The message painted in tall white sans-serif letters on the Winnetka Avenue Metra train underpass is simple, but as Caroline Kelly stood in front of it one day last week, drivers slowed down, gave it a thumbs up, and smiled as they passed.
That’s the reaction the New Trier High School senior hoped for when she painted “You Are Beautiful” on the underpass wall.
Kelly, 18, formerly of Glencoe and now of Northbrook, said she’d been challenged to create a project for her Integrated Global Studies School program that would make a positive impact in her community.
She said she spied the phrase on several outdoor venues in Chicago and subsequently learned more about it through www.you-are-beautiful.com.
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“(It) made me smile when I saw it,” Kelly said.
That made it perfect for her project, she decided: something that spoke not just to New Trier students at the Winnetka campus, or solely to Winnetka residents, but something that could be viewed by any traveler or passer-by.
What she hadn’t counted on were the practical challenges of getting permission to paint the seemingly innocuous in a public place. But surmounting bureaucratic hurdles became just another part of the her project’s learning experience.
Even teacher Darren Jeziorski, Kelly’s IGSS mentor, said in a New Trier High School press release that he wasn’t certain she could triumph over the paperwork.
“I admit, I doubted her a couple times because of the complexity of the project, but she was very, very persistent. The mural is testament to her perseverance,” said Jeziorski, who ultimately helped Kelly, her family and friends spray-paint the message onto the underpass, getting it all done by the end of the weekend of April 22-23.
The global studies program is open to juniors and seniors who are accepted based on academic progress and their ability to self-direct their education. Roughly 75 to 80 students participate each year, according to Kelly and New Trier’s website.
Students meet in small groups, integrating their course work – English, social studies and science in junior year, and English, social studies and art in senior year – following a different theme each year.
Kelly, who calls herself a free spirit and said she enjoys the IGSS study format because it fits with her desire to learn without an ironclad structure, said she initially couldn’t decide on her project.
“I had no idea what to do. I took over a whiteboard in one of our classrooms and brainstormed with other students,” she said.
When her colleagues suggested a mural, Kelly, who more usually gives vent to her artistic tendencies through photography and ceramics, leaped at the idea.
Some of her research involved talking to people at art stores about the best type of paint to use for outdoor installations, and figuring out a way to create large stencils with which she could spray paint her message. The secret, she said, was projecting the letters onto butcher paper, tracing them, and then cutting them out.
That was easy, she said, compared to trying to find the right people from whom to get permits. She eventually found her way to Winnetka officials and then to representatives of the Union Pacific Railroad, which owns the underpass, even though it’s used by Metra commuter trains.
“It was not at all was I was expecting, and there were times I wondered, toward the middle of the project, whether I’d be successful,” Kelly said.
Kelly said the bureaucratic logjam eventually eased, especially after she worked with Adrian Guerrero, a public affairs director with Union Pacific.
Guerrero said in an email that Kelly contacted his office in February and the company gave her the go-ahead. In fact, “the railroad’s engineering team power washed the surface (of the underpass) to ensure it was ready for the mural,” he said.
Guerrero said, “We occasionally receive requests for these types of projects, though this is the first ever received for Winnetka.”
If Kelly and her teacher occasionally wondered about the project’s success, mom Kris Kelly had far fewer doubts.
“She loves a challenge. She does not shy away from things she’s never tried before,” Kris Kelly said. “I could not be more proud of her … I’ve always thought she would be somebody amazing, and she’s proven that over and over to me.”
Kelly said she plans to attend the University of Redlands in California, studying sociology, psychology and art. Finishing her high school career with this project felt right, Kelly said.
“The fact that I did something kind of crazy, and got it done – it felt pretty great,” she said.
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Twitter: @pioneer_kathy