A mural designed by students in Trisha Dubina’s Typography II class will be revealed in Peltier Park as part of a beautification project during homecoming week festivities.  
Dubina, assistant professor of art, said the project is meant to increase the University’s presence in the community and with the City of Thibodaux.  
“It was a wonderful opportunity to work together as a team to design and create a work of art for the community,” Dubina said.  “The entire project is special because it is an initiative that will involve both students and alumni of our Nicholls State University Art Department.”  
Students enrolled in the class are Keith Clement, Josh Pellegrin, Tessie Rodrigue, Mary Green, Kendall Andrews and Trey Hotard.  Dubina said the class focuses on the advanced study of typography as it relates to hand lettering, typographic systems and experimental typography.
Each student in the class created their design and worked together to help improve designs that were submitted.  Faculty and students in the art department voted on the top three designs that would move forward for consideration by Mayor Tommy Eschete.  
One of the three finalists, Keith Clement, a graphic design senior, created his mural with the phrase, “Play and laugh to create a better future.”  
Clement said he chose “play and laugh” as a reminder that it is all about the children who come to the park.  His design includes a typeface with hand lettering that Clement described as energetic and promoted a sense of community.   
“Community is a grouping of individuals and families who come together for a common goal,” Clement said.  
Josh Pellegrin, graphic design senior, who designed the mural that was chosen for Peltier Park, said he designed his mural with a stylistic approach to different shapes and activities that could be done to have fun in the park.  His design includes different personalities participating in certain tasks like walking a dog and the phrase “play together.”  
“I designed the mural with a mindset that it will convey a sense of friendliness and that it will be nice to look at,” Pellegrin said.  
Pellegrin limited his color palette to reduce the overall complexity.
“When you design something you want to be able to convey the same message using less info and then your message will be read more powerfully,” Pellegrin said.    
Tessie Rodrigue, graphic design senior from Thibodaux, created a design she described as young and playful that would convey the energy found in the park and the importance of the park to the city.  She included the quote, “Our parks are the heart and future of our community.”  
“I believe that quote is true since the park is where I grew up and a lot of my friends grew up,” Rodrigue said.  “I wanted something that would reach to the younger crowd and older crowd.”
Monique Crochet, marketing and public relations director for the City of Thibodaux, said she enjoyed the energy that each mural conveyed and expressed the importance of the project.
“People in the park will be taking pictures here and those pictures will be framed in homes and offices,” Crochet said.  
 Designs not chosen for the mural space in Peltier Park will not go unnoticed.  Crochet said this project could result in more for Nicholls and the City of Thibodaux by framing the other designs in the city recreation center or printing them as banners along Canal Boulevard or in Peltier Park.  
Dubina said work on the mural will be begin this week with students and faculty who have volunteered their time and talents to meet the Oct. 12 homecoming deadline.