PRIEST RIVER — The wall between the metal and wood shop classes at Priest River Lamanna High School has a bit more color these days.

That is because for his senior project, Hunter Housley is painting a mural on the wall with the hopes of inspiring future classes to learn, as well as to enjoy being in school.

“I chose to do this project because not only do I like art, but I wanted to leave something from my class that would be noticed,” Housley said.

Featured in the mural are the words “Never settle,” which is a quote Housley said the principal uses at graduation each year.

“It’s simple and it’s bold, and I think it has a lot of meaning behind it,” he said. “Never settle with what you have ... It doesn’t have to be with money or anything, just growing as a person is really important. I think it is kind of perfect to have in the school.”

Housley showed off his project during the school’s senior project exhibition night on Dec. 5. Each of the seniors, some individually and some in groups, took on projects that they were passionate about to fulfill the state requirement for graduation.

“This year’s senior project have been outstanding,” said Dan Caldwell, PRLHS teacher. “I really like all of the career/mentor type project because those students are exploring options for their future. What is most interesting about career/mentor projects is the majority of the time the students tell me they are glad they did the project because they found out that career was not for them. They saved themselves time and money by trying it before buying it.”

While Housley chose to paint the wall between the metal and wood shop rooms, some students used what was inside those two rooms as inspiration.

Three PRLHS seniors will have about 100 hours in on a 54-foot wide gateway for the school’s track and field by the time they finish their senior project. The new gate will be placed east of where the current gate sits, said Riley Storro, who is building the gate along with Max Bombino and Jordan Click. The entryway will include two Spartans facing each other, which Storro said they will cut out using the CNC machine in metal shop at the school. Storro has been in metal shop all four years of high school and said he wanted to do something “bigger and better.”

The group will finish constructing the gate over the winter and install after the ground thaws in the spring, he said.

Caldwell said this year there are also a number of projects the local schools, such as the junior high and elementary, have requested a senior help them with. For his senior project, for example, Bryan Schaper built benches in his wood shop class for the breezeway at Priest River Elementary. PRE supplied the materials for the project, and Schaper took on the task. Schaper said wood shop is one of his favorite classes, and has participated all four years of high school. He has been around woodworking and construction his whole life, he said, because his dad and other family members were in construction.

“Ever since I can remember, I was always on the job sites building stuff,” Schaper said. “... I’ve always enjoyed it.”

Other projects presented during the exhibition included a Business Professionals of America project by Jordan Phillips, an alumni volleyball tournament organized by Dalaynee Cook and Samantha Kendle, a small block Chevy 327 engine rebuild by Chet Woullet and Gavin Herman, and a wedding cake by Evie Fisher that covered five of the eight main allergies, being free of dairy, nuts, eggs, gluten and soy.

In addition, Victoria Millward is creating a time capsule and said, as far as she knows, her class will have the first in the history of PRLHS. She has collected different items from classmates and started a ledger for the students to write memories, personal notes to themselves, where they see themselves in 10 years, and anything else they think is significant.

Millward said the leadership class was initially supposed to take on the project, but since they didn’t have time, they passed the task on to her since it was her idea in the first place. Senior year is a “great” year to remember, she said, and they will retrieve those memories at the 10-year reunion.

“They get to see who they hung out with back in the day and trends that might have happened, such as the Tide Pod thing — which is frowned upon, but it happened,” Millward said, adding she is hoping to extend burying the capsule until after graduation to give the class more time to add mementos to the cache.

The capsule will be placed in an undisclosed location, she said, to avoid vandalism or theft in coming years.

Mary Malone can be reached by email at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.