by Kent Jennings Brockwell
Staff Writer
If you have taken a flight from Jacksonville International Airport recently, you have probably noticed the newly renovated courtyard and its new decorative floor. At a dedication ceremony at the airport Monday, the three high school students that designed the new courtyard floor were congratulated and rewarded.
Jessica Farmer, Ashley Lloyd and Radoslav Murdza, students from Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, were saluted for their hard work on the design and were each presented with a $500 scholarship to the college of their choice.
Duval County Public School Superintendent John Fryer said the courtyard floor will be a long-term reminder to the Jacksonville community of what kind of talent there is in the Duval County school system.
“I am never surprised at what the students at Douglas Anderson can create,” said Fryer.
Jacksonville Airport Authority’s executive director John Clark, said the dedication ceremony for the completed floor was a great opportunity to celebrate and acknowledge the work the public school system does in Duval County.
The scholarship contest began when JAA sent a letter to the school requesting designs for a new courtyard floor, said JAA spokesperson Mike Sharkey. Farmer, Lloyd and Murzda’s design was chosen from about six designs submitted to JAA from Douglas Anderson students, he said.
After receiving the letter, Douglas Anderson art teacher Hillary Hogue said the students only had about one week to complete their designs.
After a design was picked, the 11,000 square-foot floor took about eight weeks to complete. Though the project was intricate and was constructed in multiple stages, Steward-Mellon Company’s John Naugle, chair of the company that installed the terrazzo, said the project went as smoothly as possible.
Funding for the scholarships came from the JAA, Sharkey said.