ceiling.
“Mine is right here,” a Greenwood student pointed out as the race was on to see whose work was where.
The collaboration between the two schools’ libraries and art departments is in its third year. It began with Woodside students visiting Greenwood to read and play themed music two years ago and continued with Greenwood students’ book-inspired drawings being turned into sculptures by Woodside students in 2025.
Woodside Lead Librarian Stephanie Persson and Greenwood Lead Librarian Lesa Chambers worked together again on the different phases of this year’s project, which was coordinated with Woodside Librarian Raquel Tucker, Woodside art teacher Maria Carter and Greenwood art teacher Tandrea Mayfield.
The idea for painting ceiling tiles came out of a meeting where they were looking at murals in the Greenwood library.
“We determined that it would focus on authors who were also illustrators,” Persson said.
Chambers chose several books from her library that were about author-illustrators, reading and the library.
Persson and Tucker read several books and showed a slide presentation to the Greenwood students, and on another day the two classes of second graders sketched their ideas in Mayfield’s class. She encouraged them to draw unique, detailed descriptions of their impressions of the stories.
Greenwood students had been told a surprise was in store, but had no idea what their drawings would be used for. Mayfield told them not to worry about perfection.
“Even if it doesn’t look all that great, if they give enough details then maybe Woodside students or we can guess what it is and they can bring it better to life,” Mayfield said. “I tell them that I can just feel something magical’s going to happen; even if you have a mistake.”
The drawings were sent to Woodside where students in the National Art Honor Society interpreted and painted them.
They set up and got to work quickly after school each of the days they painted. Working in small groups or alone, students started off with backgrounds and painted what the Greenwood drawings showed and added details to complete the creative ideas.
“It’s really sweet,” said Woodside eleventh grader Jay Gomez, a NAHS board member, as she worked on a piece. “I really enjoy doing stuff for other communities. Getting their paintings out, especially at a young age. To look back on it and say: ‘Oh look, that was my old painting.’ So it’s nice to do it for them.
“It’s nice because it’s showing the next generation of artists coming forward. It would be nice to look at them, even though some people might say it’s not that good because it’s beginner art. But everybody starts somewhere.”
One NAHS goal is to educate and promote art in the community, according to Carter, who is in her first year teaching at Woodside and looks forward to continuing to expand the partnership.
“I like the fact that we’re in walking distance to Greenwood and that we can have that partnership,” Carter said. “Because of the fact that they can mentor the younger students and then bring that excitement from the high school level into the elementary school. So that when I get them in the future, I will get them as high school students. So that’s kind of exciting for me.”
Once the surprise was shared and the tiles were unveiled, Greenwood students were able to ask questions and give compliments to the Woodside students there to greet them at the event. The two groups compared the inspirational drawings to the painted tiles, took pictures and shared snacks.
Greenwood second grader Malena Santana-Anderson, thrilled to see the results, hugged Woodside eleventh grader Naima Bohac who painted her illustration of a house complete with trees and lawn. Bohac added a girl reading a book while lying down on the grass.
“They’re so cute,” Bohac said, as the crowd of second graders celebrated.
Bohac and eleventh graders M.J. Moreno and Autumn Melrose had worked together on another tile.
“I’m happy to see they were so excited to see their work put on tiles,” Moreno said. “I hope we can do this next year, too. It’s fun.”
In addition to introducing young students to books, the project makes them aware of being part of a larger community, according to Chambers.
“It promotes literacy through the artwork connecting and promoting the stories through being able to see it in the building,” Chambers said. “And being able to have ownership of that. ‘I’m part of this community; this is my work, and my inspiration.’ And build all of those connections.”
That makes the colorful painted tiles brightening up the ceiling and decorating the library part of a larger learning mosaic.
“One of my hopes is that the students at both levels will see that what they are learning and their work have real life implementation,” Persson said. “I also love meeting the elementary kids so when they make it up to high school, they will already have a connection to the library. This is so important because reading for pleasure dwindles as students get older.”
