Pine-Richland students give snowplows an artistic touch before 1st flake falls

While students in the Pine-Richland School District love their snow delays, that’s not stopping them from making sure Pine Township has decorated snowplows to clear the roads in the upcoming winter months.

The idea for the project formed after the director of the Pine Township Parks and Recreation Department contacted Eden Hall Upper Elementary Principal Steven Smith and Assistant Principal Joseph Domagala. They discussed the idea of painting the township’s snowplows. They then shared the idea with the art classes.

“This will be a great way for the schools and township to form a community connection,” said Director of Parks & Recreation Joni Patsko. “The drivers will get a kick out of it, and students will see the plows and say, ‘Hey, I was a part of that.’ The project has been very well received so far.”

Similar projects will take place at Hance Elementary, Richland Elementary and Wexford Elementary schools as well. The high school is also planning to paint material that will be placed on a tunnel in Pine Township.

“We jumped at the opportunity because we always like to showcase our students in our art program,” said EH art teacher Katelynn Tronetti. “This is something we’ve never done before, and neither have our students. I think it’s important to have opportunities like this for students to see the impact of the arts outside of art class. It provides a sense of pride and accomplishment even though each student hasn’t ‘created’ their own design from scratch.”

Tronetti likes the project all around. She often tells her students that everyone is good at art, because there are so many different mediums and explorations that every single person can have their own niche.

“This is just one example of how the arts work in everyday life while exploring a new, collaborative process,” said Tronetti. “Even though each student has one small part in the process, they are all important for the collective design to work. Art class usually functions on an individual level, but the arts is such a vast field that not all of it can be explored in a K-12 setting, let alone an individual school year. Working together on a piece such as this is just one snippet of how everyone can thrive in the arts no matter the ability level.”

Tronetti said that the art teachers wanted students to have a voice in the process, so the students voted on their favorite design. Students created a Rams theme for Eden Hall.