MILTON -- While many students in our area did not have school Monday, high school students in Milton were busy painting a mural.
Stroke by stroke, students at Milton Area Senior High School are carefully painting a mural which will soon hang inside their school.
"The mural is a depiction of how there are many different ways to reach success through education," explained art teacher Lauren Richie.
The two-week project is cosponsored by the Milton Area School District and the Perry County Council of the Arts.
Around 100 high school students are helping to paint the mural.
Artist Dirk Shearer designed the 9 by 15 foot painting.
"I went back, did some sketches, presented it to them, got it approved, and I worked on the final design," said Shearer.
"We used a grid method to enlarge the mural. Now we're painting it and it's sort of like we're painting by colors but on a larger scale," said ninth grader Andrew McNeal.
When the mural is finished, it's going on a wall near the entrance so people can see it as soon as they walk into the high school.
"It's a little bit modular and that way it can be installed and should anything change and they decide to move it one day, they can just tear it down and move it," Shearer said.
Ninth grader Taryn Chubb said students are excited to come back to the school years from now and see the mural, knowing that they helped paint it.
"I'll be like wow, I helped participate in that and get to see how great it looks still."
School officials expect the mural to be finished next week.
