HATTIESBURG, Miss. (WDAM) – Thursday morning, a fraternity at the University of Southern Miss Hattiesburg campus invited area children to show their artistic skills by painting lion statues.
Members of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) fraternity partnered with the Children’s Center for Communications and Development to put on a painting day, where the kids had the opportunity to paint the lion statues in front of the fraternity house.
“One of the most important things about learning and developing is you learn how to make friends, so it’s really incredible we get this opportunity,” said Sarah Myers, director of the USM’s Children’s Center. “It’s super easy, we can just walk across the street, and we can learn about taking turns and our colors, greeting people and answering questions about who we are, and it’s all just a really important learning opportunity.”
Reagan Davis, president of SAE, said he enjoys seeing the smiles painting the lions puts on the children’s faces.
“It’s nice to see the kids get excited to come paint the lions,” said Davis. “I think they get more excited to paint us than the lions, but that’s all part of it. We love getting to see a smile put on their faces.”
The painting day event began in 2020 after SAE alum Paul Sims saw a post regarding a little boy’s love of the fraternity’s lion statues.
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