LYNN — Beyond Walls is further refining its Classroom to the Streets program by deepening the involvement of Lynn students.
Classroom to the Streets (CTTS) pairs educators with renowned street artists to create murals around the city, allowing the teachers to create lesson plans and take students on mural walking tours in the fall.
This year, 10 Lynn high school students, aka junior fellows, also participated in creating the murals and building their own lesson plans.
Beyond Walls Founder and CEO Al Wilson said the CTTS team decided to expand the community engagement aspect of the program after receiving positive feedback from students on the walking tours.
“They were teaching their own families the street art tour. Hopefully this changes perspectives and allows kids to see they can pursue arts or education as a career,” he said.
The 2025 CTTS initiative is composed of 6 cohorts, with each team exploring themes related to the city of Lynn. This year’s themes include mental health, industrial history, cultural diversity, and more. Students, educators, and artists decided on themes prior to the installation process by discussing common struggles seen in Lynn.
“It’s rare for someone who does street art for a living to come into a town and teach people to use a spray can,” said artist Christhian Saravia, aka Golden305.
The junior fellows were chosen by Lynn Public Schools and St. Mary’s art teachers, who based their decisions on a student’s aptitude and a desire to either continue their education in the arts, or as arts educators.
St. Mary’s art teacher Nadine Desiderio offered her perspective as to how the junior fellows benefit as artists and educators from the program, as creating the murals requires frequently evolving ideas based on the needs of the wall .
“They jumped right in. I’ve seen them have courage, grow, make mistakes and work through them. I’m seeing people who didn’t have voices before speak louder and have more confidence through their art,” she said.
“I always overthink, and I’m sometimes scared to mess things up. But now I know things can get fixed,” junior fellow Jaelize Fernandez said.
Beyond Walls Program Manager Lisa McCarthy spoke about the interactive learning aspect of the 2025 CTTS program.
“There’s a difference between reading a textbook in a classroom versus being out on the street and actually looking at this epic art and learning about the artists and hearing about the city. Pretty magical components come out from that,” she said.
