Parkway West High is home to countless students and nearly six decades’ worth of history. While much of its history has been lost over time as students and teachers leave and move on to the next chapter of their lives, small moments and memories have been ingrained into the walls for future generations to see. This article will feature five out of the many murals from different wings in our school, along with the value that they hold to the West High community.
STAR WARS HALLWAY
“During the 70s and 80s, when the Star Wars movies [were] first coming out, people would walk down [the Star Wars hallway], and they would say it looked like the Death Star’s interior because of the way that these windows are really slit-like [and] white. It felt like a spaceship.[The] nickname for it stuck around until the 2000s when [students] decided to paint the mural. The mural chronicles the [first] three Star Wars movies. Even though a lot of the meaning has been lost to most students, it’s still a very unique thing to have at West [because] it archives the school’s history. I think [the mural] is going to be here for a long time. Maybe one day it will change to reflect the current society. Keep being creative [and] keep painting, [because the murals] give Parkway West character and atmosphere. Please make our school beautiful,” science teacher Charlie Woodruff said.
HISTORY WING
“In the fall of 2001, the [students in challenges to democracy] wanted to have a monument to bring attention to a topic [and] came up with the idea of [doing] a mural on the wall. This mural is symbolic of [an] older woman who lost her husband and her sons in Srebrenica, [Bosnia and Herzegovina where] a massacre of men and boys ranging from 16 up to 80 [occurred]. Women and girls were being raped, [as well]. She’s surrounded by these headstones, and she’s also holding headstones. There [are] so many [headstones] that they’re spilling out of her arms to show 1100 men and boys that were massacred in Srebrenica. It was a case where the United Nations was there, [but] didn’t have the power to stop it. [This mural is] a really powerful piece [because] It shows that the international community oftentimes has the ability to stop these atrocities, [but] doesn’t,” challenges to democracy teacher Kristen Collins said.
LANGUAGE WING
“Students in the upper levels [of ASL] have a mini De’VIA (Deaf View Image Art) unit. We learn what the colors mean, how people utilize colors for different things [and] different messages. Last year with my [ASL 4 class], I split them into different groups, and, fully in ASL, they had conversations about what [to] do for this mural. Each group came up with their own ideas. Then together as a class, [they signed] about which pieces of their art they [wanted] to pull together to create the whole thing. Each element came from different groups of people. We’ve also had a lot of input from our Deaf and hard-of-hearing students and staff. We wanted to put together [this] beautiful mural [to] break down some myths that [are believed] about deafness to the hearing community at West High. It’s really brought us together and helped [the students] learn. Hopefully [the mural] will help the hearing community learn as well,” American Sign Language teacher Jessie Menchak said.
MUSIC HALLWAY
“To me [this mural] is a representation of how you need to be able to build yourself up and take [the] next step in life, not knowing what is going to be around the corner. It embodies what we as performers do. Most people don’t realize that it takes a lot of courage to put yourself out there and to make mistakes, [and] that’s what we encourage. Make mistakes knowing that through that struggle, you’re going to get to that right answer or [get on] that right [path]. You never know what could happen because you allowed yourself to be vulnerable. I like that [the murals] shows the students have an ownership too, and want to leave their mark,” choir teacher Karey Fitzpatrick said.
ENGLISH WING
“I liked the English mural because it includes a variety of books that [English classes] used to teach whether it was “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Lord of the Flies” [or] “Romeo and Juliet.” It’s kind of tucked away around the corner, so I don’t know how many people actually see it [since] not everyone uses those stairs. We always need more beautiful walls and art to make school less institutional and stark. We always need pictures. Sometimes, the pictures pique our curiosity and give us something to wonder about. For instance, “The Secret Life of Bees” is the jar of honey on the wall. I don’t think any [teacher] teaches that book anymore, [but] if you see that picture, you might wonder what that is, [spurring] you to go read a new book, which is always good. When we read books, we love them, and we want to share them with as many people as we can. Murals depicting book covers [are] a way to celebrate all the things that we are reading and [make] connections with other people,” English teacher Michelle Kerpash said.
