Thanks to City Year, the Isaac Newton Middle School in East Harlem is bringing new life to the historical landmark through its beautification project on campus. City Year is one of many national service organizations receiving AmeriCorps funding in New York State.
Volunteers from the international nonprofit, which helps institutions enhance their facilities to serve their communities better, visited Harlem recently.
Final touches at the school have transformed it into more than just a good school with a laboratory; it is now a creative space for the highly educated and diverse. While the public school is known for academic excellence, ranking high for its rigorous STEM curriculum, the building’s interior design would have been flunking if it were a student.
The school is physically spacious, with high ceilings, a ballroom-like library, and a classical architectural style; on the exterior, it resembles a church. However, its muted color palette and aging infrastructure did not match the brilliance represented by its sixth- to eighth-grade students.
“This is an incredible school. City Year has been a partner of Isaac Newton for a long time,” New York State Chief Service Officer Matt Schaffer told the Amsterdam News. “We have a strong partnership in a school like this. It’s a great opportunity to host volunteers. Of course, schools across the city need more support with these volunteer days. Every school should have a volunteer day like this. But we’re very happy to partner with Isaac Newton Middle School, and the initiative aligns with the broader New York State commitment to volunteerism and education equity.”
Shaffer attended the kickoff day, where volunteers participated in initiatives aimed at guiding Hispanic and Black students at Isaac Newton Middle School toward potential careers in STEM fields.
“I think that this type of partnership between the nonprofit sector and educational institutions, public schools — there’s a lot of potential there,” Shaffer said. “There are a lot of folks who want to do good, and City Year is the type of organization that empowers them to make a difference in public schools and to add that value — to add extra people power.”
That is where City Year’s more than 600 volunteers enter the conversation. With the help of sponsors like Starbucks, Santander, Wells Fargo, HMH Publishing, and First Sentier Investors, as well as board members, AmeriCorps members, and Student Success coaches, the group assignment to make the school more visually inspiring took only a day to complete.
The beautification plan is to hang hand-traced and- painted murals throughout the school.
“We work with partner principals to identify schools that want to take on a beautification project, and Isaac Newton Middle School was eager to participate,” said Annie Kessler, senior vice president and executive director of City Year New York. “One of the biggest goals today [was] to get a lot of art up on the walls — volunteers [painted] 30 to 40 murals that align with the school’s STEM focus.”
The beautification project plan began in the summer of 2024, with Principal Florin Purice, or Principal P, as the kids call him, aiming to enhance the school’s reputation and engage with the community.
“When we were asked to participate in this project, we really didn’t know how this entire thing was going to go, so it was like this gift bestowed upon us [for them] to say, ‘Hey, we’re going to have a whole bunch of volunteers that are willing to come in and help you with what you need,’” said Purice. “When we said, ‘Hey, [here’s] this long list of things that we wanted to address,’ we knew that the main recipient was the students because we wanted them to take pride in what they have, and this is such a great asset to the community.”
The murals represent learning and symbolize the importance of dreaming big. Drawings of Earth adorned with multinational flags are displayed in the cafeteria, accompanied by the phrase “Unity in diversity.” A cartoon ribbon microphone bursts with musical notes, and a collision of ancient relics can be seen alongside the well-known quote from George Santayana: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
City Year participants were enthusiastic about being part of the project. “I think just bringing more joy to the school, bringing happiness to the school, bringing color to the school, having something different for our students to see — to me, it just brings education to life in a way,” said Anya Warner, lead team manager at City Year.
Warner, who has been involved with the school for two years, said the murals are designed to align with the school’s curriculum. “Each mural is tied in with the subject,” she said. “For instance, we have a chorus class, and one of our murals is based [on] the chorus class in itself. We also have our ELA classes, and our ELA murals are tied into the curriculum of what they’re doing in that class.”
Such projects add new dimensions to education. “Kids learn in books, but when you see what you’re learning, like on a mural, it just shows that you’re not the only one who cares,” Warner said. “The students and the teachers aren’t the only ones that care … those who come into the school and actually do the murals also took their time to make it happen. They also care.”