High school students leave their mark at San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo with new murals

SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo is known for its livestock competitions, rodeo events and star-studded concerts. This year, it is also turning heads with something new: student-created murals now lining the fairgrounds.

For the first time, high school students from across San Antonio were invited to transform blank concrete walls into large-scale works of art, each offering a unique interpretation of the rodeo and the community it represents.

Clay Carabajal, chairman of the rodeo’s Western Art Committee, said the goal was to give students a visible and lasting presence at the event.

“Now we have our students owning the wall space here,” Carabajal said. “Thanks to our county commissioner and our county judge, they gave us the approval to put student artwork up for the first time.”

Carabajal said the idea reflects the spirit of the annual event.

“Because this rodeo is a community rodeo,” he said. “It is our rodeo.”

Turning concrete into canvas

The project invited schools across the city to design and paint murals that reflect Western heritage, Texas culture and their own artistic voices.

The once-blank walls now form what organizers describe as a “wall of murals,” each distinct in style and message.

Thomas Jefferson High School students said seeing their work displayed publicly felt surreal.

“It’s almost shocking,” one student said. “It’s like, ‘Is this real?’ You never think you’re going to be put in that position.”

At Sam Houston High School, students and their teacher said the community response has been overwhelming.

“It’s just awesome seeing people react to it,” a student said. “I’ve been sent pictures, and people have reached out and said, ‘Oh, I saw y’all’s mural. It’s so nice.’”

From classics to creative twists

Some students drew inspiration from iconic works of art. Students from Great Hearts Western Hills reimagined Vincent van Gogh’s “Starry Night” with a Texas spin, replacing the night sky with glowing stadium lights over a rodeo arena.

“Obviously ‘Starry Night,’ a famous painting,” one student said. “All the big stadium lights reminded me of stars, and that’s what sparked this inspiration.”

Other murals carried personal stories. Carabajal recounted how one student originally planned to submit her artwork to the rodeo’s Western Art competition in December, but her dog destroyed the piece.

“Her dog literally ate her homework,” Carabajal said.

A message beyond the paint

For students at the Young Women’s Leadership Academy, the mural was about more than art. It was about representation.

“Establishing that even as a student you’re capable of putting art like that out there — it’s really awesome,” one student said. “And even more so when people see a mural, and then you realize, ‘Oh, that was done by a school, and that was done by a school of girls.’”

Each mural reflects the personality of the school behind it, while collectively celebrating San Antonio’s culture and creativity.

Antonio Ruiz, one of the participating students, said the project gave young artists a chance to showcase their talents on a major stage.

“Showing what we’re good at — our skills — and just showing the world San Antonio,” Ruiz said.

As fairgoers make their way between turkey legs, livestock barns and concert stages, organizers hope they will pause along the mural wall — and maybe snap a photo — of the students’ lasting mark on their rodeo.

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