{"id":15146,"date":"2026-05-07T11:03:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T15:03:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/?p=15146"},"modified":"2026-05-07T11:03:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T15:03:12","slug":"cooke-elementary-students-transform-oceanfront-streetscape-with-vibe-inspired-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/cooke-elementary-students-transform-oceanfront-streetscape-with-vibe-inspired-art\/","title":{"rendered":"Cooke Elementary students transform Oceanfront streetscape with ViBe-inspired art"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Third grader Grant Gander with his brother, second grader Luke<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Art teacher Brandon Thompson, right, under the paint tent<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

About 100 students, staff and community members from W.T. Cooke Elementary painted \u201ccurb islands\u201d in front of the school with flowers, hearts, school motifs and ViBe District-inspired beach art on May 3.<\/p>\n

Art teacher Brandon Thompson started the project by putting together a video<\/a> to encourage students in grades three through five to submit designs. On a breezy Sunday morning, families gathered in front of the school on Mediterranean Avenue, where traffic was temporarily blocked for safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cBe careful, it\u2019s windy,\u201d Thompson said. \u201cWatch the drips.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve been talking about this for weeks,\u201d he said about the students. \u201cI like seeing them do their own thing but also being together working on something for the community. It\u2019s awesome. Some of these kids may be painting a mural at the Oceanfront someday.\u201d<\/p>\n

After checking in with the school\u2019s principal, Dr. Kelly Padilla, and receiving paint and supplies provided by the ViBe Creative District, students painted their designs on six curb islands, which are raised pieces of concrete designed to slow traffic. Parents, volunteers and school staff added finishing touches.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s cool,\u201d fifth grader Cami Lannon said as she painted a starfish. \u201cI like sea animals.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Fourth grader Margot Archer with her father, Chris<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fourth grader Margot Archer was out with her siblings Max and Elise and her dad, Chris. Her ideas showed up in the design of one of the smaller curb islands.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was thinking about school, so that\u2019s why there\u2019s crayons and rulers,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Third grader Grant Gander said he picked a skateboard to paint, because it\u2019s one of his favorite activities. He\u2019s a member of the skate club and the chess club at Cooke.<\/p>\n

Scarlett Hobson, who painted an orange next to several ice cream cones on one of the islands, said she appreciated how her art teacher managed the project.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Fourth grader Scarlett Hobson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI like how he sorted the art,\u201d the fourth grader said. \u201cThis island has edibles on one, and the other one has sea creatures.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a good family vibe,\u201d said Cooke parent Jackie Jennings.<\/p>\n

Thompson said he was happy to see so many parents involved in the project.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re out here just as excited about it as the kids,\u201d he said, adding that the confidence students gain painting simple objects like hearts and stars will help them with more complex subjects in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/strong>I hope the students get a better understanding of how the painting process works within the community,\u201d he said. Students built a memory that may last a lifetime, and as they grow older they will ride their bikes or drive their cars by the paintings and fondly remember the fun they had with their classmates.<\/p>\n

\u201cI also hope they have fun throughout this whole process and see that something as special as this really brings lots of people within the local community together,\u201d Thompson said.<\/p>\n

A city engineer stopped by to see the students\u2019 progress, saying he hoped they\u2019d paint even more curbs along Mediterranean Avenue at a later date. Cooke Elementary PTA provided snacks for the event.<\/p>\n

Kate Pittman, executive director of the ViBe, said the student project helps build the city\u2019s future leaders.<\/p>\n

“When youth can participate in positive community service projects like this, they realize that investing in their neighborhood is important and fun,” she said.<\/p>\n

Visit this link<\/a> to view a video of the painting project.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Fourth grader, Kayden Daly, and fifth grader Kriya Patel and her father, Ankurkumar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Fifth grader Cami Lannon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Fourth graders and brothers Krish and Kush Parekh<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

About 100 students, staff and community members from W.T. Cooke Elementary painted \u201ccurb islands\u201d in front of the school with flowers, hearts, school motifs and ViBe District-inspired beach art on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":15149,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community-connections","category-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15146"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15146\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15168,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15146\/revisions\/15168"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}