This year, Mentor High School launched a brand-new senior tradition: painted parking spots. After years of students asking for the opportunity, last year’s principal, Jason Crowe, approved the idea and helped bring it to life after learning how other schools in the area ran similar programs.
MHS Student Government organized the event, sending announcements out in March 2025, and posting reminders in Schoology and in Infinite Campus in the following weeks. Students who wanted to participate were required to complete an application, get parent signatures, and submit their designs for approval by a committee of teachers and administrators. Once approved, seniors received details for painting days on August 8th and 11th, with an optional make-up day on August 14th.
Participation cost an extra $20 on top of the expense of a parking pass, with $18 donated to charity and $2 going to MHS Student Government because the event was their fundraiser. Seniors voted to support the Lake Humane Society, raising $1,188 for the organization. Students provided their own paint and supplies, but shared materials freely. Leftover paint has been saved for next year.
On painting days, seniors came out with brushes, rollers, and plenty of creativity to personalize their spots. The event was supervised by Student Government Advisor Joni Petrusko, who had help and support from administrators and staff. Out of the 100 spots offered, 66 were painted in total.
“It’s such an amazing way for seniors to start their last year at Mentor High, showcasing their creativity and talent while also raising money to help out our community,” Petrusko said. Both students and staff are excited to continue this tradition in the years ahead.
In addition to Crowe, Petrusko, and MHS Student Government, Ryan McKnight, unit principal, and Dawn Cavell, unit secretary, played an instrumental role in making this event happen. Petrusko said, “I’d also like to thank all the administrators, particularly Mr. McKnight, for stepping up and helping me with everything as we tackled this in its first year. Finally, a special thank you to Mrs. Cavell for her amazing organizational skills and for making sure the students paid their fees and picked up their parking passes.”
Because of all their hard work, seniors were able to leave behind more than just tire marks. They left their personal stamp on Mentor High.
Lauren Ciulla
Artist profile by Grace Delluomo, Journalism Class Writer
Lauren Ciulla, an 18-year-old senior at Mentor High School, jumped at the opportunity to paint her parking spot, a fun senior-only activity offered for the first time this year. Ciulla said, “I was so excited because I saw other schools allowing the seniors to paint their parking spots, and I was super excited to be allowed to have my own parking spot at the school.”
A huge Taylor Swift fan, Ciulla based her design on this musical artist. She said, “I love Taylor Swift. I have been a fan since I was a little girl. My mom played Taylor songs in the car when I was little. I feel like I grew up with Taylor.”
Believing that Swift has songs for every feeling that people experience, Ciulla created her design around this idea. She said, “I chose the design because it represents each one of Taylor’s albums before the new one comes out and what Taylor went through in her life.” Ciulla went on to say that Taylor helped her go through high school with each one of her songs and albums. She doesn’t want to say that all of Taylor’s experiences were hers, but her songs helped her go through high school in a much healthier way.
Her design took two gallons of paint for the base coat alone and two days to paint. She said, “Friday took me five hours and on Monday two hours to finish it all up.” Ciulla believes her design came out better than she expected. The colors of her parking spot were what she hoped for. The spacing of the letters was great. The boxes were perfectly spaced out, and overall the design fell into place.
Ciulla said she would definitely recommend this activity for seniors next year because it was fun being able to paint with your friends and choosing the design you wanted. “It is not gonna be something that I’m gonna forget throughout my life. I’m gonna look back on it and always remember this memory,” Ciulla said.
Ellen Freeman
Artist Profile by Sylvia Hall, Journalism Class Writer
This year, Mentor High School finally allowed seniors to paint their parking spots, and the tradition is already making the student parking lot a lot more colorful. Seventeen-year-old senior Ellen Freeman shared what it was like to take part in the new activity.
When asked how she felt when the administration announced the activity, Ellen said, “I was really excited. I do cross country and we travel to a lot of other schools, and so I’ve seen other schools painted parking spots a lot. And I always get to enjoy seeing the designs that people come up with.”
Ellen’s design was really personal to her and connected to her dream career. She said, “I wanted to kind of do an homage to what I wanted to do after high school, so I incorporated a lot of culinary imagery because I want to go to culinary school.”
She decided to combine her favorite cooking school with her favorite movie. She said, “So I started with the Culinary Institute of America logo, which is my dream school, and then I knew I wanted to do Remy from Ratatouille. It’s like my favorite movie, and he’s also a chef, like myself.”
Ellen thought a lot of the designs were cool, even if she loved hers the most. She said, “I really liked the connection that mine had to me, but there were a lot of designs I really loved. I don’t know her name, but there was someone who did like an aquatic design a couple spots away from me, and she’s clearly a very good artist because it was super detailed and the shading was really good, and so that was really beautiful to look at.”
