When students and staff return to Wessington Springs High School (WSHS) next month, they will be met with a complete transformation in the once-drab hallway leading to the shop. Thanks to a grant to help promote FFA, the talents of artist and WSHS alumna, Kenzee Schafer, was commissioned for the recently-completed job that began in February.
“Having been a member of the FFA chapter myself, I knew I wanted to incorporate CDEs (Career Development Events) and a land and range contest. I wanted to create a design that would take your eye and lead it through the various competitions,” she reflected. “After looking up FFA colors, I asked myself how to warm up the hallway, especially with the blue-toned LED lighting. I ended up using a lot of warm tones, yellows and reds, with a design that will carry you through the whole experience.”
The north wall of the mural takes the viewer through a long list of CDEs via a creative flow while the south wall featuring land and range “shows how a contest goes.”
Viewers may notice a familiar figure overseeing the land and range contest, a commemoration that WSHS Ag Instructor/FFA Advisor Brady Duxbury and Schafer devised during the design process.
For now, Schafer said she prefers that the figure’s identity not be disclosed, but as students file back into the hallway next month, there’s sure to be speculation.
Smiling as she reviewed her artistry that took more than 120 hours, she added, “It’s a ‘if you know, you know’ type of deal.”