The Cuyahoga Falls High School Art Cub is “plowing” its way to success this semester as they participate in the Ohio Department of Transportation’s (ODOT) “Paint the Plow” competition. Nine students from the group—Benjamin Decapua, Nicholas Dean, Nathan Laney, Kyle Garrett, Hashim Martin, Hannah Burrell, Madaline Dalman, Sarah Taszreak, Brandon Gleisinger, and Finn Swisher—are working under the direction of CFHS and Ohio State University alumni Noah Scott to paint a design of their own creation on the front of a snow plow blade, which will be judged against other groups in the district this November by members of the public.
“This program helps to make the traveling public more aware of our presence on the highways and promotes the creative talent of local students,” explains ODOT Public Information Officer, Justin Chesnic. The “Paint the Plow” program was started in 2013 by ODOT district 4 to help expand this awareness by including such art from high school students on Ohio plows through social media and on the streets during winter. For this year’s competition, 30 schools are participating across District 4—Ashtabula, Mahoning, Portage, Stark, Summit, and Trumbull counties—in addition to other districts throughout the state.
According to Jennifer Schulman, CFHS Art teacher, “Our group of artists have decided to create a fantasy painting from their collective imaginations featuring mythological creatures and a wizard in the frozen tundra.”
All entries will be collected in late October, after which ODOT will post photos of all the blades on Facebook, where the public will vote for their favorite designs. Plows with the most votes will win first prize, as well as possibly see their blade clearing local streets of snow.
