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Carefully holding her muse’s head, Dalia Ahmed ’28 paints a snowflake design on the girl’s face. While other kids waited in line, they browsed the paper with different designs that the National Art Honor Society (NAHS) provided. “I feel like coming to do face painting helped me better interact with younger kids by simply talking to them and getting to know them,” Ahmed said.
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Holding a paintbrush, Swasthiya Mahesh ’27 carefully paints a Christmas tree on the girl’s cheek. Parents and children from the Canyon Creek community came to Trailhead Park and enjoyed the festive atmosphere that the fun activities provided. “I hope that little kids walk away in a more festive mood after having their face painted,” Mahesh said.
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Concentrated, Aiya Ahmed ’29 meticulously paints her requested design. As more volunteers came to face paint, more vacancies opened which called for more children to have their faces painted. “Right now, I’m painting a snowflake on the kid’s face, and she was just telling me about her run that she went on with her peers,” Ahmed said.
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With a design in mind, Quinne Garcia ’29 reaches for the glitter palette, fulfilling the little girl’s request. As she painted her muse’s face, Garcia focused on accuracy and speed in order to finish each design efficiently. “I think the most challenging part of face painting is speed because when you have a long line, you’re prone to mess up a little,” Garcia said.
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Smiling, Aly Fahnle ’28 paints a delicate design on her muse’s cheek. As the evening progressed, more children formed a line to the face painting booth, witnessing the accuracy of the designs and the kindness of the volunteers. “When I was younger, I was impressed with older kids who would come to my elementary school and volunteer their time to set up fun activities for us,” Fahnle said. “Setting that same example, I think, is inspirational for the kids too.”
After completing a long marathon run, Canyon Creek Elementary students flocked to the National Art Honor Society (NAHS) face painting booth at Trailhead Park from 5-7 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 5. With art supplies such as felt tip markers, highly pigmented paints, and skin-safe applicable glitter, the creative members of NAHS brought joy to the elementary schoolers one brushstroke at a time.
Wanting to have a fun activity awaiting children after the run, the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) of Canyon Creek Elementary reached out to NAHS to set up their own booth at Trailhead Park.
“The PTA group at Canyon Creek Elementary School emailed our sponsor, Mr. [Jesus] Ramirez, who forwarded the email to [the officer team],” NAHS Vice President Swasthiya Mahesh ‘27 said. “We just coordinated with a couple of volunteers to come here. We usually love doing a lot of volunteer work, so we were very inclined to come to this event and paint children’s faces and make them happy.”
Seeing this as an opportunity to positively impact the community, NAHS volunteers proudly came to the booth to spread their collective passions for art with the children of Canyon Creek.
“I really enjoy art and painting specifically,” Aiya Ahmed ‘29 said. “Having this option to work with children and be able to do face painting for them for free is very enjoyable. As a member of NAHS, I think it’s very fun that we get to do these kinds of opportunities for free to spread how much we love art and make other kids happy.”
During the evening, the face painting booth’s popularity grew as more children asked for their faces to be painted. With the pressure of having to speed up the painting process, small challenges arose.
“I think the most challenging part about face painting is definitely accuracy,” Aly Fahnle ‘28 said. “It’s also pretty hard when you have a fidgety person that you’re trying to make the design on. Other than that, having them wear your design around after you’ve finished your work is very rewarding because I made them happy just then, so the challenges were not that much of a problem.”
As children came and went from the booth, NAHS officers and volunteers initiated genuine and authentic conversations with each child. Connecting with the runners helped the members learn new lessons to apply to their own lives, deepening their outlook through volunteering opportunities.
“I had a really sweet conversation with this girl named Evelyn,” Quinne Garcia ‘29 said. “She was nine, and we were just talking about art and how much she wanted to be an artist when she grows up. I feel like I really connected with her, and it made coming to volunteer and face paint worth it.”
