The North Pocono Art Department has put its time into creating a new project that will bring the whole school Trojan pride. Through a yearly program with the Northeast Intermediate Unit (NEIU), the art department chooses an artist to work with them on a project. This year, the artist they chose was Leigh Pawling, who is from Dallas, PA. Though it took her some time to make it to the high school, it was worth it because of the progress they made with her. Pawling is a mural artist, and she helped the art department create a mural that showcases the different opportunities the high school provides.
The idea for this particular mural started with many different ideas coming together from the art department’s students. Mrs. Crum, the art teacher, enjoyed watching her students’ ideas all work together to form the idea for the mural. “The idea all came from the students, they all started off with a sketch, and we just decided which sketches were the main theme.” The mural depicts the Trojan holding a shield that has many detailed circles on it. Each circle represents a different extracurricular activity or class that North Pocono offers. Students each were assigned a circle to complete, with the themes ranging from Mock Trial to Buddies club, and even farther. Once the students were given their circle, they worked on it tirelessly, working to perfect their part of the mural. Senior Mariana Pizzuti worked on the Mock Trial’s representation on the mural, finding the importance of the project in its representation. She noted, “you don’t really see all the clubs, sports and everything that’s available, especially for new students coming in every year, it gives them a chance to look, and be a part of it.” The mural’s importance goes beyond just showcasing the different opportunities in the high school, it also offers incoming freshmen the chance to see all of the different programs that they will have the ability to participate in.
Leigh Pawling’s experience as a mural artist benefitted the creation of the mural, as she was “able to educate the students on using parachute cloth like the majority of large murals are done in Philadelphia.” Pawling received her training in Philadelphia, which is known as the mural capital of the world, as it is home to over 4,000 murals. Pawling’s previous experience with murals and their creation process allowed the students to perfect their display, first with how it was planned, and also how it would be put on the wall. Junior Nate Greenwood, who worked on the Tabletop Gaming club’s representation, thought that the different ideas coming together was a crucial part of the mural, stating, “this is a congregation of a whole bunch of ideas brought together, as it should be.” The importance of community in the high school was noted by all who worked on the mural, since it would represent not only the art department’s ideas, but North Pocono high school as a whole.
The project brought many challenges and ideas, but each person involved appreciated the process, some parts more than others. Mariana Pizzuti was glad for the opportunity to paint as she “hadn’t painted in a while” and it was “fun to get back into that.” She also noted that the materials used were different than what she expected, and it was “kind of cool to see how you had to build from it and how it worked.”
The mural was put up above the stairwell in the cafeteria on March 13, 2024. Its well-rounded representation of the high school only adds to the unique and colorful design, and with Mrs. Crum and Leigh Pawling’s help, it is a mural that all students can take pride in.
