Westbrooke Elementary renovates its media center

Westbrooke Elementary School students were in for a treat on the first day of school Monday, Aug. 11. 

The media center had been completely renovated with a new mural and furniture. 

The school’s media specialist, Ann Mansier, attended a meeting at Pershing Elementary School and saw a beautiful mural, in which she took interest.

After asking about the mural, she contacted the artist, Jordan Emmitt, through emails to see if she’d like to paint the walls of Westbrooke Elementary’s media center. 

And of course, Emmitt said yes. 

“I had twins in 2017 and realized I couldn’t travel like I used to when I was a wedding photographer, so I kind of started painting, and it grew and grew from there,” Emmitt said. “I never imagined that I would be doing murals full time.” 

After meetings with Mansier and the faculty, Emmitt got to work. 

The school wanted the library to be themed after “The Jungle Book” movie, as well as colorful and bright, she said. 

“Orange County Public Schools, they hire what I’m thinking are very straightforward, middle-aged guys to pick their paint colors, so I was like, ‘Let’s make this a space that kids are going to love and remember,’ so we ended up adding colored paintings to all the walls,” Emmitt said. 

The mural took around three weeks to complete. Emmitt said it wasn’t an easy process. 

“I was very accommodating as far as like, one person not liking something as much,” she said. 

But accommodating everyone’s wishes called for multiple revision to her first draft. 

Emmitt moved characters, animals and plants around to make sure the school was happy with the results. 

“I told them to tell me 10 animals they wanted to see in the mural, what elements, what colors, what theming and stuff,” she said. “I felt like I was there for a million hours, but it was just three weeks total.” 

Emmitt worked six hours per day, four days out of the week to complete the project before school started. 

“It was super fun and a lot of work, but it ended up working out really sweet,” she said. “I’m so proud of it.” 

Emmitt said she was there to see the school staff’s reaction to the mural  and it was a great experience. 

Some educators who have been at the school for years thanked her for the mural.

“It’s so bright, so colorful; we needed this,” they told her. “That was really sweet.” 

Her biggest goal is to create a safe space in which memories can be made.  

“Anytime I go into a space and I’m doing a complete mural like this, I want kids to be like, ‘Mom, come look at this,’ ‘Mom, come check this out,’” she said. “I want parents to have a place where they’re like, ‘OK, this is where my kid makes memories.’ I just like creating a space where these kids are going to look back and be like, ‘Oh my gosh, that was a fun place.’’’

To make the mural even more immersive, Emmitt added paw prints throughout acting as a scavenger hunt for the kids. 

“I’m so proud of it,” she said. “I look back at my last mockup and (the mural) side-by-side, and it looks exactly what I envisioned.”