YOUNGSTOWN Students at Chaney and East High Schools painted the "unity boulder" at East High School Thursday to celebrate the merger of the two schools.

Venus Cataldo, a teacher at East High School, tells 21 News she saw the boulder sitting in a junkyard for about a year and a half and wanted to give students the tradition of painting it, similar to the rock on Youngstown State University's campus.

"I wanted to provide the students an example of what community looks and feels like by teaching them about one of the foundations of community, which is tradition. I told myself that if I were to see a car at this junkyard, I would try to contact the people to see if they would be willing to donate the boulder," Cataldo said.

One afternoon in March, Cataldo took that chance and was contacted by John and Lynn Schulte of Andover, Ohio, who told her they'd donate the boulder as long as she had a way to transport it.

That's when Cataldo contacted Youngstown Flea founder and mayoral candidate Derrick McDowell, who contacted several companies like the DiSalvo Campaign, Connell Inc. and Michael Ramun of Exodus Industrial, who all offered to transport the boulder for free.

Once the boulder was delivered, Cataldo pitched the idea of East and Chaney High School students painting the rock together the week their football teams played each other to Youngstown City Schools Superintendent Jeremy Batchelor.

That culminated in the students meeting to paint the rock as a celebration of unity between two rival schools who will soon become one when Youngstown Unified High School and Youngstown Unified Middle School open in the fall of 2026.

"No matter what side of the bridge you're from, we can come together for a great cause because we are all Team Youngstown. We are all defending the Y. This was a perfect example of showing the [students] how to build community within our community," Cataldo said.