Seniors at TJ paint parking spots, each with its own meaning to the person who created it.
Artwork by Ed Gloor
Every summer seniors at Thomas Jefferson High School have a rush to paint their parking spots however they want, to signify where they will park during the new school year.
Each parking spot varies in color, as well as design. “One important thing is to make the design unique to yourself,” says Marelle Davey, a senior who painted an elegant old Irish mythological tree in her spot. The process for creating a parking spot is an intricate process. “It all starts with the base coat. Usually a gallon of reasonably priced paint should do it. The hardest part is the design; it has to appeal to others as well of yourself,” explains Davey.
Senior Robert McMacken had a different approach to thinking of a design for his spot, which is a tree with some penguins, a raccoon, and a mouse.“Well I happened to be in the paint store, and saw this bright green, and I asked myself, ‘What would that color look good on?’ Then a yellow appealed to me, and I found myself asking the same question. My spot was then inspired by an Of Montreal music video. The mice and the raccoon looked pretty, and then the penguin on my spot represents my favorite animal. It all made sense.”
Senior parking spots are an historical thing at TJ. “It’s tradition. I remember my brothers contemplating what they were going to paint. It gets passed down year by year,” stated Mitch Mankoff. “My spot is wicked awesome, with ‘Princess Parking Only.’ The color represents my favorite color, bubble gum pink, with a supercalafragalistexpialadoshus tiara in the middle.”
Seniors who want more meaning in their parking spots will have thought deeply about a design for a long time, like Catherine Ramirez did. “If a person sees my parking spot, it can be seen as just another flower design, but if you look harder, it will appear like a face. It simply shows that there are two sides to everything, and I think people should not make first impressions too quickly, because it may be the wrong impression,” she says.
Senior All School President Nicole Blake was ecstatic to paint her senior spot. “I’m really not great with my words, but painting a parking spot is one of the few senior traditions we are able to do, and it is the first rite of passage to becoming a senior. We wait three long years to paint our spots. I remember when I was a freshman at the freshman barbecue I saw the then seniors painting their spots and I thought that was so cool. I wanted to do that right away.”
The senior spots can also be competitive. Senior Hayden Johnson won the battle of a spot with senior Will Lopez by successfully painting the entire spot first. “I was very sad,” said Will. “I was out of town and I couldn’t do anything about it; he went behind my back and painted a spot I started painting.”
Hayden Johnson recalls it a little bit differently. “I claimed the spot at the end of Junior Year, and so I painted the spot I claimed regardless of its state,” said Johnson
“The parking lot at TJ has great colors and designs due to the paintings,” points out Senior Nick Becker. Be sure to check out Austin Hearne’s spot near the end of the first row, where a bear is out in the woods. There is also a Calvin and Hobbes spot done in the fourth row by senior girls Marina Miller and Rachel Feist. Sports fanatic Morgan Bruzas painted a softball that morphs into a soccer ball inside of a sun with a Colorado state logo in-between the soccer ball and softball. Casey Edelman painted a spot resembling older iTunes commercials with a silhouette version of Casey jumping with an iPod in her hand. Ohran Ramadani has a spot with Waldo from Where’s Waldo in the middle of it. Senior twins Nick Becker and Anna Becker have a spot that consists of a half-moon/half-sun with glistening stars and galaxies in the background.
It’s clear that next year’s seniors are already designing their own parking spot extravaganzas in their heads, so be sure to get out there and check out the class of 2011’s.
