By Carla Rubio

As a representation of their transition from underclassmen to upperclassmen, the upcoming junior class creates a paw to reveal to the entire school in order to symbolize the class’s everlasting legacy.

This paw, representing our school mascot, the jaguar, is sketched and painted on the wall of the main cafeteria. Both the class officers and selected class artists, commonly those in the Communications Academy, work on the paw during the summer and reveal their work on the first week back from summer vacation.

This year, the junior class of 2021 disclosed their work during lunch on the second day of school, August 20th.

Students from all classes gathered around the blue paper on the wall, waiting anxiously to see what physical mark they would leave on the school. Then, about half way through lunch, once the crowd reached its peak, the class officers tore off the paper in unison, presenting the long-awaited painting. A round of applause followed as the artists and officers bowed and smiled facing their class, proud of their work.

“We worked so hard over the summer,” said class Vice President, Karen Laverde. “The work of the artists was amazing and I’m so proud of them.”

The concept and theme of the paw, “blue fire,” was the result of a random conversation in an AP studio art class. One of the artists, Nicole Perez, came up with the idea with a couple of her friends and it was exactly what the officers wanted.

“When coming up with an idea for the paw, we kept relating blue with water,” said Nicole Perez. “I had come up with diamonds but I felt like it was not good enough, then two of my friends (Veronica Gort and Giovani Blanco) said ‘What if it was blue fire’ and just like we took the idea and made it a reality.”

Once completed, the end result was better than anyone expected, even the class officers were surprised.

“After hours without end during an entire week, our artists were able to finish painting the class paw,” said class President, Raymond Hung.

“Our artists did an amazing job carrying out all of our ideas. We officers really strive to encourage class spirit but we know that there won’t be a time when every single individual is satisfied with what we do.”

The paw of the class of 2021 certainly stands out from those of other classes, leaving behind a legacy to be remembered by many.