Student's senior project will replace weathered supermarket sign

High school senior Sean McDonald has a lot of history with the Wrangell IGA supermarket.

"I've worked at the store since October of 2022," he said. "I'm really closely related with the owners. They grew up as a big part of my life, and I've known them for a long time. And then, before they owned it, my grandpa also worked in the store for over 30 years, so I really grew up with the store and I'm familiar with it."

It was that familiarity that led to McDonald's decision for his senior project to create a new storefront sign, replacing the current hand-painted one, featuring the Wrangell IGA logo against a backdrop of sea life beneath the waves.

"The sign they have now was really nice when the lady made it, but they used different paint and it's starting to weather and erode," he said. "I want to remake it with something a bit more weather resistant."

"I thought it was a great idea, I was excited," said store co-owner and manager Caroline Bangs.

In the fall of 2018, Mike Ward, his daughter Caroline and her husband Travis Bangs (McDonald's cousin) bought Bob's IGA, renaming it Wrangell IGA. The owners made the name change official when they put up the current sign created by local artist Jaynee Fritzinger, in October 2019.

Caroline Bangs thought Fritzinger did a great job, but they hadn't considered a maintenance plan to protect the sign from the elements.

The new sign will retain the familiar IGA logo with the same size and dimensions, but it will have more of a minimalist design, with an aluminum frame and letters, and a wooden backboard. McDonald said he will use a laser-cutting machine to make the letters.

Caroline Bangs anticipates that the sign should be ready sometime in May. "This one will be less upkeep."

"I'm in the design stage right now," McDonald said. "Trying to mock it up and getting it to scale so that we can actually cut it out at the right size."

Although McDonald anticipates he will enjoy putting all the elements together, he also knows there will be physical challenges in raising his creation over the front entrance of the store, likely with the use of a forklift, with as few errors as possible. "It'll be fun, but it'll definitely be tough getting it up there," he said. "Metal's not light, and it's got to go all the way up, it's got to be screwed into place."

McDonald said he's been having fun working on this project, creating the design and collaborating with other people. "I did take a digital design class a couple years ago," he said. "So, I kind of know my way around learning how to put it together. It's helped me interact with a lot more people."

The project has taught McDonald a lot about design as well as the importance of communication. "Normally, people talk every day together," he said. "It's a whole different thing when you're talking about business and trying to get stuff done."

While he has found the process gratifying, he will be focusing on another creative field after graduation. "I'm attending Boise State this fall for electrical engineering," he said. "I've built my own computer and I've always liked to tinker with circuit boards and stuff like that. I have taken a couple of college classes, and I really think that's the way I'd like to go."

McDonald said one aspect of high school life that he'll miss will be the people. "I grew up in Wrangell, I've known these people many years and I really have a close bond with a lot of people,"

As for what he won't miss? "Definitely just school, in general. It's kind of a bit ... not great."

Still, McDonald looks forward to creating something that will become part of a landmark in town. "I think putting it up and being able to show people what I've done, because it's a really big staple of the store ... that will be really enjoyable."