Senior Janelle Jex went all the way to Spain to get an idea for painting her parking spot.  Then she spent the night at CHS putting this vision onto the pavement where she’ll park her silver Honda Accord each morning for the next nine months.

Jex also has a Hollywood theme with her parking spot, which includes the silhouette of fashion model Twiggy. It also includes a quote by Hepburn lining the side of the silhouette.

“I went to Spain over spring break and found a shirt with her face on it and I bought it,” Jex said. “I went home and started drawing it on paper and realized it would be a great idea to paint on a parking spot.”

Jex spent over 20 hours working on her parking spot, including one stretch when she painted from 1 a.m. to 12 p.m.

From staying the night at the high school to spending days crafting together the most creative design, the class of 2010 is taking the tradition of painting parking spots to a whole new level.

Even before many students knew of the contest, which rewards the winners with free prom tickets, they were still out in numbers painting their spots. The contest wasn’t a motive for most of the students; just the tradition of painting a unique spot was enough.

All in all, it took Vowell and her friends a week to find the materials for her spot and then three to four nights to actually paint the spot. Her Hollywood- inspired design consists of a portrait of Marilyn Monroe in the upper left, with Audrey Hepburn in the lower left.

“I was sitting in the living room trying to brainstorm ideas and then I thought about movie stars,” Vowell said. “I knew I wanted something about Hollywood because it’s what I like.”

Aside from the Hollywood theme, numerous students picked other inspirations relating to their life in some way, whether it was sports, music or just a creative way to spell out their name. Senior Kimberly Phillips created a parking spot with the Dallas Stars logo and the names of her favorite players, including Trevor Daley, Steve Ott, Mike Ribeiro and Loui Eriksson.

“I wanted to paint the Dallas Stars symbol because I wanted to show passion for my favorite team and to just show my personality,” Phillips said. “Plus, I thought it was a good idea to put money towards our [senior] prom.”

Students interested in painting a spot had to create their design on paper and get it approved before painting. If the parking spot they received had been painted previously, the cost was $25, and $30 if it was blank. To date, the senior class has raised roughly $1,125 from selling the rights to paint parking spots to go towards this year’s senior prom.

There will be five winners under the categories of Most Spirited, Best Support of a Club or Group, Principal’s Choice, Most Creative and Best Use of Color. The judges will be Principal Brad Hunt, senior class sponsor Shelly Redding and any other teacher opting to volunteer during after school hours. The date for when the winners are to be announced is yet to be decided.

Since few seniors painted their spots this year for the sole luxury of free prom tickets, the class of 2010 is all about carrying on the tradition and letting its creative juices flow, no matter the reward.

“Once I found out about the contest, it wasn’t even on my mind to be honest,” Jex said. “I just wanted to do something artistic.”

Winning parking spots will be posted after they are announced at www.coppellstudentmedia.com.