Last year during Christmastime, a mysterious “elf” left very detailed holiday-themed drawings on the classroom whiteboards at Ward L. Myers Elementary School in Muncy.

And the mystery of who the artist was deepened every day.

“It went through the elementary building like wildfire. It was a game every day for the kids to come in and see who got ‘elfed’,” said Corey Palmatier, Muncy School District building grounds supervisor.

Over time, the artist was outed as Logan Pena, one of the school district’s custodians.

Logan began drawing on the whiteboards during his breaks.

“I just thought the kids would get a kick out of it,” Pena said.

The next day when it became obvious that the kids and staff loved the drawings, Pena would draw whenever he had time on his breaks.

“They (the students) were pretty sure an elf drew it,” Amy Rosenbaum, first-grade teacher, said. “They walked in and were completely shocked and they thought I drew it. I explained I definitely do not have this art skill.”

The morning the first drawing was done, the Ward L. Myers Principal Steve Haddon, went to the classroom to check out the drawing.

“It was this amazing detailed picture,” Haddon said. “Then they started popping up all over and nobody knew who it was. It excited everybody, the kids loved it.”

“Last school year he did it sporadically throughout the building, so you never knew whose room was going to have a drawing on the board. So the kids were trying to guess whose room was going to be next, that was exciting,” Nevada Davidson, lead custodian, said.

Pena was able to stay under the radar partially by his work schedule being the second shift, beginning at 2 p.m.

Eventually the students and staff figured out who was doing the artwork.

“We were just thanking Logan for taking the time to cheer up the building during that time of year — just spreading that holiday cheer,” Haddon said.

“It’s real positive for the district, real positive for the students,” said Craig Skaluba, Muncy School District superintendent.

Pena, who is self-taught, then started taking requests from students and staff on what subjects to draw, which has continued into this year.

All this attention has brought Pena out of his shell, according to the staff.

“I like being by myself and just getting the job done,” Pena said.

Pena has Asperger’s Syndrome, which is on the autism spectrum, and can affect social and communication skills.

“I would say it takes me a while to get comfortable with people,” Pena said.

“Doing the artwork is a great way to communicate — most of the time I am just a ‘Hi’ and ‘Bye’ kind of person,” Pena said.

One year later the staff and students are still requesting drawings from Pena, whether it’s students asking for a certain animal or office staff wanting festive windows.

“I have always focused on the Muncy family, and that’s just about everybody building relationships with each other, and this is a perfect example of that. Building relationships with the kids no matter what the role is, and those connections are what makes it just a special place to be able to work,” Skaluba said.