By Benji Elkins:
This month a multitude of students were dismayed when they found that after returning to school from the summer, the famed art installation, “Pencils in Ceiling,” created by the entire student body had been removed by the school. The piece, comprised of 15-25 pencils, was a beloved one among the student body. Students had spent the entire year launching newly sharpened pencils into the ceiling of the high school's stairwells, all for the sake of art. The work had even been called “avant garde,” “genius,” and “Jackson Pollock-esque” by students, teachers, and critics alike. Countless students have expressed their animosity towards the removal of the artwork. One student recounts, “It’s not like I enjoyed throwing my new, sharp, pristine pencils into the stairwell ceiling, but I did it anyways, because that’s how much I love this school. And you know when the bell rung and I went into my class seven pencils short and needing to borrow a pen from my neighbor, I wasn’t upset, because I knew that I sacrificed my pencils for the greater good, for the beauty of art.” Though some insist the school has simply taken down the installation for “repairs and reparations,” many are not convinced. Nonetheless, all that remains in the spot once occupied by a glorious and provocative display, is a barren landscape speckled with holes from the points of pencils past.