She admitted that painting your own spot takes money, time, and patience. She said, “It’s probably not worth it for everybody, but I would say anyone who’s able to, give it a shot, because I thought it was really fun.”
Caitlin Monaco
Artist profile by Michelle Dems, Journalism Class Writer
Caitlin Monaco, a 17-year-old senior at Mentor High School, is ecstatic about sharing her experience with the brand-new Mentor High tradition of painting parking spots. She said, “The experience was so exciting, and I was so happy to be able to do this.”
Monaco went with a Taylor Swift-themed parking place. Monaco says she is obsessed with Swift. “I just felt drawn to that design for the Taylor Swift symbology is happiness, and that is what this whole project was about,” she said. Monaco knew from the start what she was painting. She never even had another thought. She loves Taylor Swift so much and had to show how happy the singer makes her. She said that Taylor is her favorite singer and has inspired her a lot.
For Monaco personally, the first day she went to paint, the task took her five hours; then she went back the second day and it took her two more hours. “It turned out better than I expected,” Monaco said. She absolutely loved how it turned out and was so happy she did it that exact way.
For Monaco, one of the most memorable moments was spilling her paint out of the lines. She found the mishap hilarious. She also said the activity should be reserved for seniors only because it is something to look forward to and a good way to start your senior year.
Claire Schmidt
Artist profile by Erin Melendez, Journalism Class Writer
What better way to personalize a parking spot than with lily pads? That’s exactly what Claire Schmidt did! Inspired by Pinterest, she created an amazing design.
“It took me a full two days to paint my design,” she commented. “Honestly, I would have liked to have more time.” When asked if her parking spot turned out the way she had hoped, Claire admitted that she wasn’t very fond of the final result. She felt that having more time would have allowed her to add more details or fix some unsatisfactory parts.
When told that 66 students painted their parking spots, Claire said, “The number was a little lower than I expected. My guess is that the paint we had to buy was quite expensive, so some people may not have been able to afford it or simply didn’t want to spend that much.”
Given that a typical parking spot’s perimeter is around 270 to 320 feet, it requires a significant amount of paint to cover it. Fortunately for Clair, she was able to use paint that her parents had in their basement, which helped her save money on the project.
When asked if juniors should be allowed to participate in the fun activity of personalizing parking spots alongside seniors, Claire said no: “I think it should just be a senior project because it’s really one of the only activities exclusively for seniors. We have senior sunrise too, but being able to park in a spot that reflects your status as a senior is a unique experience.”
Olivia St. Hilaire
Artist profile by Alex Arroyo, Journalism Class Writer
Olivia St. Hilaire, a 17-year-old senior at Mentor High School, was thrilled at the opportunity to paint her very own parking spot. St. Hilaire was dead set on her design from the moment she read the email in Infinite Campus that announced the exciting event.
She chose to paint a turtle, specifically the turtle Squirt from one of her favorite Disney movies, Finding Nemo. St. Hilaire said, “I did a turtle for mine because I think turtles always take things slow, and it’s like a chance to stop and take in the moment.” She also included the saying “Later Dudes” that the turtles in Finding Nemo often say. However, the meaning of her parking spot is much more symbolic. St. Hilaire said, “Yeah, it’s like something the turtles say, and I just thought that given I’ll be leaving, it’s like ‘oh I’ll see you later.’ I just thought it would be fun.” St. Hilaire used her parking spot as a way to say goodbye to her school and her fellow peers.
This spot took St. Hilaire and two of her family members five hours to paint and cost about $150. Even though this activity cost her money, time, and effort, St. Hilaire felt participating was worth it. She said, “It gives you the hope of getting to see your parking spot every day, and no one else can park there, and it’s your spot and people know that.”
St. Hilaire recommends that the class of 2027 participate in painting their parking spots next year because the activity made her school experience that much better. She said, “I really wanted the chance to be able to be creative and do something that other people could see in the school.”
Addison Zahn
Artist Profile by Gabby Dettrey, Journalism Class Writer
Addison Zahn, a 17-year-old senior who painted her parking spot shared some of her experiences. She said, “My music taste was a huge inspiration for my parking spot. I painted a vinyl of a song.” She then explained how she finds music very relaxing, and she felt that’s why she liked that idea.
While the project took a good chunk of time to create, Zahn did not seem to mind. “It took me seven hours total, two hours on the first day and five on the second,” Zahn said. “It definitely took a lot of time and effort, but being able to have a designated spot every time you come into school, it’s nice to have it characterized towards yourself,” she said.
Like other students who have been advocating for seniors to paint their parking spots, Zahn was pumped when she found out that Jason Crowe, principal at the time, approved the activity. “I was so excited when I heard the news about this activity, since so many other schools participate in this kind of activity that I was so thrilled to have the experience too,” Zahn said.
