Surprise Sketches teach Art, Religion, Gratitude

Katie Botha • May 26, 2021

A few weeks ago, SMCS’ Visual Arts teacher, Mrs. Dunham, arrived at school to see yet another pop-up mural on her whiteboard. Like all of the other murals that have appeared overnight this year, it depicted a scene from the Bible. This time, it was a beautiful sketch of Jesus turning water into wine at the Wedding at Cana.

More recently, she arrived in her room to a neatly stacked pile of drawings with a note that read, “I made some drawings for the students of your class. I hope you like it.” It was signed by fellow SMCS staff member, Jerry Duenas.

These drawings were in fact messages of thanks, individually created for each student who had written Mr. Duenas a thank you for sharing his talents and faith throughout the school year in such an engaging way. Every time he left a mural, Mrs. Dunham would read her students the Bible story depicted in his surprise work. As seen in the images below, the beautiful drawings Jerry made for each student were also largely biblical in subject matter (with a few sharks and one soccer player thrown in!).

If you love seeing Jerry’s art as much as we do, you can see more–including this time lapse video of a full color mural– on his dedicated Facebook page. Thank you, Jerry, for sharing your talents so generously with our students and the wider community this school year. You are a blessing to us all!

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Faithful Citizenship Resources In anticipation of Election Day on November 5, the Virginia Catholic Conference has prepared voter education resources to help Catholics confidently vote with an informed conscience. Those resources can be found on the Catholic Diocese of Richmond's website . School Day Reminders This year, Election Day is a regular school day with a regular bell schedule at Saint Mary's Catholic School. In prior years, it has coincided with Parent-Teacher Conferences resulting in a day-off for students; however, that is not the case this school year. Many of our students across all grade levels are aware of the importance of Election Day. We anticipate the days leading up to Election Day and those following it will provide topics of conversation that students may choose to engage in both inside and outside the classroom. If necessary, our teachers may offer age-appropriate explanations of the day's events and results. As family members, we encourage you to guide your children as they navigate their thoughts and feelings over the coming weeks and months.
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