As I was walking last April through a maze of exhibits at a National Science Teachers Association conference, I spotted a dolphin poster which was being offered by the Wyland Foundation. Wyland, an internationally known marine artist, spends much of his time and money educating students about the importance of maintaining our water supply.

I signed up to win a visit from Wyland, although my luck at winning contests seemed to have peaked years ago when I won a set of towels at a department store.

Amazingly, I won! A Madison school would be the only school on Wyland's Midwest tour of museums and aquariums.

Now the tough part... Where should the visit take place? For a number of reasons the final choice was Cherokee Heights Middle School, which turned out to be very fortuitous. Amy Meiztel for example, Cherokee's cultural arts teacher, has been teaching about Wyland for over ten years.

On Tuesday, October 10th, a semi-truck decorated with paintings of Orcas and blue whales pulled into the Cherokee parking lot. That was the beginning of a wonderful morning! The staff and students at Cherokee put in an amazing amount of advance work to ensure its success, including making displays of Wyland's art.

The morning began with an assembly where Wyland talked to the students and asked them how they could protect our water resources. He then began work on a 7' by 20' mural. For the next several hours, about 40 students, including some from Sennett and Black Hawk MS, helped him complete the mural. To watch the students working on the mural — which will remain at Cherokee — was an amazing experience.

Although a number of local television stations and newspapers were there, the Video Club from Cherokee really outdid them all by asking Wyland questions which they had gathered from their fellow students. These questions included ones about a mural which is to be painted by Wyland and students from around the world for the 2008 Olympics in China.

Thanks to the Cherokee staff and the students from Cherokee, Black Hawk and Sennett. It was a memorable day!

A middle school student concentrates on her portion of the undersea world.


Painting fish can be delightful fun!


Wyland puts the finishing touches on the Orca he painted, along with the sun, birds and water at the top of the mural. The rest of the mural was painted by 40 middle school students.


Students and Wyland give a hearty thumbs up.

MMSD staff with Wyland: (front) Candy Oyler, Wyland, Lori Aegerter, Becky Gilman, Mara Branch; (back) Sheryl Dhuey, Sue Johnson

Related MMSD Links

• S'NEWS: Cherokee Mural

Other Related Links

• Wyland's Web Site