STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

The 388 students at Alturas Elementary School are reminded of America’s changemakers every time they walk down the hall.

A long mural painted by Los Angeles muralist John Zender Estrada stretches down the hallway. It tells the story of Rosa Parks, depicting the pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement when she refused to give up her seat on the bus.

It tells the story of Delores Huerta, who spent many hours under the boiling sun in the lettuce fields of California fighting for rights for farmworkers.

The portraits of Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King and the U.S. Constitution are also new.

It boasts images of Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King. And, now, it sports the image of Idaho’s own Native American changemaker Sacajawea, who helped guide Meriwether Lewis and Capt. William Clark on an overland journey to find a path to the Pacific Ocean.

“This man, he is an artist and magician because you give him a blank slate and you come back the next morning and magic has happened. And it's there and it's beautiful and it's color and it's light and it's bright and it's everything we represent--and I love it,” said Principal Brad Henson.

Estrella has painted 14 art projects in the Wood River Valley since 2021, including a new mural at Wood River Middle School that he painted a few weeks ago.

The mural at Alturas started in 2022 with Carlos and Angie Hurtado, who own H Property Service. Their daughters attend Alturas and they told Henson they would like to donate a painting of Estrada’s to the school.

The Golden Eagle—Alturas Elementary’s mascot hovers above children reading about Mayan culture and nature’s birds and octopus.

“I was like, ‘Wow!’ ” said Henson. “We talked about ideas and then he, in his creative genius, came up with what he wanted to do. We had just had Dolores Huerta visit our school so that was something that the kids were really excited about. She had worked with Cesar Chavez and so Estrada created a mural based on that.”

Estrada also added a golden eagle spreading its wings reflecting the school’s mascot. He painted a blind child reading Braille. And, since the students were studying Latin American culture, he added elements of Mayan and Aztec culture.

After Cesar Chavez was accused of sexual assault, countless towns and cities, including Boise, renamed streets they’d named for the farmworkers’ advocate. And the Blaine County School District worked with Estrella to come back with his son Deon to paint over Chavez’s portrait.

Teachers asked Estrella to replace Chavez with Sacagawea, the young Shoshone-Lemhi heroine from Salmon, because of her Idaho connection. While here, he added Abraham Lincoln, the U.S. Constitution and more icons of the Mayan culture.

A colorful portrait of Rosa Parks hangs next to a black and white representation of the bus on which she refused to give up her seat helping to inspire the Civil Rights Movement.

“What we like about it is that the kids see what they learn about in history in the black and white, and then their present day is shown in color,” Henson said. “Each of these elements connects to things that our students learn about in their content and curriculum. So, there are connections that our students can talk about as they're matriculating and learning these things through their elementary experience.”

COME CELEBRATE!

Alturas Elementary students are inviting the community to enjoy a dance and music cultural celebration for the end of school on Wednesday. The celebration will start at 9 a.m. at the school off South Woodside Boulevard opposite Cherry Creek on Alturas Elementary Lane.

A portrait of Dolores Huerta as she was when she visited Alturas Elementary a few years ago hangs next to a black and white portrait of a younger Dolores Huerta advocating for farmworkers.