Rock Hill teachers transformed into superheroes for appreciation week

Teachers at Mount Holly Elementary School were honored during Teacher Appreciation Week as true superheroes – Superman, Batman, Thor, Iron Man and many others.

Fifty-six life-size superhero character paintings – each topped with the face of a Mount Holly teacher – were displayed on walls of the school atrium when surprised teachers arrived for class on Monday.

“It was spectacular,” said fourth-grade teacher Tonya Janicke, who was portrayed as the character Raphael, one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

The images, painted on bulletin board paper and attached to the walls with tape and glue, are the work of Maria Neal, a 2013 Northwestern High School graduate. Neal, now a fine arts student at North Greenville University, is the daughter of Angela Neal, a bookkeeper at Mount Holly.

Angela Neal and Mount Holly Principal Nakia Barnes came up with the superhero idea for Teacher Appreciation Week, and they recruited Maria to help.

Maria took the idea and ran with it, researching the costumes and powers of 56 different superheroes from Marvel Comics, DC Comics and Disney.

She hand-painted each character to represent a different Mount Holly teacher, even making an effort to match each teacher’s personality with the character’s superhero powers.

“It was more than I ever expected,” said Barnes, who said the paintings will remain on the walls until the end of the school year.

Maria spent 75 hours over four days last week making the paintings and attaching facial images. Last weekend, her parents helped hang the images in the school atrium.

On Monday, Barnes said, the school held a “caping” ceremony, during which a gold Mount Holly cape was bestowed on the shoulders of each teacher. Teachers wore their capes all day, soaring down the halls to demonstrate their powers.

“When you wear a cape,” Janicke said, “you don’t walk down the hall, you fly down the hall.”

Students enjoyed the fun, too, Janicke said, comparing the characters for each teacher.

“I would rank it as one of the top three days of my teaching career,” she said. “It was phenomenal.”

This story was originally published May 13, 2016 at 3:00 PM with the headline "Rock Hill teachers transformed into superheroes for appreciation week."