(Photo by Shelley Hanson) Moundsville Middle School’s Young Innovators students spraypaint the new graffiti boards on Jefferson Avenue on Wednesday.

MOUNDSVILLE – Moundsville Middle School’s Young Innovators group, city leaders and school officials on Wednesday celebrated the kickoff of the new graffiti boards on Jefferson Avenue.

After speeches and a ribbon cutting ceremony, the students and guests grabbed cans of spray paint and began tagging the large, moveable walls located on the now-grassy lots left empty by last year’s massive fire that destroyed buildings in the historic business district.

The Young Innovators, a program created by the West Virginia University Extension Center, were challenged to research a problem in their community and then develop an idea to help solve it.

The MMS students competed at the Mountain State Innovators Summit at Stonewall Resort and won first place for their pitch titled “My Hometown is Cool.” They won $3,500 – money used to help fund their project, “Graffiti: Turning Vandalism Into Art.”

Additional funding and volunteer work to build the structures help bring the project to fruition.

Student Lily Patrello said the site also has picnic tables so people can congregate.

“We’re trying to bring more revenue for the stores down here, and just more of a fun place to hangout because there’s not really anywhere to go in the East End,” Patrello said.

Student Liberty Cuffaro said to paint the wall, one must bring their own supplies. Children 13 years old and younger must have an adult present. People are asked to refrain from damaging the boards themselves.

“Once you bring your paint, you can paint whatever you want and have fun,” Cuffaro said, adding no inappropriate drawings or foul language is permitted.

Student Roxanne Ungar said the goal of the artwork is to hopefully deter graffiti on buildings.

“We just wanted to give artists a free space to express themselves and their emotions and all their artwork,” Ungar said.

Moundsville City Manager Rick Healy and Moundsville Mayor Randy Chamberlain congratulated the students – which consists of a group of about 15 children – on bringing their project to fruition.

“It’s an honor to be here today for this event,” he said. “What impressed me so much with these young people is when they came to City Council to speak to us. … These kids came and they spoke and didn’t fumble a word. I didn’t expect each one of them to speak to us, but each one of them did and they did an amazing job with their presentation. … I’m so happy this is a part of our city now.”

Marshall County Schools Superintendent Shelby Haines and MMS Principal Ryan Finely congratulated the students on their hard work, noting how proud they are of the students.

WVU Extension Center Marshall County Agent Cheryl Kaczor and Margaret Taylor of the WVU Extension Young Innovators talked about the skills the students developed and used during the project, adding they did all the work to call local officials and business people.

Contributors to the project included the Hayhurst/David families, along with WVU Extension, the Benedum Foundation, Verizon, Campbell Signs and Banners, Erb Electric and the John Marshall High School Career Technical Education Department.