When Laurielle Watkins was a sophomore at New Iberia Senior High, she was sitting in the choir hall and looking across at the blank wall across from her. That’s when she’s had a thought.

The wall, which most NISH band and choir students are no doubt aware of, had a basic pale color, along with cracks and chip marks.

“I felt like there should be more there because down in the art hall there was a tremendous amount of color,” Watkins said Friday. “It’s just covered with art. I thought ‘We’re making art as well. Why isn’t our hall as beautiful as theirs?’ ”

However, Watkins, the daughter of Ricky and Roxanne Watkins, was busy as a student. Now a senior at NISH, the 17-year old has been involved with theater productions like “The Little Mermaid” and “Footloose,” along with choir, National Honor Society and Beta Club. So it was only until last summer that she pitched the idea of painting a mural on the wall to NISH Principal Curt Landry.

“I went up to Mr. Landry during one of the lunches and showed him a drawing and said, ‘Hey, I would like to create something nice for the choir.’ The band is out of this world. I love it so much because they work so hard after school,” she said.

Landry told Watkins she would get permission to do the mural if she got a sponsor. Watkins did, but the sponsor was unable to be present during a lot of the actual painting, so she was accompanied by her mother. 

The idea was to give the wall a musical vibe. The completed image starts with a piano, followed by the musical notes to NISH’s alma mater. It also features a yellow jacket and a NISH emblem.

Watkins began the work the first Monday in July, and had the help of at least 20 friends who worked on some of the basic aspects of the mural. The entire process took about three weeks of work that the NISH senior labeled as painstaking.

The first four days were dedicated to chipping off the paint on the wall, followed by priming the wall and applying a NISH gold base.

“It was time-consuming,” Watkins said. “It was rough. I just kept thinking that I had to keep going because I already got this far. I had a lot of friends do the basic work, but I did the meticulous stuff.”

The project was sponsored by Bayou Paints and Doug Ashy, who helped in supply Watkins with “a whole lot” of paints.

When the new school year began, Watkins said she received several compliments on the mural.

“They (students who spend time in the area) thought it was lovely,” Waking said. “They came up to me and said they were really appreciative and they felt they were represented.”

Watkins will graduate from NISH next semester, and is wrapped up in preparation for the ACT exam before she makes a decision on college. However, she hopes to minor in theater and take some art classes when she begins pursuing higher education, she said.

“It’s just a hobby, but I would like to minor in theater and take some art classes,” she said.

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