Cape grad finishes senior art project

When schools closed in March due to COVID-19, Jayden Lesko thought she would never finish her senior art project.

As a junior, Jayden was selected to paint a mural representing the school on the hall across from the main office.

“Our art teacher asked us if we could create a mural on a school wall, what would we put in it?” she said. “We all did rough sketches, and, unbeknownst to us, he gave them all to the principal, and she chose mine.”

In fall 2019, Jayden started design work, and in early 2020, began painting.

“I took things that represent Cape like sports, the arts, pathways and clubs, and in the end it came down to what I could best represent in a drawing within the hall space,” she said.

Jordan drew sports equipment, an artist’s palette, ballet slippers, club logos and other depictions of school life, and had begun painting when she had to abandon the project.

She contacted Principal Nikki Miller early in the summer to ask if she could finish the mural before going to college. After Delaware entered Phase 2, she was permitted to return with a mask to safely complete the project when she would not come into contact with anyone, Miller said.

“It was a crazy feeling signing my name at the end when I was done,” she said. “It was the last time I’ll be in that school for a long time. I was lucky to be able to go back in and finish it up. Lots of my friends wished they could go in one more time.”

Jayden will attend University of Delaware as a medical diagnostics major.

“I hope to be a physician’s assistant someday, but I always want to be surrounded by art and keep art in my life,” she said. “I live in Lewes, five minutes from school, so Cape has always been in my life.”

Now, her work will always be part of Cape High.