ESTES HILLS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Chapel Hill, NC
A Honey Bee’s Connection to Its Hive
A honey bee’s connection to the other bees in the hive is a necessary component of life for them. Each individual bee has a job, but all of those jobs relate back to what is good for the entire hive. They are all tiny bits of one big thing. Connection is key to their survival and the Estes Hills Elementary School mural is an image of many bees coming together to make a symbol of moving forward. I had a vision of this design many months before I painted it. I didn’t know where I would paint it. But I knew it belonged on an educational institution.
Massive Change
Sustainability coordinator, Dan Schnitzer for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro School System (at the time) said it best. “Massive change usually does not happen by tsunami. It usually happens when each individual does their part to create a ripple of change within their own life, home or community. When these ripples collide, they shift the glassy stillness of the water of the status quo in new ways. When each individual pebble splashes a ripple of change, their energy combines to create a wave, a wave of change. Education is the epitome of this. Every day, students are learning facts and skills that they filter through their personal lens and act as the pebble in the waters of the world. When we inspire students to each do their part to better the world, their individual impact may just be a ripple, but the combined ripple effect creates the waves of massive change. Bees are this massive change. Bees need massive change.”
