Fairborn mural a tribute to aviation, done by kids in juvenile court system

Greene County Juvenile Court has partnered with K-12 Gallery and TEJAS, headquartered in downtown Dayton, to not only allow kids to complete their court-ordered service hours, but to allow them to create a tangible, positive thing for their community.

“These murals, they’re really monuments and they’re testaments to their hard work,” said Jackson Stanard, the lead muralist with K-12 Gallery and TEJAS. “(The kids) don’t get validated for very much in life. And I think, just the process of creating something and seeing it through into fruition like this is a powerful experience, and it’s something that will be here for as long as it can be.”

The mural, which runs the length of the TNT Midwest building, depicts several aerospace-themed scenes, including the Wright Brothers, a C-17 Globemaster, a B-17 Flying Fortress, and even astronauts and a space shuttle.

The entire mural will require about 90 hours of work and several coats of paint to complete.

Tony DeWitt, owner of TNT Midwest Martial Arts said that when he was approached by the court and by K-12 Gallery, the aerospace-themed mural was a “no-brainer.”

“To support Fairborn, to support the base ... for 35 years, they’ve given me a living, the business has done well., and you just pay it back,” he said.

Dewitt opened his martial arts school in Fairborn in March 1989.

Generally speaking, the children involved in projects like these may have committed a variety of offenses, ranging from truancy to petty theft, said Greene County Probation Officer Todd Kreill.

“The court has adopted more of a community-based way of trying to work with the kids, and so the more things we can wrap around the kids community-wise, like this project, has allowed us to do this,” Kreill said.

K-12 Gallery and TEJAS has worked with young people in juvenile detention in both Greene and Montgomery counties. In Montgomery County, the gallery is in the process of creating a mural celebrating famous Dayton natives, including Allison Janney and Dave Chappelle.

Last year, K-12 Gallery collaborated with the Juvenile Court on a mural at Shawnee Park in Xenia.

“The experience of working as a team, working to create something, or just the camaraderie that they have with each other, and working collectively on something like this for the public, it’s a positive, positive experience,” Stanard said.