St. Edward students decorate giant city snow plow

An Elgin snowplow now sports a cheerful school mascot design thanks to students from St. Edward Central Catholic High School, and the initiative was such a success that city officials hope for more participation next year.

Junior Mary Kessuvan drew the sketch, which she and three others painted in three hours during the public works department's open house Saturday. On one side of the plow, they painted their school's mascot "Johnny Greenwave" holding a snow shovel and shaking his fist while sitting in the snow. On the other side, they painted their school logo with snow falling.

All four students are in art club and take art classes.

"It was really cool. It was fun," Mary said, adding the only stressful thing was working for the first time with oil-based enamel paint. "I've never actually done something like this, especially on that big of a scale."

The so-called "V-Plow" is the largest in town - 12 feet wide, 8 feet high and about 5 feet deep - and used during major snow storms, Superintendent Aaron Neal said. It was last used during a blizzard in February 2011 when the city got 18 inches of snow in less than 12 hours, he said.

The idea came from Elgin's Cultural Arts Manager Amanda Harris, who said Neal "was immediately receptive and on board."

"While I haven't yet had to opportunity to discuss it with the Elgin Cultural Arts Commission, I have every expectation that the program will happen again next year," Harris said. "We will definitely reach out to the high schools again with hopes of getting more participation, but are open to the idea of other organizations and arts groups."

St. Edward art teacher Maddie Richmond is a member of the cultural arts commission, which sponsored the event. "I feel that it was super successful, just speaking as a commissioner," she said.

"There were many people coming by. There were a ton of people at the entire event. Seeing the students work in that time frame, on that large of a scale, is really impressive. I think it's a great way to work side by side with a multitude of entities."