Booker T. Washington High School's unique entrance 'artwork'

Construction for Booker T. Washington High School's new building is right on schedule. Crews were hard at work this week, adding a unique touch to the new building's entrance. <br><br>News on 6

Wednesday, April 30th 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Construction for Booker T. Washington High School's new building is right on schedule. Crews were hard at work this week, adding a unique touch to the new building's entrance.

News on 6 anchor Scott Thompson visited the construction site and says next year Booker T Washington students will have a new home, with a touch of the past. The entrance to the new Booker T. Washington will depict the life of the school's namesake in a brick sculpture.

School leaders and alumni wanted to preserve the school's past, so they got together with artist Paula Blincoe Collins. She designed the collage and made the bricks that will make up the ten-foot high-16 foot wide wall. Each brick has a piece of the design, some markings are etched into the clay, and others like this part of Booker T. Washington's face are molded onto the brick.

Collins actually built a mock wall in her Texas studio and numbered each brick so workers here would know how it should look. Sheâ€™s here supervising to make sure the image comes together. The design came from months of research and reflects Collins' ideas about Booker T. "No matter what you did he believed in hard work and he was an inspiration to me hard work and believing that thatâ€™s where progress comes from."

The design is actually baked into the brick. So this homage to Booker T Washington is permanent.