On an unusually warm April Saturday, animal shelter officials, local students and members of the public gathered outside for the reveal of three new statues for the Johnson County Animal Shelter, capping off nearly nine months of work.
Since July, the students of Leadership Johnson County’s Youth Leadership Academy have been working on a community service project to beautify the Johnson County Animal Shelter in Franklin. The project included commissioning a local artist to build three statues for the shelter to redoing some of the shelter’s flower beds. The project reached its conclusion on Saturday, when the students, and the artist, revealed the statues.
The Youth Leadership Academy is a five-month program designed to bring together a select group of local high school students to learn more about their community and practice leadership skills in a fun learning environment. As part of the academy, students are required to attend an opening retreat in July, attend four classes scattered throughout the year, attend and complete a community service project, according to Leadership Johnson County.
There are 40 kids in this year’s academy class, which is made up of students from public high schools, private schools and home schools. During this year’s retreat, students chose to do the beautification project at the animal shelter, said Lisa Kress, director of the Youth Leadership Academy.
Though the animal shelter project had been first proposed to the Youth Leadership Academy in past years, those classes chose other projects. The goal of the academy is to help with a need in the county, so when this year’s academy class heard the animal shelter project had not yet been chosen, they decided to tackle it, said Andrew Jones, 17, of Greenwood Community High School. Jones was one of the project’s main organizers.
“We really wanted something that was a long-standing need in the community, something that had been out there for a little while,” Jones said.
The class also chose the project to help take away the stigma associated with the animal shelter. While the county’s shelter has been a no-kill shelter for many years, when people think of animal control and shelters in general, they often think of harm being done to animals and not treating them with respect, Jones said. By beautifying the grounds, that connotation can be removed.
“Our goal here was to upkeep the grounds a little bit, help make some statues to make the place a little bit more inviting, destigmatize that idea the animal control/shelter is a bad place, and show the community that it really is a good place and a good place for the pets of our community,” Jones said.
The three statues were created by Amber Beasley, a local artist from Franklin. Beasley was connected to the Youth Leadership Academy through the Creative Arts Council of Franklin, and she was both pleased and honored to take part in the project, she said.
“I’ve thoroughly enjoyed working with them,” Beasley said. “It was a joy to make it happen for them.”
All three statues were made from recyclable materials and were welded together by Beasley, who works as a fabricator for a local automotive company, she said.
Beasley used old fire extinguishers for the dog statue, recycled metal parts for the cat, and old horseshoes for the frog. The horseshoes were originally set to be scrapped, however, scrap prices went down so she was able to get them for a good deal, Beasley said.
The statues are just one part of the beautification project for the shelter. Students also revitalized flower beds, tearing out dead plants and old mulch and replacing them with new plants and mulch, said Cari Klotzsche, director of the animal shelter.
Seventeen-year-old Sarah Stewart led the landscaping portion of the project, which included picking out all of the new plants, including hydrangeas, cora bells and salvias, among others. Stewart, who is homeschooled, was happy to have the opportunity to exercise some of the skills the academy had taught her and was enthusiastic about going to a nursery and pick them out, she said.
“I was like a kid in a candy shop. It was so exciting for me,” Stewart said.
Jones also participated in the landscaping, which was one of his favorite parts. While the work wasn’t easy, it was fun to be able to get out to do something for the community with awesome people, he said.
Throughout the project, there were several changes that altered the original pitch the academy received, a majority of which were due to a change in leadership at the animal shelter, Kress said. Klotzsche took over the director role last fall, replacing former director Michael Delp.
When the project was first conceived, the plan was to have two or three large, full-size statues, along with some work in the back of the shelter. Following the change in leadership, the project shifted toward smaller statues and work on the front side, Jones said.
“We actually had to adapt a lot … but we were able to do so very well,” he said.
While a lot of changes happened throughout the project, it has been an interesting and rewarding process. Whiteland Community High School student Abbey Wiggam, 17, is glad to see the final project culminated in an unveiling event, she said.
“A lot of changes happened to make this happen, but they’ve all been changes for the better,” Wiggam said.
Wiggam’s favorite part of the project was the general energy of the everyone involved. It felt like students’ first big project where they had to take charge with a bigger goal in mind, she said.
“I feel our group was able to take responsibility and charge with completing this bigger project for our community,” Wiggam said.
While adults guide the students through the process, they are less hands-on once the process gets rolling, leaving the students to do most of the work. For the project, students are divided up into several committees, including a funds committee, a project committee, a social committee and a recruitment committee, according to the academy.
This particular project was made possible through funding from Leadership Johnson County and a grant from Modern Woodman, a life insurance and financial planning company, Wiggam said.
For Beasley, taking part in the project was a joy. She was proud to see younger generations pitching in to make a difference for their community, she said.
“I’m very proud of them and what they are doing. I’m very honored to be part of that,” Beasley said.
It has been incredible to watch the students grow as they went through the process. At first, they weren’t sure where to go, but by the end they had it handled, Kress said.
“Ultimately, their hearts are absolutely amazing and they wanted to do a lot of good in Johnson County. It’s so neat to see them go through this process,” she said.
