Birth of a mural

Joanne Connelly photo

03 April 2002 | Berkeley undergrads (left to right) Ilona Rubashevsky, Pinal Shah, Sherilyn Hanson (below ladder), Lorina Caldera and Hector Rojas put finishing touches on a mural created at Oakland’s Fruitvale Elementary School over their spring break.

In a project administered by Cal Corps Public Service Center, a team of Berkeley students worked with four Oakland K-6 schools, giving classroom lessons on farmworker leader César Chavez. Fruitvale pupils used what they had learned to create a colorful mural — with help from a local artist and the Berkeley volunteer contingent — on the wall of a portable classroom facing their playground. The mural will have its official unveiling at a community celebration at the school at 1 p.m., Saturday, May 4, The Fruitvale mural was one of four “alternative break” projects conducted by Berkeley students during last week’s spring vacation.