Chelsea Sherlock
Herald Correspondent
After nine months of planning and two days of painting, four incoming freshmen at St. Louis High School completed a mascot mural on the east side of the new football locker room building.
Boston Clarke, Madilyn Devine, Kaylea Hemp and Kaylee Spencer are friends who were inspired by murals they saw at other districts and viewed painting one as an opportunity to promote school spirit.
The idea gained momentum with encouragement from TSN Middle School science teacher Todd Starry, who introduced the group to the United Way’s PITCH-ER THIS! grant program as a possible source of funding.
Though their proposal wasn’t selected, the Alma/St. Louis Rotary Club stepped in to award $400 to cover supplies.
The chosen design features a shark bursting through a wall, inspired by a similar beaver mural at Beaverton High School.
“I saw the mural at a volleyball game and thought it was cool,” Spencer said. “Once this opportunity came up, I presented my idea to the others.”
To aid the students, Starry reached out to local artist Theresa Jewell to help with the project. She works at the T.A. Cutler Memorial Library and is a high school art teacher in Mount Pleasant.
Jewell went with the freshman to buy supplies from Sherwin-Williams. The group quickly went to work on painting the mural after getting approval from the St. Louis Public Schools maintenance department, starting on July 22 and finishing July 23.
“The experience was a lot of teamwork and trial and error, like with the shadow on the belly, but it was a lot of fun,” said Clarke.
Hemp echoed that it “took a lot of effort and teamwork.”
Not only does the painting help give character to the building, but the process gave the four friends real-life experience with project management, budgeting, pitching ideas, and painting.
“It was a cool experience,” Devine said.