Mosaic unveiled at Palatine's St. Thomas of Villanova School

A new mosaic mural was unveiled at St. Thomas of Villanova School, in Palatine, on Friday, Aug. 26, during a special ceremony.

Located at the main entrance of the school, the mosaic is a visual representation of the school's mission of faith, values and academic excellence.

All the students and staff gathered outside for the ceremony. Pastor Fr. Tom Rzepiela offered a prayer and Principal Mary Brinkman blessed the mosaic with holy water. At the conclusion of the ceremony, all the students passed by the mosaic to touch it.

"Last spring, we decided we wanted something to promote our Catholic identity," said Brinkman. "Mark Abbate, the art teacher, and I talked about possible designs."

Friends of St. Thomas of Villanova School financially supported this expression of faith. So Brinkman and Abbate presented several designs to Father Tom, which were then tweaked and revised until the final design was chosen.

Last May, the goal was established: To have the mosaic finished for the beginning of the 2016-2017 school year. Abbate worked on the mosaic during the summer. Some teachers even stopped by to add tiles to the design so that they could be part of the project.

"Now that we have this beautiful mosaic, our next goal is to continue working to make the front exterior of our school visually pleasing, so that we can showcase our Catholic identity and visually display our school's assets," Brinkman said.

• Submit 'Your News' at www.dailyherald.com/share.