LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) -- Every morning, students at teachers at Blue Lick Elementary School recite their pride pledge - "Be safe, be kind, be respectful, be responsible, do your best and help the rest." But back in January, someone decided to ignore those tenants and struck the Louisville elementary school with spray paint.
"When we pulled up, it was disheartening that someone would vandalize our space like that," Blue Lick Principal Amy Uhlman said. "Our garages and the back of our building and the dumpsters had pretty inappropriate pictures all over."
"It's hard to describe but they disrespected the school a lot and I know it hurt all of us," Blue Lick 5th grader Makaylah O'Neil said.
Uhlman said school officials quickly erased most of the profane messages and images using a power washer, including those on a mural painted on a storage building, but the damage was still visible for the past few months.
"That lion, it looked like it had devoured a gazelle, just red and everything," Kirsten Kirchner, an art student at Spalding University, said. "It was just a mess."
That's why this Sunday on Earth Day, students, parents, teachers, and even volunteer student artists like Kirchner from Spalding University spent their afternoon fixing up the mural.
"It feels like this is my own community too and I'd like these kids to see something better and have something to smile about," Kirchner said.
"I love having our kids out here and work together because they're going to see that every day and show pride in what they've done, so it's a great thing," Uhlman said.
They also added another part to the mural, painting the school pride pledge on another wall in hopes it sends a message to the vandals.
"It's a reminder so hopefully if they see it, being respectful and kind, that this won't happen again," Uhlman said.
Blue Lick Elementary said Home Depot on Preston Highway and Sherwin Williams on Hurstbourne Lane both donated paint and supplies.