WADENA — Wadena-Deer Creek High School seniors Rachel Craig and Meggie Rentz are remembering the tornado-ravaged high school with a mural.
“We wanted to do something to remember our high school,” Craig said.
Since the middle of the school year, Rentz and Craig have worked on the mural during their Independent Study art class. The students chose to do the mural as their National Honor Society senior project, said Rachel Bounds, W-DC High School math teacher who serves as the NHS adviser.
“As seniors, they needed to choose a project that’s about giving back to the school or community,” Bounds said.
A collage of newspaper articles about the tornado’s devastation surrounds the outside of the mural. The students spent time at the Wadena Pioneer Journal office clipping the articles featuring not only the school, but Wadena and the surrounding communities affected by the EF4 tornado.
Using acrylic paints, the students painted the entrance of the high school as it looked after the tornado. A wolverine paw — W-DC’s nickname is the Wolverines — is shown ripping out a gaping hole with the American flag in the background.
“The flag not only adds color but it’s a symbol of our freedom and American pride,” Rentz said. “I think the mural is taking shape. We’re happy with it.”
W-DC High School visual arts teacher Laurie Kopischke-Pulju provided artistic advice to the students as well. Plans are to hang the mural in the new middle/high school, which is set to open in the fall of 2012.
Craig is the daughter of Michael and Marian Craig of Wadena. Rentz is the daughter of Robert and Heidi Rentz of Sebeka.
