TIFTON — Love is in the air at–and written on the walls of–Len Lastinger Elementary.

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, the front hall of the elementary school has been decorated with a mural of colorful hearts personally drawn by Len Lastinger students and put together by art teacher Renee Sullivan.

Greeting students just as they step off the bus and into the school, the mural is made up of dozens of posters that Sullivan had students across every grade apply their personal touch to in preparation for the holiday of love, drawing, coloring, and customizing their projects to their heart’s content.

Then, over the weekend, she set to putting the full art piece together herself, assembling the posters into a larger floor-to ceiling canvas with the help of a few of her relatives to ensure the finished product was a wonderful surprise awaiting the students when they came in this past Monday.

Sullivan reported that this was the second year she had organized the collaborative project, making a greater effort to keep the outcome a surprise last year. While she was much more upfront with her students regarding the project this time around, she expressed satisfaction that they were elated to see their hard work pay off nonetheless.

Outside of the fun of the activity, however, Sullivan hopes efforts like her mural will help impart upon the students of Len Lastinger the value of cooperation.

“I try to explain to them that this is what it means to work together,” Sullivan said. “When you do little things yourself, it’s great, but when you put it all together–work together–and it becomes something big? That’s teamwork; that’s really special.”

The art teacher asserted she intended to have the mural remain on display for as long as possible, and was eager to keep the project, and other collaborative works like it, on her curriculum for some time to come.