By: Tianyou Lee, Staff Writer

A long-term project of the Student Equity Council (SEC), the auditorium mural has finally been completed and sits hung-up in the lobby. The artwork celebrates the diversity of Mills High School and features various cultures, extracurriculars, students, and staff.

The idea for the mural was first conceived in spring 2023, and drafting began in September of that year. Work on it was finished in the first few weeks of 2025, and the finished mural was put up during spring break with the help of facilities.

In the Who We Are assembly on April 14, SEC co-president Clarissa Louie (11) and SEC member Jay Luken (10) announced the completion of the mural to the school.

“The mural represents the greater Mills community, taking note of cultural differences, ethnic backgrounds, and the uniqueness of each and every one of us,” Luken said in their announcement.

On the right, the mural features a large Viking ship that resembles a dragon, referencing the Mills mascot and branding. Clubs such as the Latina Mentor Program, the Dragon Dance Team, and the Filipino American Alliance have their cultural activities on display while other Mills programs like music, basketball, and the robotics team are represented as well. Depicting the diversity of the Mills community, staff and students of different backgrounds — all modeled on real people — are present throughout the mural, especially on the left. 

At the beginning of the project, SEC members sketched out ideas with pencil and paper, brainstorming how to represent the different identities of Mills, incorporating symbolism in the visual elements, and figuring out the composition of the piece. Then, around halfway through the 2023–2024 year, they started work on the actual mural canvas, drawing and painting over the previous auditorium mural. Painting was done in one of the storage rooms of the classroom of Matthew Christenson, the art and ceramics teacher.

Both Louie and Luken contributed to the planning and painting of the project. Louie estimates that — including SEC members, students of the art class, and staff — 170 people in total helped create the mural. 

“It’s not just the students who are painting but also the brains behind the mural … and the teachers and the administrators,” Louie says. “And definitely we do have to give a lot of credit to Mr. Matt because he poured in a lot of hours into that mural … He just helped us get to the finish line.”

Luken and Louie share personal feelings about the mural and their part in creating it.

“I feel like working on the mural gave me something to do that contributed to the school,” Luken says. Compared to his personal painting projects, Luken was glad to work on something “for the whole school to see, for it to be there for a long time.”

Similarly, Louie emphasizes the legacy of the mural. “It’s going to be for all the future student activists and all the future generations of new students that are going to come to the school,” she says, “Even as all the faces on the mural … leave, they still serve or stand as a symbol.”