One of the most memorable parts of Powell High School is walking through the halls and seeing the many art displays scattered throughout the building.

For years, PHS art students have been working on a variety of displays all the way from a submarine to the most recent project of ‘Mission to Mars.’

“Progress [on the Mars project] is going well,” art teacher Mr. James Gilman said. “We should be finished with the Mission to Mars display in the next few weeks.”

Working on these art displays, the Mission to Mars in particular, has not been easy.

“There have been challenges at every step of the way,” senior Lane Franks said. “We are constantly problem-solving, researching [and] fixing things and redoing them all over again.”

Although they have all worked hard to make these displays great, an artist’s work is never done.

“People make suggestions,” Mr. Gilman said. “We alter or change the display to try to incorporate things that we think will make it better.”

For the students, nothing is more satisfying to see the long hours finally pay off.

“My favorite part of the project is seeing it all finally come together; the coolest part of it all is what we have made,” Franks said. “We have created the first space tractor made up from different brands of tractors that we used design ideas and then added our own.”

The Mars project is but one of many other displays built by PHS art students.

“We are currently working on adding to the U-Boat display. We are adding two Liberty Ships; one sinking, and one ‘continuing on to England,’” Mr. Gilman said. “They are also working on a castle to add to the Dragon/Viking ship display.”

These displays are very special and unique to the students at Powell High School.

“What we have done as an art class is impressive; no other school has done what we done,” Franks said. “We are a true one in a million class because of what we have done in the Mission to Mars project.”