VIENNA — A new addition has been placed on the front lawn of Mathews High School as an eight-foot mustang statue has been donated by an alumnus who does work with chainsaws.

Shawn Seminara, a 1987 Mathews High School graduate and Vienna native, said the mustang is the Mathews school mascot.

He said after high school, he moved to Las Vegas and Los Angeles and worked in management in the casino industry.

“I was always good at drawing and painting but I wanted to get into woodworking. I always wanted to try chainsaw carving, but Las Vegas only had palm trees,” Seminara said, noting he used store bought wood instead.

He said when the coronavirus pandemic hit, it turned Las Vegas into a “ghost town” so he returned to the area in October 2021 and now lives in Youngstown and does his work at a sawmill off Stewart Sharon Road in Vienna.

The eight-foot high mustang is named Eclipse. Seminara carved it first and then showed Mathews High School Principal George Garrett pictures of what he had done and his plans to donate it to the school district.

“He and I discussed whether to put it at the high school or by Booster Field. We decided the high school,” Seminara said.

He plans to carve something else to place by the athletic field.

He said the mustang and platform it sits on were all done by a chainsaw and then a grinder for the finer details. It was then painted.

Seminara said when he was a freshmen at the school, he took art and once he made a clay bowling ball that wasn’t hollow and when it was in the kiln, it blew up and cracked the kiln and ruined two other projects.

“As a freshman, I got kicked out of art. It was an accident and not done on purpose. It’s ironic now the horse is near the artroom I took art in,” Seminara said.

Seminara used four different types of chainsaws to create the statue.

He said plans are to put a time capsule at the bottom of the statue this school year with items from the kindergarten class who will open it when they are high school seniors. He said he plans to do a statue of coach Dan Kennedy for the baseball field. Kennedy died last year.

“I want to give back to the community I grew up in. When you move away, you appreciate small-town living after being in big major cities. I have seen schools where they graduate 1,500 people and we had about 120 when I graduated. It’s good to be home,” he said.

In addition to the mustang, he has alsocarved a 10-foot Bigfoot, Superman and a grizzly bear.

Julie Berkhouse, high school guidance counselor, said “It is a nice addition. To know one of the alumni did this is great.”

Mathews School Superintendent Russell McQuaide announced the recent donation at a groundbreaking ceremony held at the athletic field by Baker School.

He said the donation of the statue is just another example of what the district has to showcase.

“He is a gifted chainsaw artist. He donated all his time in making the statue. We are grateful to him for that,” McQuaide said.

McQuaide said other recent improvements at the high school have included new lighting in the high school gymnasium, which is an older gym.

“We will invest in our facilities for as long as we have them. We are trying to make good improvements to make a difference for our students and our community,” he said.

This summer, improvements will be made at the athletic field, including 500-person capacity stands, press box, sound system and lighting. A permanent improvement levy covers most of the $800,000 cost.

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