Meridian High School and supporters are quickly rebuilding after school property was vandalized last Friday.
“When we first all heard about it Saturday morning, our first reaction was us being infuriated,” said Renuka Srivastava, who graduated from MHS last year.
19-year-old Jordan Wolfe and a 16-year-old MHS student smashed glass doors and windows, broke into a fire extinguisher case, and spray painted racist graffiti on walls. Both have been charged.
“We could not believe that something like this could happen to our high school,” said Srivastava.
Profane words were written all over the side wall of some concrete steps outsides. To cover up the profanity, school officials had the wall painted white. Now, the wall will serve as a canvas for a mural.
“We knew we had to take some kind of action to come together to show the community that this is not what we are,” said Srivastava.
MHS alumni are funding the project. Srivastava, now a student at the University of Alabama – Birmingham, was the 2016 valedictorian. She started a GoFundMe page that has already raised $3,000.
“The ideas will come directly from the National Art Honor Society. The alumni are more that welcome to come out, pick up a paint brush, and paint if they want to, one we start on the mural,” said Srivastava.
If you wish to donate to the GoFundMe page, you have until Thursday to do so. That afternoon, alumni will present the check to Meridian High School and its National Art Honor society.
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