LAKEWOOD RANCH
In a parking lot gone crazy with color — peaches and pinks, yellows and reds, along with all shades of blue — Arianna Rodriguez decides to work in black and white.
For her parking space at Lakewood Ranch High School, the senior paints a jaunty “Day of the Dead” skeleton.
Scott Sams paints a large Z on his parking spot at Lakewood Ranch High School on Monday, October 26, 2015. Sams drives a red Nissan 350Z. STAFF PHOTO / NICK ADAMS
“He’s going to have flowers and he’ll be holding a tambourine,” Rodriguez says, adding detail to his skull. “It’s just something I like. I like the holiday. I like the way it looks.”
As an art student, Rodriguez appreciates a chance to show a little school spirit and a lot of individual flair. The Lakewood Ranch tradition is like no other.
Where else are seniors encouraged to leave a mark on their school?
Rodriguez has been waiting her turn.
“I remember when I first came here, I was so excited to get a chance to do this,” she says. “It makes the parking lot look pretty cool and everyone can find their space.”
Greatest hits
On the first planning day of the school year, when there are no classes, Lakewood Ranch seniors get a day to paint their parking spaces outside the football stadium.
More than 50 students show up early on a Monday morning. Dozens more show up late and paint through the afternoon.
They pay $5 and bring their own paint and tape, rollers and brushes. The school provides drinking water and orders pizza for lunch.
Ann Fleury, a senior adviser at Lakewood Ranch, says parking space painting has been a Mustang tradition for more than a decade. It started with a school awards program.
“Then it became a senior thing rather than a parking lot thing,” she says. “They’re all so creative. I’ve seen all kinds of designs.”
Student plans must be approved by school administrators. Nothing naughty or controversial.
Not all seniors choose to paint their spaces, so some works of art last for years. The paint fades, but the sentiment remains.
The greatest hits from the Class of 2014 include a parking space with a circle of Elvish script from “The Lord of the Rings.” Another one offers a simple message: “If you’re reading this, I’m late.”
There’s also a bright pink space that says “Princess Parking” across the top. Across the bottom, it says “All Others Will Be Toad.”
Family projects
For 2015, lots of Lakewood Ranch seniors get help painting their parking spaces. A few turn it into a family project.
“It’s not cheating — it’s strategy,” jokes Hannah Neu. “You get your dad to help you.”
Her parking space features blue-and-orange initials for Auburn University, where she’ll be going to college, along with the Ford logo, because she drives a Fusion to school every day.
Several students paint car themes. It makes sense. Their canvas is a parking space.
Sydney Wolf drives a black Mini Cooper, so she paints her space black, with the white logo of the car company
“I love my car — I have a lot of fun in it,” she says. “I wanted to do something that I’d like to see every day when I pulled in.”
‘Jumpwoman’
Elise Spiller, who plays for the girls basketball team at Lakewood Ranch, started her design with Michael Jordan’s famous “Jumpman” logo for Nike.
Then she gave it a ponytail, making it more of a “Jumpwoman.”
Spiller’s silhouette is black on a mint green background. That color choice was more or less random.
“My mom had this old paint in her garage,” Spiller said. “She said, ‘Well, you can use that.’ ”
Jackson Newby, who plays on the Mustang football team, paints “DLU” across the top of his parking space. It stands for “Defensive Line University,” which is a school saying for his position.
For the rest of his space, he paints “Fuel Lethal,” which honors the super-cool rims he got for his Ford F-250 pickup.
“Yeah,” he says. “You’ve got to look good.”
More of a girl thing
There are lots of pastel colors in the Lakewood Ranch parking lot. Lots of feathery designs and huggable animal themes.
It looks like girls outnumber boys by at least 3-to-1.
“A lot of guys aren’t into it,” says Carly Patterson. “It’s more of a girl thing. It’s actually kind of funny.”
Her own parking space design says “Simple Southern,” with a silhouette for the state of Florida.
“I’m president of the FFA, Future Farmers of America,” Patterson explains. “I raise pigs and everything.”
Her little sister volunteered to help with the painting. In a few years, she’ll be doing her own space.
A Lakewood Ranch tradition lives on.
“It’s definitely adorable,” Patterson says. “I mean, you get to leave a mark on the school.”
‘Murica'
Ryan Hyatt and Kyle Josephson park side-by-side in the Lakewood Ranch parking lot. They decide to combine their spaces to produce a double-sized image of the American flag.
"'Murica,” Josephson says, laughing.
Hyatt elaborates.
“I usually have flags on my truck,” he says. “That was the inspiration.”
The friends are captains of the drum line in the Lakewood Ranch band, but they chose not to paint in that direction. Hardly anyone in the parking lot uses Lakewood Ranch colors — green and black — for their parking spaces.
Josephson shakes his head.
“Nah, the school’s right there,” he says. “You don’t need that.”
Some students bring spray paint and stencils to produce detailed designs. A few of the more talented artists do free-hand drawings in chalk that are painted over with still more detail.
This takes time.
They sprawl across the pavement. They listen to music on their headphones. They step back to see how they’re doing.
Layne Thompson, a beach volleyball player, spends hours painting a handsome giraffe across her parking space. His long neck reaches out of the frame and curves back to a smiling face.
“This is my favorite animal and I’m really tall, so it fits,” she says. “And I’ve done this drawing before on a smaller scale, so I know just what I want.”
Nate Minic changes his mind several times, so he’s one of the last Lakewood Ranch seniors to paint his parking space.
It becomes a busy abstract design made with leftover paint from by other seniors. There are swirls and blobs with all sorts of reds and yellows, blues and whites. The final layer is a pattern of black squiggles and streaks, like a Jackson Pollack drip painting.
“My plan was to do something like that,” Minic says, pointing to a space several rows down, “but they stole my idea at the last minute. Then I came up with this idea. Everyone who gave me paint, I got them to put their footprints in the design. Kind of a class project.”
