Woodside Avenue School Celebrates 40 Years

Students at Franklin Lakes' Woodside Avenue School pressed up to a hallway wall Tuesday afternoon to look for their contributions to a legacy art project marking the school's 40th anniversary.

The project, organized by PTA President Rebecca Rund and art teacher Noelle Salzano, consisted of mandalas - symmetric, symbolic designs - painted onto tiles by students across grade levels.

There were 245 tiles submitted, comprising most of the student population. The tiled wall, placed prominently in a first floor hallway, will be a permanent fixture honoring the school's anniversary.

Rund and Salzano unveiled the project to a crowd of students and parents after school Tuesday, pulling back a sheet of paper to reveal the assortment of student created designs.

Salzano, who worked with students for as many as six weeks on their artistic contributions, said that the excitement had been steadily mounting for the unveiling since the project began.

"They've been so excited. We were working on it for so long," Salzano said. "When they saw the tiles going up and being covered, they really couldn't wait."