Adam Robison | Buy at photos.djournal.com
Bart Aguirre, Tupelo police chief, center, and Allan Gilbert, Tupelo deputy police chief, stand with Georgia Kate Crawford, Avery Batson, Jack Haynes and Jacob Overton, all Tupelo High School seniors, as they accept photos, a check and gift cards from the students as part of their senior project Wednesday afternoon on the steps of the new police station in Tupelo.
Adam Robison | Buy at photos.djournal.com
Haynes signs a check held by Overton.
By William Moore
Daily Journal
TUPELO – When the new Tupelo Police Department headquarters opens next month in downtown Tupelo, it will have at least four pictures to hang on the many blank walls.
A quartet of Tupelo High School students adopted TPD as their senior project. On Wednesday afternoon, they handed over the custom-framed photographs along with a stash of cash donations and gift cards from area businesses.
“With everything that has been going on recently, we thought it would be good to do something to show our appreciation for the police and show them that the community does support them,” THS senior Jacob Overton said. “My mom knows the police chief’s wife, so we had an inside.”
So Overton and fellow seniors Georgia Kate Crawford, Avery Batson and Jack Haynes met with Tupelo Police Chief Bart Aguirre, who suggested law enforcement-themed pictures for the new building.
“Our mentor (Lt. Doug Mansell) really helped us arrange things so we could get the pictures,” Crawford said.
In addition to detail shots of a patrol SUV and a police motorcycle, there is a group shot of the traffic unit in front of the new building as well as a photo of a police dog and his handler.
“I have a camera and like taking pictures,” Batson said. “But we learned a lot about angles and lighting as part of this project.”
After the pictures were shot, the groups sorted through the images to find the four they liked the best. Those were enlarged to 16×20 inches. The next big decision was to choose frames.
“We didn’t want to give it to them in a plain wood frame,” Crawford said. “We wanted it to fit in with the new building, but didn’t know what it looked like on the inside.”
The question was answered when Crawford’s engineer grandfather suggested wrapping wood frames with tin and riveting the corners. The clean straight lines create an industrial feel that matches the art deco influences of the new police headquarters.
“We actually cut out all the pieces of tin and (used a bending brake) to bend it and form it around the frames,” Overton said.
Adam Robison | Buy at photos.djournal.com
The $800 check is a gift of appreciation for TPD.
Wanting to do a little more than just a handful of framed pictures, the seniors went around and collected more than $800 in donations and gift cards from area businesses.
“We wanted a way for the community to get involved and show their support of the police department,” Haynes said.
While the bulk of their work ended Wednesday when they presented the artwork and donations to Aguirre and Deputy Chief Allan Gilbert, the seniors are not done.
They still have to make a presentation the week after Thanksgiving to explain their service project to classmates and a panel of teachers.
william.moore@journalinc.com