Knightdale — Students traded in their Nintendos and televisions for paint brushes and came to school on their day off to remember a dream.

Black and white, young and old joined forces Monday for the third annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service to create a student-designed mural in the foyer of Knightdale High School. The event was coordinated by Triangle United Way and sponsored by six businesses.

“It’s a group effort,” said art student Sean Henry, 17. “Everybody came out and did their part and left their mark on the wall. I think that’s cool.”

While Henry studies sculpture, most participants weren’t artists, just people who wanted to spend their day honoring King’s memory.

“Everybody who walks by can see the dream and diversity,” said Yvette Scarborough, a data analyst at Raleigh Duke Hospital who attended the event. “I love it, I love it, I love it.”

The mural’s design — a color-filled collage of images of peace, unity and diversity — was created by the students of Knightdale High’s Art Department leader Ann Adams.

Triangle artist Lisa Gaither transferred the design to the wall ahead of time and helped guide participants on Monday.

“I’m honored they let me help work on it,” she said. “It’s been fun working with volunteers.”

This was Gaither’s first collaborative effort. She’s painted numerous murals across the Triangle, including those at the Duke Medical Center Pediatrics operating room, at Chapel Hill’s University Mall and at Fayetteville Holiday Inn.

Triangle United Way expected participants to spend about 1,500 hours doing 20 projects in Wake, Orange and Durham Counties to remember King.

Participants did everything from donating needed items to the Durham Crisis Response Center to building an amphitheater with landscaping at a Hillsborough school.

Gaither, who had already logged 42 hours just transferring the design, helped paint the mural with her daughter Molly.

There were many other parent-child teams. Henry’s mom Margaret Requena of Knightdale came out too.

“It’s a day on, not a day off,” said Requena, who works at Rex Healthcare, one of the event's sponsors. NBC-17, Lowe’s Home Improvement, Public Allies North Carolina,The Redwoods Group and Triangle Impact also sponsored the project.

Marlena Scarborough of Wendell and her son, 7-year-old Adrian, both had a hand in the mural, as did Tammy Crain of Raleigh and her children, Nathan, 12, and Emma, 9.

“We had the (Knightdale) basketball team, the track team and the wrestling team all here painting,” said Mary Williams Stover, vice president of marketing for Triangle United Way. Stover said about 75 people came out from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on MLK Day to paint.

Knightdale High School Principal Carla Jernigan was excited about the new addition to the school. She also said Assistant Principal Kengie Bass as well as Adams had worked hard to prepare for the day.

Jernigan said she thinks the mural is a good fit.

“It represents all of the students at Knightdale High School,” she said. “It reflects the positive energy here — the fact that students could have spent the day home relaxing, but they found it important enough to give back to the community and the school.”