A Plymouth Whitemarsh High School graduate designed a six-by-eight-foot mural now hanging in the Pennsylvania State Capitol Rotunda, and 14 current PW students contributed artwork to it.

Caroline Melillo, a member of PW's Class of 2022 and a recent Moravian University Graphic and Interactive Design graduate, assembled Many Communities: One Commonwealth from more than 180 K-12 student submissions collected from across the state. The three-panel collage, shaped like Pennsylvania, was unveiled Tuesday, July 28, in Harrisburg as part of the state's America 250 commemoration.

Gov. Josh Shapiro attended the ceremony. "I've always believed that art has a way of bringing people together and creating opportunities for kindness," Shapiro said at the unveiling. "We have to find more ways to come together and not see the differences, but the similarities in our Commonwealth."

The Pennsylvania Art Education Association selected Melillo to lead the design. The project was developed through a partnership between PAEA, Pennsylvania Creative Industries, the Office of First Lady Lori Shapiro and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Fourteen current Plymouth Whitemarsh students had artwork selected for inclusion: Sophia Dunoff, Phoebe Balkiewicz, Dean Hayes, Brandon Wooldridge, Logan Nye, Avner Shaw, Natalie Krier, Madison McGuckien, Mia VanCollie, McKenzie Rupprecht, Bailey Riley, Riley Wheeler, Chris Kanavy and Luke Scoble.

The America 250 initiative invited K-12 students statewide to create pieces reflecting what is meaningful about their hometowns, neighborhoods, and traditions. Melillo transformed those hundreds of submissions into a single cohesive image highlighting shared experiences across Pennsylvania's communities.

Dr. MaryJo Rosania Harvie, assistant professor of art and director of art education at Moravian University and PAEA president-elect, said the project shows that young people have important stories to tell about place, identity and belonging. Through the visual arts, Harvie said, students across Pennsylvania are helping people see the Commonwealth as a collection of many communities rather than a single story.

The mural remains on display in the Capitol Rotunda and is featured in an online gallery highlighting all student artwork submitted from across the state, according to the Colonial School District. Families can view the full collection of submissions on the state's America 250 page.