Lost murals re-created by friends of school
From the 1940s until 1999, the walls of Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School were covered in murals depicting sports, literature, Montgomery County history, you name it.
When asbestos was discovered in the mural walls in 1999, however, the murals were destroyed, and all that remained of them were a few photographs.
"B-CC has always been a great school, and these murals help preserve those memories," said Jonda McFarlane, a 1956 graduate and then later a teacher at B-CC. "This will help the students remember their history."
McFarlane was part of a committee that spearheaded the project to replace the murals. She solicited money from her class of 1956, and then found a mural artist — Chevy Chase resident and former B-CC parent Katie Freeman Vita — to re-create one of the old murals. It shows B-CC as it was in the 1940s: boys wearing ties to class, bonfires that the school used to host during pep rallies, a clock showing the old 9 a.m. start time for class.
After Freeman Vita finished the $5,000 mural, though, something was missing.
"Students kept coming up to me and asking, ‘Why's everyone white?'"Principal Karen Lockard said of the mural. "It was an interesting lesson in social history … but then we knew we should do something that represented B-CC today."
So Freeman Vita and eight art students from the school designed their own mural, depicting Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School: 2009. The design was the same — three panels, illustrating student life — but after that things take a turn toward the 21st century.
Replacing an old version of the school newspaper is a computer with the Web site Wikipedia pulled up on the screen. A student walking into the main entrance has a Barack Obama pin on his backpack. And the students represent the racial make-up of B-CC, circa 2009.
"We really wanted the mural to show 2009," said Laura Sheys, 17, a 2009 graduate of the school.
"It's a historic statement," added Caroline Walker, also a 17-year-old 2009 graduate.
The 1940s replica and the 2009 reimagining now sit side by side in the main foyer of B-CC.
In addition to the funds raised by the class of 1956, the B-CC Educational Foundation and the school's PTSA also donated money. The canvases that the murals sit on were designed and donated by Principal Lockard's husband, David.
"You do see that a lot has changed, but most things don't change," McFarlane said. "Sure, there's a little technology, but there are still sports and chorus. It's still the same flavor."
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