On this sunny Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I volunteered with City Year New York at Patrick Henry Prep (PS/IS 171 Manhattan) to paint this book cover of John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars in one of the school’s stairwells for #MLKDayofService.

I was invited to help out with #MLKDayofService by my guy, David. He served with City Year in 2015-16.

As soon as I saw the outline for The Fault In Our Stars in the stairwell we would be working in, I immediately knew I wanted to work on it for the day. I haven’t read the book, but I love John Green, and yes, I’ve seen the movie adaptation.

Now, David and definitely are not Picassos, but I think we did a pretty good job with this. Some other books that were painted as murals in the stairwells included Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Maya Angelou’s I Know Where the Caged Bird Sings. Other community service projects for #MLKDayofService involved painting college pennants, putting together health and hygiene packages, and more.

I’m really happy that the students at PS/IS 171 will come back to school tomorrow to find inspiring artwork to look at throughout the day. I know I would have loved it as a kid.

Learn more about City Year, and check out NBC’s news video that features footage of the day’s volunteer work at PS/IS 171.

P.S.: David and I are in the auditorium scenes!