Newcomb students collaborate on first-class mural

A WHOLE school project is expected to leave a lasting impact on a Bellarine campus thanks to a special collaboration between VicHealth, a former student, and a local school’s student body.

Newcomb Secondary College will unveil an exciting new school mural at a special celebration on Tuesday (March 28) following hundreds of hours planning and work from all year levels of the student body.

Making the project more memorable, students and faculty received assistance from former James Harrison Secondary College (merged with Newcomb SC) student and prominent Melbourne-based street artist Tyrone “Rone” Wright.

“It’s a different kind of reward, it has certainly been an interesting to work with 450 students at different ages and to try and give them something to work on,” Mr Wright said.

“I’ve only ever done one workshop before, I’ve been lucky enough to work on my own projects for the last decade or so, so it’s nice to do something for the community as well, one that I have a personal connection to.”

The funding to create the mural, facilitated by Geelong Gallery, arose from VicHealth’s Jumpstart initiative which aims to build healthier communities overflowing with sport, active play, food, and art.

Geelong Gallery Learn educator Ella Preston said the design was entirely created by students.

“The main features of the mural include the school colours, blue and green, and seahorses, the school’s emblem,” she said.

“The mural is located on the outside of an unused quadrant of the school, however, plenty of students and visitors are expected to see the mural as the location serves as a detour between the school and the nearby shopping precinct.

“Rone had a chance to collaborate with any school in Geelong, and he chose this one.”

Newcomb Secondary art teacher Ben Davis said he and the faculty could not be prouder of the students.

“When we first found out Rone decided to collaborate with us on this mural the initial reaction was excitement, then immediately after was a feeling of ‘how do we do this?’,” Mr Davis said.

“That feeling quickly went to excitement again and we’ve been blown away by the determination of the students to work on this project, so we’re really proud of how they have conducted themselves throughout the process.”

Newcomb Secondary College’s unveiling event will take place at the school next Tuesday from 3.30pm to 5.00pm.