For the first time in many years seniors at Howell High School can paint their parking spots. For a fee of $40, along with their own supplies, they can express their creativity in whatever way they choose and if they repaint it black they get $20 back. This is a great way for students to express their creativity and uniqueness. They have the freedom to paint anything that they feel as long as it is school appropriate. Many students have taken advantage of this opportunity and have shown their artistic ideas and abilities. While in many schools students decorate their lockers to express themselves this doesn’t happen at Howell High School as lockers are rarely used due to our large campus. Since there are hundreds of parking spots, painting parking spaces makes it much easier for students to find their spots and also less likely for other students to accidentally park in someone else’s.
Senior Kara King’s spot was inspired by Snoopy, the iconic beagle from the Peanuts comics, and is one of my favorites from the senior lot. His torso is like an X-ray and his bones are visible. This brings a spooky vibe to her spot that I think contrasts and mixes really well with the sweet aura of Snoopy. Her painting of Snoopy was beautifully executed and impressively accurate. He appears to be standing in front of black mountains and looking up at a navy blue sky sprinkled with stars. The sky has to be my favorite part of this spot. It is so beautiful and has so much depth to it and I also adore how Snoopy is gazing into the sky. As seniors our future feels right in front of us and this feels like a representation of how wide and bright our futures can be. My least favorite part of this spot is the bottom, about half of the spot is taken up by plain bright red paint. I love the top half of this spot, however the bottom half confuses me. Is there a meaning that I am missing? Was this just a creative choice? Either way I am not a fan.
Near the field house are two spots that feature two characters from Spongebob Squarepants. Seniors Joyce Shelide and senior Rylie Black have spots right next to each other and the two friends decided to paint their spots not only as a creative outlet but as a representation of their friendship. Black’s is on the left and features a painting of Patrick while Schelide’s on the right shows Spongebob Squarepants. Both paintings are very well done and accurate to the characters they show. I love the color schemes of both spots. They are so bright and colorful making them very pleasing to look at. I also love the representation. Even without knowing who Shelide and Black are, when you see these spots you know they have a great friendship. The effort and time the two had to dedicate to this project for this to turn out so well shows how deep their friendship is. While the duo they chose isn’t necessarily the most aesthetically pleasing, I think the intent behind it and what it represents is more important.
Walking around the Howell High School parking lot you can see many different personalities reflected in their parking spots. There are many different spots and I do like some more than others but most have put in a good effort. Some people must have lost interest halfway through as the parking lot is littered with unfinished pieces of art. There is still tape lining many spots which is disappointing but outweighed by the dozens of beautiful spots. Overall, I think the seniors at Howell High School showed up and showed out in the parking lot.
