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More than 2,000 discarded plastic bottle caps now form a colorful mural outside Hollin Meadows Elementary School, turning student-collected waste into a lasting call for environmental stewardship.
The four-by-seven-foot artwork was unveiled with a yellow-ribbon cutting during the school’s 22nd Earth Day celebration. Children ages 5 to 15 joined their parents for gardening, art projects and other hands-on activities across the campus.
Mounted near the front entrance, the mural centers on the Earth and incorporates Virginia symbols such as cardinals and a dogwood tree. It also depicts the school’s hornet mascot, one student reading a mathematics book and another holding a ruler.
Scott Curtis, owner of Signs by Tomorrow in Lorton, designed the mural using bottle caps in many colors and sizes. Students collected caps from containers for juice, jam, ketchup and chocolate milk, as well as from felt-tip markers.
Sue Conway led the project team, establishing a collection box and helping students sort the pieces by color and size. She credited Hollin Meadows alumna Anila Angjei as the project’s “chief gluer” and Angela Palmer with overseeing the collection effort.
“This project took many people to come together,” Conway said. “It is a true reflection of what our school is. We truly are rooted in community.”
Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Michelle Reid praised the students’ participation, saying, “It’s great to have young children involved. Art unites us.”
Supervisor Dan Storck recognized Conway for bringing people together and also acknowledged his wife, Deborah, who worked as a counselor at the school for 25 years. He said the community had shown others the way for Earth Day.
State Sen. Scott Surovell presented Principal Jasibi Crews with a Virginia General Assembly commendation marking the school’s 60th anniversary. A student quickly noted that Hollin Meadows was founded one year before the first Super Bowl.
Surovell urged students to care for the planet, then drew applause with a playful promise to introduce legislation requiring schools to serve only ice cream for lunch.
Elsewhere on campus, students worked with artist Ursula Seckel to create a rainbow from leftover bottle caps. Page Bradford, owner of Hooray for Art in the Hollin Hall Shopping Center, helped children make seed bombs by combining potting soil, clay, water and wildflower seeds into balls they could plant at home.
Families also weeded raised vegetable and wildflower beds near two rainwater cisterns, while parents sold herb and vegetable seedlings. John Fulginiti said the goal was simple: “We want our kids to be outside.”
The celebration continued a long tradition of outdoor education at Hollin Meadows. In 2009, former first lady Michelle Obama visited the school through her healthy-schools fitness and nutrition initiative. After students demonstrated how they harvested lettuce, Obama told them she did the same in the White House garden she established.
Supporters say outdoor learning can enrich classroom lessons, create immersive experiences, improve concentration and reduce anxiety. Through its gardens, rainwater-reuse system and new upcycled mural, Hollin Meadows hopes students will practice environmental stewardship throughout the year—not only on Earth Day.