Mural puts elementary school on the map

KIWANIS HELPS TROUTDALE PAINT 50 STATES ON PLAYGROUND

By Rob Cullivan, the Gresham Outlook
Published: June 9, 2010, in the Outlook
http://www.theoutlookonline.com/features/story.php?story_id=127604364709226100

PORTLAND, OREGON - If you want to know what the United States looks like mapped out, it's just a hop, skip and a jump away at Troutdale Elementary School.

That's right, go out the gym door onto the playground, and you'll literally hop over a map of Hawaii on a concrete deck, then skip down a step and see Alaska in all its glory on the ground. Jump to your right, and you can see the Lower 48.

With the help of the Columbia River Gorge Kiwanis Club, students and adult volunteers collaborated on creating "The United States of Troutdale," according to Principal Stephen Johnson as well as Gresham resident Michael Orelove, a Kiwanis member and project coordinator.

Orelove noted the community-service oriented Kiwanis and about 100 children from the school started the project in March. He adds that the map has already been featured in the Kiwanis national magazine.

On a special note, he says he was particularly concerned that the map reflects the size of Alaska accurately, to scale.

"Since I lived in Juneau for 33 years, I wanted to show Alaska its correct size in relation to the other states," he says, noting the 49th state is almost a quarter of the size of the Lower 48. "Many kids are amazed when they see the size of Alaska on the map."

Yamilex Hernandez, 10, a fourth-grader, and her classmate, Scott Biggs, 9, were among the students who worked on the map.