Priceless Paintings

Walking along a hallway lined with paintings by professional artists, guide Amanda Seanor reminds members of her tour group that they are in neither an art gallery nor a museum.

“It’s definitely not boring here walking from class to class,” says Seanor, 18, describing the student-owned art collection at Greater Latrobe Senior High School near Latrobe, Pa. (pop. 8,338).

“Just look at the variety of subjects and styles,” the senior says as the school bell rings and other teenage students fill the art-adorned halls.
Latrobe Art Collection Connecting generations of students in the hallways of high school Play Video
Every year since 1936, Latrobe’s student body has selected and purchased paintings by western Pennsylvania artists for its Special Art Collection, funded through concession sales at football games and other school events. Today, the collection includes more than 200 paintings on display throughout the school, which welcomes tours by community groups and students of all ages.

Spotlighted by more than a mile of museum-quality track lighting, the artwork has influenced thousands of students who have walked the school’s hallways during the last 75 years.

“Before I came to high school, I wanted to be a math teacher,” says Seanor, who plans to study art in college. “It’s inspiring to be surrounded every day by all these paintings.”

A greater appreciation for the arts was exactly what art teacher Mary Martha Himler had in mind during the Great Depression when she began borrowing paintings from the Associated Artists Show in nearby Pittsburgh to present to school assemblies at Latrobe High School.

“She was very concerned that her students were not experiencing original art,” says Barbara Nakles, 75, who studied with Himler as a member of the Class of 1952.

Within a few years, social studies teacher James Beatty, a fellow artist who served as student council adviser, proposed letting the student body vote on and purchase pieces for a student-owned collection, which the student council would manage.

“[Both teachers] were very interesting people, dynamic and stubborn,” recalls Nakles, who chairs the school’s Art Conservation Trust. “But it takes that kind of determination to start a project like this.”