Nebraska high school students compete in mural competition

HASTINGS, Neb. (KSNB) – More than 200 students from 35 high schools across the state of Nebraska gathered at Hastings College on Wednesday to compete in the ninth annual Jackson Dinsdale Art Center Mural Competition.

Students were given a prompt for their mural once they arrived, and had just a few hours to brainstorm and complete their paintings before it was judged by Advanced Art Students from Hastings College.

“The collaboration. I think that’s the best part of this, to see six or seven students have to get together and make one idea, and then everyone works equally to execute it,” said Turner McGehee. “If you look around there at the groups that are out there painting, everybody’s got a hand in the painting. Even though you know that some are probably more skilled than others and it would be really easy for someone to take over, that’s not the way it works, it’s a really great collaboration.”

Payton Veik, a student at Waverly High School has been participating for the past couple of years and said each year she’s able to make new friends.

“It’s different every year I feel like,” Veik said. “There’s always different people and there’s always different energies and then we’re always in a different spot. So like last year we weren’t by the speakers and we were by different schools so we made friends and hung out with different people and it’s really fun and I really enjoy it.”

Veik said she’s also able to build closer relationships with her own teammates.

“I didn’t even know like three of the people on my team I had never talked to before today really and I’m already besties with them so it’s pretty fun. It’s always good to make friendships through this kind of stuff,” said Veik.

The students get to take their murals back home to display and some schools have participated for years, leaving them with a collection to show off.

“Going around the state and visiting some of the high schools around the state, it’s nice to see that’s almost a trophy in itself,” said McGehee. “You see those mounted in the art room or sometimes in other places like the dining hall or something like that.”

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