Texas Border Business
MISSION – Kenneth White Junior High (KWJH) unveiled the first Monarch Butterfly Statue in the district on Thursday, April 23 as a memorial of this last year, as well as a symbol of hope to students that they will soon make their way back to their campus.
Popular for its butterflies, Mission has more than 50 monarch sculptures around the city. The Upper Valley Art League (UVAL) has been the driving force behind the beautification project for several years and works with each customer to make it their own. KWJH is the first school at Mission CISD to purchase and install a butterfly statue on campus.
KWJH Assistant Principal Roel Rangel and Counselor Debra Navarro proposed the idea to Principal Brenda Betancourt a little more than a year ago as a token to the 8th grade students who were not able to spend their last middle schoo year on campus.
“This is something beautiful that the kids can come and take their pictures and enjoy,” Rangel said. “We didn’t get to finish the school year with our 8th grade class from last year so this is something that they can have and know that, yes we didn’t finish the year the way we wanted, but they still have something they can remember their campus life with.”
In true team effort fashion, the installation of the butterfly was possible thanks to parent donations, student fundraisers, UVAL, who was commissioned for the piece and Mission CISD Maintenance Department staff who worked to physically install the statue.
Betancourt says she’s proud of her campus for working together to make the butterfly statue a reality and is excited for what the butterfly now means for the community.
“The City of Mission has been very good about letting people know where they can find these butterflies so this is now another stop for our Mission-ites,” she said. “We are very proud of how it came out and we hope that our whole community is proud of it and that they come out and take a photo here at our campus.”
Click here for video coverage of the unveiling.
