MIDDLEBURG — When Jenelle and Ryan VanHorn hit the highways to travel the country, they always try to bring a piece of Americana home to Middleburg.

“We’ve gone to many different towns – some really neat places – and we’ve really tried to look at what makes the town special and tells a story about the town,” Jenelle VanHorn explained.

“For some, it’s a display of murals, for others it’s the lighting of the town, facades of the buildings,” she added.

The VanHorns brought those ideas back to Middleburg and found ways to beautify downtown Middleburg while connecting youth with the community.

The VanHorns work at Midd-West High School – Jenelle is a nurse, while Ryan is an art teacher. They’ve found a way to get students involved in their mission after raising $17,000 for a mural that was installed on the Labor of Love Thrift Store, 1 E. Market St.

“We talked to the church that owns the building about it,” Jenelle said. “They were fine with it. We knew we needed some color, we needed some flavor and we needed some light downtown. We figured this would be a good start.”

Over the past several months, about 350 people, mostly students and a few community members, have been painting murals on 62, 5-foot-by-5-foot fabric panels, which were placed on the side of the brick building facing Route 104 at the end of September. The mural captures a snapshot of the town from yesteryear.

“Our heart is for the community,” Jenelle explained. “We want to transform the downtown to what it used to be, and we want students to have a community connection.”

While another mural project is in the works, the couple’s next project would involve the installation of 40 solar-powered streetlights on 10-foot Victorian-style poles with hanging flower baskets and involving students in the Future Farmers of America and STEM programs.

The estimated cost of the light pole project is $238,000, which could be eligible for a federal tax credit of 30 percent, said Jenelle, who hopes to gain borough approval. “We’re working on getting grants,” she added.

“Our intention is to improve the downtown, taking one thing at a time,” Jenelle said. “Our focus is not solely on murals, it’s the revitalization of the downtown of Middleburg.”

In addition to the dedication and hard work of the Midd-West students, the VanHorns credit professional muralist and painter Elody Gyekis, of Spring Mills, Centre County.

“She really led us through the project,” Jenelle said. “From the technique and how to do it. Students did the painting for this in the art classroom, but she put the mural through her computer program, which divided it up into the 5-foot-by-5-foot segments and projected it onto a specialized mural canvas.”

From there students painted the mural, using a system similar to paint by numbers so the pieces would fit together seamlessly.

“We put it all together like a puzzle with glue epoxy,” Jenelle said. “Then there will be a varnish over top of it. That lasts for many more decades than old-style mural used to last.”

Ryan VanHorn and Gyekis handled the installation on the building, along with several students, which took about three days. “It was three full days,” Jenelle said.

Part of the grant money provided for two $1,000 scholarships, which will be awarded to Midd-West students.

“We wanted our students to become embedded in our community,” Jenelle explained. “These kids became so excited about this project and were so prideful in their work. We’re confident they’ll want to continue doing projects like this for years to come.”

Jenelle handled much of the administrative work for the projects, including grant writing and contracts. Ryan handles much of the artistic duties and hands-on work.

“We’re absolutely over the moon about this project, for the students and their hard work,” Jenelle said. “And what it does for our town.”