Cadet Ashley Ziegenfuss of Troop 6942 followed the Girl Scout law by making the world a better place.

In order to earn her Silver Award, Ziegenfuss was required to complete a project to help her community. She and members of her troop, based at Faith Lutheran Church, created a 15-foot mural of a train along a wall in the Whitehall section of the Ironton Rail Trail.

"I love painting, and I bike on the Ironton trail a lot, passing the wall all the time, and wondered when something would happen to make it look nicer," Ziegenfuss said.

A member of the Girl Scouts since the age of 8, Ziegenfuss said that in order to achieve the Silver Award she had to help 100 people in the community and complete 50 hours of service and 10 hours of leadership.

The mural depicts a train actually driven on the trail by Thomas T. Ironton, who transported raw materials over the trestle. He actually drove over the bridge that she and her troop painted, she said.

Dale Hoffelfinger provided photos of the train from which the girls modeled the painting.

"At first I wanted to paint a world, but the Ironton trail committee told me to do a train," she said.

The Ironton Rail Trail Oversight Commission approved the painting. In compliance with their requests, Ziegenfuss attended their meetings and submitted drawings showing each step leading up to the completion of the mural.

Ziegenfuss said the wall was in dismal shape and the Hokendauqua Fire Company helped spray it down and spackle it. Faith Lutheran Church also contributed with a hoagie fundraiser, which helped fund the purchase of supplies.

"The scaffolding was hard at first, but it was fun and didn't take long to finish," said Donna Ziegenfuss, Ashley's mother.

Members of the troop and others who assisted in the painting include Michele Hricak, Kyleigh Hricak, Zachary Hricak, Laura Keiderling, Madison Gaston, Jenna Keip, Donna Williams, Carol Williams, Britney Bankos, Reegan Christine, Eric Garity and Ms. Demjan, Whitehall art teacher. Ziegenfuss said they began working on the painting July 2, began the actual painting July 7 and completed the mural July 8.

"I was hoping the project would show people that you don't have to paint on just a piece of paper to call it art, that you can on anything and it will be amazing," said Ziegenfuss.

Troop 6942 will honor Ziegenfuss' accomplishment with a ceremony in the coming year after a scrapbook of the project is finished.