Hubbard High art students Phoebe Rusnak, Nick Kitchokoff, Astaria Shattuck and Chloe Rusnak pose by their work to tell Hubbard to Choose Joy this holiday season.

HUBBARD — Several students from the Hubbard High School art department have added some festive seasonal artwork to the community.

Ed DeVine of Shop ‘N Save has reached out the past couple of years to the high school art department to create murals on store windows during the holiday season. This year, Josh MacMillan and his students chose a theme of Winnie the Pooh to find a way to brighten people’s days as they come in and out of the store.

Along with displaying the artwork, DeVine also donated to the school’s art and education programs.

“We started around 5:30 in the morning, taped up the characters on the outside so it gave us some direction for the illustrations. We added Winnie the Pooh, Piglet and everyone’s favorite, Eeyore, along with a wintry scene of Christmas trees and white snow,” MacMillan said.

“When somebody like Mr. DeVine reaches out and is able to support the program with this opportunity, it’s a no-brainer for us and our students. We want to give back to the community that gives back to us,” he said.

After finishing at the store, MacMillan and the students ventured to the Hubbard Administration Building, where they kept the same theme with different images and added Tigger to the window panels. Just as they did for the Ohio Department of Transportation plow, and city of Hubbard plow, they continued the message of “Choose Joy” for everybody to see as they drive past.

“The inspiration that the Melina Michelle Edenfield Foundation has given to our program over the past couple years has been a blessing, and I want to continue this holiday season to remind those to embrace how fortunate they are. ‘Choose Joy’ is an easy concept, it’s also a very simple message that sometimes we forget,” MacMillan said.

“I could not have done this for the community without these students. They truly did make this happen for all in Hubbard to enjoy, and we hope it helps everyone choose joy this holiday season so we remember the good we have in life, even if we are too busy to notice what those blessings are,” he said.

MacMillan also is NEO Scholastics coordinator, and Regional 11 regional director for the Governors Youth Art Exhibition.

The art students went to Fairhaven School in Niles on Wednesday, painting windows there.

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