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Alyssa Mata, Timothy Bright, Amanda Butt, Olga Bogert, Shannon Pastue, and Annalisa Contreras painted postage stamps on the walls of the lobby.

The sprucing up of the lobby is for today's (Friday) renaming ceremony when the post office is scheduled to be renamed for the late Lapeer pioneering family, the Turrills.

Deborah Helbig, East art teacher, said she was contacted by the U.S. Postal Service about having some of her students paint murals. "Years ago I started having kids paint stamps," she said. "This year someone from the post office conctacted us."

The six students are commercial art or studio art students of Helbig's. The students received no pay for their paintings.

Bogert worked at painting the Michigan statehood stamp Tuesday afternoon. "I think it's cool how they let us do this," Bogert, a student in Helbig's studio art class said. "I'm kind of afraid of falling off this ladder."

A senior, Bogert said she wants a career in the art field in the future and is currently looking at colleges.

Also on Tuesday, 16-year-old Mata, an East junior worked at painting a rendition of Friday's dedication scroll. The students worked on the murals for two weeks. "The hardest part was getting the cursive words up on the wall," Mata said. "It's hard to kneel and paint. I'm glad I got this opportunity because I've never done something like this before. I'm glad my painting will always be here."

After graduation, Mata wants to attend college to become an art teacher.

Helbig said the students had the lobby's curved ceiling to contend with, along with standing on scaffolding during the painting process. The post office provided the paint.

"They wanted the paintings from stamps," Helbig said. "They wanted more recent stamps, like the forever stamp and one for black history month."

On Tuesday afternoon, Helbig hadn't yet seen the student's work, but said, "They're great kids and it shows on their faces when they come back."

Sue Bierbussey, clerk at the post office coordinated the student painting in the lobby with Postmaster Robert Volpe. "I think it's awesome and it's fun to watch," Bierbussey said. "I'm not an artist, but it's all for Friday's dedication. It makes the lobby look bigger."

Jennifer Decker can be reached at 664-0811, Ext. 8125 or jennifer.decker@lapeergroup.com.