The below article was printed in the Guardian newspaper:
http://www.gainesville.com/article/20120912/GUARDIAN/120919812?template=printpicart

The Delta Room and the Omega Room at the Wilhelmina Johnson Center is sporting a new look after students in the painting program at the Gainesville Jobs Corps Center puts a fresh coat of paint on the walls for the first time in almost 10 years.

“I am very impressed with the job they have done on both rooms,” said NKwanda Jah, executive director of the Cultural Arts Coalition, which is housed in the Wilhelmina Johnson Center at 321 NW 10th St. “I like the color in the dance room (named the Delta Room in honor of the Gainesville alumnae chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc.) because it is similar to the color that was in there before. I also like the color they painted the general meeting room (named the Omega Room in honor of the Beta Pi chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc.) because it accentuates the paintings that are on the walls in there.”

The Delta Room is painted dark green and the Omega Room is painted light green with a paint called Green Trance. Jah said the rooms haven’t been painted in at least eight or nine years and she hopes the students will get the chance to paint the rest of the building in the future.

Jeff Welch, painting instructor at the Job Corps Center, said the city of Gainesville donated nine gallons of paint for the job, which took him and his students three days last week to complete. They began the job last Wednesday.

Welch said he had no reservations about volunteering to do the painting when his former boss at the center, Tony Mangol, then the career technical training manager at the center, told him that Jah had inquired about the students being allowed to do the work.

“He brought me down here and I looked at it and said, ‘yes, we sure can do this,'” Welch said. “I said there is no reason why our kids can’t do this, and here we are.”

Welch painted with five students as he taught them the proper techniques to use when painting from different angles and how not to leave what he referred to as tiger stripes on the walls, or the streaking of the color being used.

Dressed in white overalls, the students said they enjoyed doing something to benefit the community as they painted with smiles on their faces.

The five students were: Tevyn Adams, 18, of Pensacola; John Charles, 20, of Immokalee; Jaren Jones, 17, of Jacksonville, and Norris Lee, 19, and Brandon Scavelli, 19, both of West Palm Beach.

“It is always good to help people,” Jaren said. “Whenever you get a chance to help somebody, you should.”

Welch, who estimated the cost to paint the rooms at $600, said it was good experience for his students. He also said it takes students one year or the completion of 1,000 hours to graduate from the painting program at the Job Corps Center.

All of the students said they are going to pursue careers in painting once they graduate from the program.

Charles said working as a painter won’t seem like work to him at all.

“Painting is like creating a masterpiece for someone else or myself,” Charles said.

“This is something I really enjoy doing and I get pumped up when I paint and do stuff like this.”