The Illinois Valley YMCA in Peru has new art decorating its halls thanks to a group of student artists at La Salle-Peru High School.

About a dozen students in L-P’s art club spent eight hours sketching and painting a mural at the YMCA after months of planning and designing. Before the mural, the space was a big, blank and white wall. Junior Danica Scoma said the art will benefit people in the community who come through and see it.

“I think it will brighten up the space and really make people happy when they look at it,” Scoma said.

L-P art teacher Julie Jenkins said the YMCA contacted her wanting to utilize the students’ skills for an art project on that wall. When Jenkins proposed it to the art club, she said they were excited about creating something to beautify the community.

First-year student Tiffanie Grygiel said she enjoyed the project so much she’s looking forward to creating more murals in the future. She had never participated in creating a wall mural until this project.

“I learned that there are more ways to express your art,” Grygiel said. “It can be on a wall, it can be in a mural and you can have words in your mural that can make it pop and make it look beautiful.”

She said her favorite part of the experience was painting, bonding with the other students and receiving positive feedback from the community.

“Having people say ‘wow’ ‘oh my gosh’ or ‘that’s so amazing,’ hearing all the compliments made me feel really happy,” Grygiel said.

Because the YMCA had an idea of what it wanted, Jenkins said the students received hands-on experience on what it’s like to produce art for a client. They reached an agreement with the YMCA and discussed ideas, client expectations, money, hours, supplies, among other topics. The YMCA presented the students a budget, and all leftover funds were returned into the art club as a donation.

“I talk to the students a lot about what it looks like to be a practicing artist and how you have to meet the needs of your client,” Jenkins said. “I think they learned a lot of valuable lessons through this practice and they’re super excited about doing it again.”

Scoma said she learned about “patience and teamwork” through painting the mural.

“I’ve never really worked on a huge project like that with a lot of other people,” Scoma said. “I’m usually independent and work on my own things. I’m much of a perfectionist, so it was definitely a learning experience in that area.”

The students will have the opportunity to complete another community project soon. Jenkins said Gary Hammers of Nick’s on 6 has asked the students to paint murals for his business on the backside of the Burroughs State Farm building.

Hammers will be funding all supplies and the students are donating their time and talent, Jenkins said.

“We’re super excited about the opportunity and I’m so proud of my students for their commitment to the process,” Jenkins said. “It makes the students feel good about what they’re doing and it benefits the community.”

Students recently created six murals immortalizing local musicians in that space.