Williams students and their families gathered on campus last week to paint tiles with an underwater scene of their choosing, all of which included a whale. The world's largest mammal is the school's mascot.

Once fired, the tiles will be arranged on the walls behind new benches installed around the playground. The "Whale of a Wall" is due to be unveiled at Williams' May 24 open house.

Parents paid $75 for an initial tile and $50 for each additional ceramic square. Williams' PTA sold 350 tiles and will use the proceeds for programming in the 2005-06 school year. The total amount raised was more than $25,000.00

Painting the tiles was a family affair at an April 18 decorating session. Stephanie Atterbury bought a tile for each of her three sons, only one of whom attends Williams. While first-grader Nolan Atterbury was up to the artistic task at hand, his brother Aidan, who will start kindergarten in the fall, was more interested in how the pencil sharpener worked, and toddler Quentin sat on his father's lap while the older Atterbury held him with one hand and wielded a paintbrush with the other.

"All three boys are going to go here, so we wanted to do it," Stephanie Atterbury said of the tile painting. "It's great for the school."

Ophelia Hawk, who was overseeing her son's creation, said this wasn't the first-grade Tyler's first contribution to a tile wall.

"We've done it at Jake's Play Lot, so we go back and look at it," Hawk said.

Lynn Murtha said she and fellow Williams parent Andrea Trudeau came up with the idea for the "Whale of a Wall" after seeing several similar tile installations.

"We were thinking of a fundraiser that would involve the kids," Murtha added. "They'll get to see [their tiles] up on the wall for years to come."