This new mural, overseen by Ms. Celeste, will be led by Hayden Walker, a senior at CHS and a student in her AP Drawing class. Hayden intends to paint a giant submarine emblazoned with Electric Boat's logo.
CHS has always been proud of the many opportunities it offers students. The new mural planned for the welding hallway helps to highlight this, but it also casts light on the connections that drive our school, some of them completely unrelated to our education at all.
This new mural, overseen by Ms. Celeste, will be led by Hayden Walker, a senior at CHS and a student in her AP Drawing class. Hayden intends to paint a giant submarine emblazoned with Electric Boat’s logo. Ms. Celeste, as a longtime art teacher at CHS, is thrilled that her students again have the opportunity to paint murals around the school. Apparently, this was far more common before Covid, and is only starting to heat back up again now.
Regardless, it demonstrates the opportunities for art students in our community. Ms. Celeste is always eager to point her most talented students in the direction of art competitions, like Scholastics. She even managed to secure a Stop and Shop grant a few years ago in order to fund the colorful jungle mural decorating the 300s wing. She’s raised money from state legislators to pay for art scholarships for our students and, for senior Mame Ndoye, she acquired a gig painting the windows of Tom’s Market. Truly, CHS is blessed to have Ms. Celeste in the Art Department, arranging opportunities for our community.
In addition to showcasing CHS’s artistic talents and opportunities, the new mural will celebrate the students in our engineering and welding programs, as well as the rest of our CTE students. CHS’s welding program began in 2015 after Electric Boat reached out to Ms. Fergusen, our CTE director, referencing grants they could arrange. Our program, in addition to providing students with practical career skills in welding, offers students paid training over the summer and internships during their senior year. Once they graduate, Ms. Fergusen explains, “They have priority hiring status.” Beginning with their senior internship, Electric Boat offers students a 401k and benefits. EB invests in its employees, paying for their schooling and providing them ample opportunities to rise through the ranks.
Ms. Fergusen works hard to grow relationships with other companies in our community as well. Flood Ford donates new cars to our automotive program, while hospitals and nursing homes vie for our CNAs. However, our connection to EB stands out because, as a military contractor capable of offering government grants, “Electric Boat stands out as a real priority,” Ms. Fergusen states. While she hopes to get logos painted of other companies in our community and strengthen CHS’s ties to local businesses, it’s EB that gets the first patch of wall space, a sign that our connection to the corporation is strengthening. This mural is an attempt to further curry favor with the contractor, because, as Ms. Fergusen proudly states, “They are going to find a machining program for us.”
Despite all the positive feedback concerning this new project, it should be slightly concerning that our school is ingratiating itself with corporations. Ms. Fergusen admits, “We are teaching our students according to the Electric Boat standards,” which have key differences from regular welding. EB’s not just influencing our wall decor, but our curriculum as well, which raises some important questions. Can we maintain the integrity of our education system independent of the desires of rich donors? And if not, what else might a military contractor sway us to do? It only starts with what we paint on our walls.
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