An old structure — likely once used as a concession stand — at Gill Hall Park now screams “TJ” with its inspiring new black and gold Jaguar facade, thanks to the efforts of two Thomas Jefferson High School alumni.

Kaylee Rowland, 19, and Alex Folino, 18, both 2021 graduates, volunteered roughly 30 hours at the park this summer creating a mural on all four sides of the structure in an effort to once again bring it to life.

“I love being a part of the whole process (from) beginning to end, seeing something come together from what was once just an idea to actually seeing the final product,” Rowland said of her love for art and design. “One of the coolest things ever is getting to see my designs being used by other people and creating something that they love. It’s a whole different experience when your work is out in the world for others to see and enjoy.”

The idea for the project came from Jefferson Hills Recreation Initiative board member Rhiannon Miller. When visiting the park, she noticed that the structure was “dingy and gross” and could use a facelift. She brought the idea to the recreation board, where it was suggested that she work with students from the high school to make it happen.

Miller secured funding from Zacur Construction for the supplies and worked with Kirk Salopek, art department coordinator at TJ, to recruit students for the project.

Salopek immediately thought of Rowland, a student in his commercial design class last school year.

“She knocked it out of the park consistently in class. I talked with her about this project and she ended up taking on the whole project,” Salopek said.

Rowland took the lead and created a Jaguar-inspired design. She recruited Folino, who, along with another student, had worked on a mural inside the school last year together. Salopek taught her a sponging technique that was used for the base of the mural to create a “fur-like” texture, she said. They then used a projector to shine her designs onto the building at dusk for tracing.

Rowland and Folino, both of Jefferson Hills, spent 11 days during the summer painting the stand.

“I loved every second of it — except maybe not the hot weather — but it was awesome,” Folino said. “For me, it was about leaving my mark on the community.”

Folino, who grew up interested in art thanks to Adam Gebhardt’s class at Jefferson Elementary School, found his passion participating on TJ’s soccer, swimming and track teams.

He hopes that youngsters will see the mural and realize — like him — that they can do whatever they want in life.

“When you think of TJ, you instantly think of football, as you should. But TJ is more than football, it’s an entire community of different sports, academics and what we did shows other kids that you don’t have to go to TJ just to do sports. You can go and be whatever you want. You can be a teacher, you can be an artist,” Folino said.

For Rowland, the project helped bridge the gap between high school and college. She admittedly wasn’t ready to move on from TJ just quite yet. Her senior year had been spent assisting the West Jefferson Hills School District in many facets. She designed logos for the district’s facilities and human resources departments and created multiple designs for the West Jefferson Hills Foundation for Education to use on stadium blankets they’re selling.

After graduation, this allowed her to stay involved at the school a little bit longer and “do something really cool for the community.”

Both Miller and Salopek were impressed with the outcome of the project.

“They definitely went above and beyond,” Miller said.

Salopek hopes that the project will encourage more students to pursue their passion for art.

“You get to see all of the pieces come together for these kids. They get to create something that they own and then give it to the community to keep,” he said.

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