Dream Court: Inclusion and Acceptance

by: Kate Rees, senior

Dream Court, a local nonprofit, is an adaptive tennis program that provides individuals with intellectual and physical disabilities the opportunity to play tennis. Dream Court’s executive director, Ms. Jessica Weyreuter, asked the high school art department to paint the storage boxcars used to store tennis equipment at O’Conner Tennis Center. Over three weeks, students signed up for 2 hour shifts on the weekends. Many students completed multiple shifts. The first task was to prime the boxcar to prepare for painting the design. Once primed, students were able to start painting!  The design was created by Mrs. Shoults, our high school art teacher.  Junior Emerson Hagen suggested adding hearts to the racket strings, which is a cute addition to the mural!  The design consists of a blue sky and green grass with the Dream Court logo in the center. Each side has a racket with a pink heart in the strings.  Students lettered the motto of Dream Court “serving hope, changing lives” around the edges and “be a game changer” at the bottom.  Mrs. Shoults supervised and instructed students as they worked on the mural.  She shared her thoughts on this great project, and said "I am honored that Dream Court asked the Saint James Art Department to design and paint a mural for them. This opportunity allowed our students to use their talents outside of the classroom while giving back and adding beauty to our local community. Being able to give back and put good into action is the Saint James way.”  STJ’s theme for the 2021-2022 school year is “putting good into action today,” and as Mrs. Shoults said, the art students did just that!  The bright, colorful mural will be enjoyed by all who come to O’Conner and will bring smiles to the Dream Court family. 

@dreamcourt