Quinta Brunson receives key to Philadelphia, dedicates mural at alma mater

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- It was an incredible and emotional day for Quinta Brunson at her alma mater, the Andrew Hamilton School, in West Philadelphia.

This is the city that raised her, and Wednesday, on stage in her middle school auditorium, Brunson received the key to her city.

"Quinta Brunson, this is your city and you are ours," said Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker.

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Brunson was having a full circle, fully Philly kind of moment.

"Even when I first walked in the door, I was like, 'Oh, I'm home. I'm home. I'm in Philly," Brunson said.

The Andrew Hamilton School inspired her hit ABC show "Abbott Elementary."

"It's just funny being in this gym, which looked so big when I was a kid," she says. "I am thinking about what it was like to be a kid and to be inspired by all of this."

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Joyce Abbott, her 6th-grade teacher, inspired the show's name.

"It's unbelievable," Abbott said. "I always knew she was headed for greatness, like all of my students, but it's just amazing to see this."

They also celebrated a brand-new mural wrapping around the school, one that Quinta designed with Mural Arts Philadelphia.

She was approached with the idea of having the characters from the show represented on the mural, but she wanted to focus on the real stars of West Philadelphia.

"That was very important to me," Brunson says. "At first, there was a mockup that incorporated the show, which I thought was very kind. But to me, growing up in Philly and seeing these murals, it was just important to me that the mural incorporated faces from this neighborhood, faces from this school."

Brunson took the time to give a shoutout to a few of her show's muses.

Her mother, Norma Jean, a former kindergarten teacher, inspired the character Barbara Howard, played by Sheryl Lee Ralph.

And her old classmate Gregory Wright, now an educator himself, is the source material for Gregory Eddie.

Wright is also a consultant on the show, and right now, they're working on season 5.

"We're in the writers' room now," Brunson says. "We just started last week. I am so pumped, and I like what we have already so far."

As part of this celebration, she is also donating a total of $50,000 to two different Philadelphia-area charities: one that provides music education and another that provides fresh groceries to kids in the community just like her.

Disney is the parent company of this ABC station.