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Graffiti artists painting Belton classrooms

Painting over graffiti
Posted at 5:56 PM, Jun 24, 2021
and last updated 2021-06-24 19:21:49-04

Belton ISD is getting creative to help make learning more fun and impactful for their pre-k students.

Josue Rivera and his wife Riki are donating their time and graffiti talents to paint murals in multiple classrooms, helping to transform them into experience rooms.

”In total we are going to be doing 29 rooms," said Josue Rivera, graffiti artist and founder of Laced and Found. "We’ve done seven and today is our 8th.”

The rooms will all have a unique theme like construction, veterinarian, and space to add to the learning experience in each room.

”All the learning that we do in here is aligned to the theme, but also we are meeting the guidelines that we need to meet for pre-k,” said Courtney Brewer, assistant principal at Belton Early Childhood School.

There will also be things like miniature barns, towns and other structures and activities to go along with each theme and mural.

”Kids need to be up and moving and where the theme all makes learning connect for it to stick so, hopefully this is going to be here for many years to come,” said Brewer.

The lasting affect the art will have on future students is a sentiment that make up a big part of Josue and Riki’s motivation to give back to the community and paint the rooms free of charge.

”I think the kids are going to see this ever single day and that fact that these murals are going to be around for decades is very important to us because, there are kids that aren’t even born yet that are going to be able to enjoy this later on down the road," said Rivera.

All 29 experience rooms will be ready to go for next year’s students.