MIDDLEBURY — Ireland Young, a Cornwall resident and senior at Vermont Commons School, collaborated with mentor Woody Jackson and the Homeward Bound staff to complete her senior project during the month of May. Her goal was to combine her love of animals and studio art so she painted a mural in the “kitten room” at the Middlebury animal shelter as her gift to all of those come there in search of a forever friend.

Young painted on Sundays and Mondays to avoid interfering with regular business hours.

The mural, which she completed late last month, is a tribute to all of the families who visit Homeward Bound and a representation of the joy and life that an animal can bring to a home.

Young, a National Honor Society Student at VCS who will attend Mount Holyoke College in the fall, has two dogs, two cats, two guinea pigs, eight chickens and six sheep. She also has two younger sisters at home.