Paint Your Spot: Chelsea High School PTO kick off school year with creative fundraiser

PTO fundraisers can involve anything from box tops to bake sales, but Chelsea High School is taking a different approach this school year. As one of the year’s first fundraisers, for $20, seniors and juniors are able to paint and customize their parking spots.

“In the beginning, they [students] couldn’t believe it,” said PTO President Donna Bowles. “When I told my daughter, who’s a junior, she was like, ‘What? They’ll never let us do that.’”

Bowles first saw the idea online and presented it to Principal Wayne Trucks to get approval. After receiving approval, she had to come up with a few rules — only allowing latex or household interior or exterior paint, putting limitations on what could be painted and picking a date. Information was sent out on the school website and via Facebook, but no pre-registration was required.

“We didn’t even have a sign up because we knew if we do this, they’re going to show up,” Bowles said. “And they did.”

The first painting date was Sunday, Aug. 7 in order to accommodate students who had activities on weekdays. Students showed up with their supplies in hand and design in mind, paid their $20 and got to work.

“We had to approve their design, and then we made sure they had paid for their parking space for the year and they were using the correct kind of paint,” Bowles said.

Designs on the first day ranged from a quote or lyrics to a Twister board, and Bowles said it was fun to see the students be creative.

“We had kids out there copying things they’d already seen, but we had kids doing their own artwork and it was beautiful,” she said. “It’s a neat outlet, and it was a neat outlet for the kids to get out there and have some fun.”

The fun will continue on Sunday, Aug. 14, when students will have the chance to finish up their work from last Sunday or start work on their parking spots. Bowles said she expects some students who chose not to paint their spots to change their mind after seeing the decorated spots during the first week of school.

“People were still out of town last weekend because it was their last trip before school starts, and also some kids decided not to do it, but got to school yesterday [Aug. 9] or saw the pictures online and thought, ‘Wait, I want to do this.’”

Bowles said through researching how painted parking spots work at other schools, they found out most of the time the paint will have worn off by the end of the school year. If they’re not fully worn off, Bowles said the school will either pressure wash the remaining designs or just let the next round of students paint over it.

All of the students so far have abided by the guidelines, keeping everything classy and using the proper supplies, and Bowles said she expects that to continue with future painting days.

“Of course, we still have another day to go, but I’m optimistic because we have great kids at Chelsea High School,” she said.