Visit the student parking lot at Baldwin High School and you will learn a lot about members of the senior class.

It’s clear one student loves Dunkin’. Another loves sunflowers. Then, there’s the student who definitely has a sense of humor.

For the first time this year, seniors had the opportunity to personalize their parking spots by painting a design of their choice over their space as part of a fundraiser for the National Honor Society.

“I think it adds to the school environment here and getting kids excited from the moment they pull in,” said teacher Christopher Reilsono, who serves as the NHS advisor. “They’re putting their literal print on the school.”

Beginning with her freshman year, Baldwin senior Lexie Kennard, 17, had seen pictures of schools in the south and West Virginia where students had the chance to design and create their own parking spots. But when she mentioned it to upperclassmen, they didn’t think it would get the go-ahead.

Then, last year, she was part of the student interview committee for new Baldwin Principal Shaun Tomaszewski, and he seemed “very excited about school spirit and introducing new things.”

So, she brought the idea to NHS and ultimately met with the school’s principals, Superintendent Randal Lutz and the district’s director of security to pitch the idea.

All they asked, Reilsono said, was what needed to be done to make it happen.

He credits that to Kennard who he says “went in there like she would go into a business meeting at a Fortune 500 company,” with all of the facts and details needed to present the project.

For a parking spot, seniors pay $25, which goes to the senior class for their expenses.

If students wanted to paint their spot, they paid an extra $25, that will go towards interschool projects that NHS has planned for the schools’ atrias, including a tutoring center. About 60 seniors decided to paint their spots, which are assigned for the first time this year.

The only rules were that students had to get their designs approved in advance by Reilsono and that they use water-based exterior latex paint.

This year’s junior class, then, will be in charge of either power washing or painting over the spots once the seniors leave, so they can leave their mark next year.

“We really started a new tradition at Baldwin,” Reilsono said.

The students spent two days prior to the start of school painting their spots — although additional days were added for students in band and football who couldn’t make it.

“Everyone’s so excited to see how it looks,” said Kennard, who painted her space in pastels with her name atop a big princess castle. “I think it just brings everyone together.”

On a nearly 90 degree day, when the sun was beaming, Mia Fischetti, 17, president of the NHS, came prepared with an umbrella for shade, a water cooler and stencils to draw out her design.

She made numerous sketches trying to decide what exactly to put on her spot, she said. Finally, her mom said, “What do you like?”

She decided to draw a pole vaulter — like her — on the spot, because this is her last year as a senior doing track at Baldwin.

“It’s the coolest thing for us to get to do and it’s awesome,” she said.

Sarah Watkins, 17, began using the phrase “big girl” last year. “Anyone can be a big girl,” she said. It’s now what everyone calls her.

Her spot — with orange/red and black stripes — reads, “Big Girl, Big Year,” because it’s her senior year, so it’s got to be big.

Darryn Sleeman, 17, saw a design online with geometric shapes. She used that for her spot and brought friends who graduated in the past, and even her dad, to help paint.

Cameron Rodgers, 18, tends to sleep in.

His spot, a take on Drake’s album cover “If you’re reading this it’s too late,” is scribbled in the same messy handwriting, but reads: “If you’re reading this I’m late.”

“It kind of fits me, because sometimes I don’t wake up in time,” he said, making sure to add that it’s only “sometimes — not enough to exceed the limit, but just enough for people to notice.”

Rodgers likes that seniors came back to school before their first day on Sept. 3 to hang out in a more casual setting.

“It kind of feels good to be back, get back in the routine of seeing everyone before just going on the first day,” he said.

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