Taking the Reins of the Mustang Mystery: Is the Class of 2016 Horsing Around?

The sudden appearance of a horse painting displayed in the main hall has left many students questioning its origins. The painting illustrates a line of fourteen brown and white horses galloping across the sand in a cloud of dust.  While small fonted metal print beneath the Mustang painting states the illustration was gifted by last year’s graduating Class of 2016, many uncertainties remain surrounding why and how the donation was left behind.  

Though the roots of this painting are unclear, the concept of senior gift giving has been a tradition for many years past.  College Counselor and point person for the ‘16 senior class Bill Morris knows one past class donated a number of trees when MacDuffie first moved from Springfield to the Granby campus, saying, “We have the Magnolia tree out front now.”  Additionally, he says another class bought picnic tables.  Generally, intentions of senior gifts are to leave the school with a memorable or useful donation encompassing the school’s values.

Investigations into the sources of the horses have increased the painting’s anonymity.  Morris reports that it is unlikely any faculty members would have further insight into the painting’s origins.  

Further suspicion rises from the apparent timing the painting was left; it appeared to have arrived over the summer, as no trace of it was seen before the Class of 2016’s graduation.  If the painting was truly a donation of the class, why wasn’t it presented before the class left the school?   

Lacking faculty connections to the painting’s origins, contact was made with senior of the Class of 2016 and Ex-Student Body President of the 2015-2016 school year Hiep Nguyen; certainly a member of the graduating class and last year’s face of the MacDuffie Student Body would have knowledge regarding the painting.  However, when questioned about its abrupt appearance in the school Nguyen asked, “Somebody painted a horse painting?” He says he had no idea of its existence but is “thankful for its donor.”

It can be inferred from Nguyen’s remarks that the donation was not a collective decision by the graduating class; however, the exact roots of the painting’s donor and whereabouts have yet to be found.