In the C Lot, next to the entrance to the CCES campus, sits a brightly colored mural. It’s divided into sections, each exploding with color. This rainbow cacophony is the Ace Pohl Memorial. 

The rectangular mural is split into four sections with a giant spade in the middle. It takes up most of the parking spot that formerly belonged to Ace. The top section is purple, one of Ace’s favorite colors. It contains images of some of his favorite things, his skateboard, his jersey, a monster energy drink, mushrooms, and a cross. The left section of the mural contains a bright yellow background covered in tropical flowers and a surfboard. The section is reminiscent of Hawaii, somewhere Ace wanted to go. The bottom section is pink, another of Ace’s favorite colors, and has a painting of his beloved car, a blue Subaru WRX. Finally, the right section is possibly the most personal of the entire mural. It contains a tree, filled with the handprints of his family and the paw prints of his dogs. Directly outside the tree are the handprints of his closest friends. On the outer portion of the section are white handprints, symbolising the community as a whole. 

Junior Rowan MacClenahan designed the mural herself, taking a lot of time to decide what would be most meaningful to Ace. She settled on trying to capture as much of him as possible. She said, “I thought about different things that he valued and his family value, the things he loved and the people he loved”. 

Thinking about his family was how she eventually landed on the idea of having all of their handprints be part of the mural, a section she says is her favorite.

MacClenahan painted the mural over the summer with the help of many friends and her family. She had her work cut out for her, having to get the school’s approval of the design before she could even start to plan its execution. 

“It took a lot of planning with the school,” she said. “We had to get all the supplies. It was difficult to organize [the painting]”.

Once the planning was complete, the painting could begin. Many community members, including friends of Ace, aided in the creation of the memorial. The maintenance staff was paramount to the project, as well. 

“The most helpful people at school were the maintenance workers. They gave us water buckets, they would drive by to check on us, bring us cold water,” MacClenahan said.

MacClenahan hopes that the memorial can serve as not only a reminder of Ace, but a celebration of him. “It’s a safe space to go whenever I’m missing him, or I want to see him,” she said. “It had been the spot we all went to when we were grieving, and it reminds me of the good things”.

“We’ve made it clear that you can go visit it whenever you want,” MacClenahan said. “It’s open to everybody. It’s a way to remember him.

Ultimately, that is what the memorial is. A space to celebrate and remember the wonderful way that Ace lived.