Think back to the last time you were in the old LSE auditorium. Remember the sculpture on the wall? Well it was originally created by R.P. Marxhausen and thanks to the Lincoln Southeast Class of 1976, the sculpture was purchased as a Bicentennial project and gift to the school. Since 1976 the sculpture’s home was the auditorium. The sculpture has been cleaned, restored, and moved to the new Commons for students to enjoy for at least the next 33 years.

Two plaques were near the sculpture in the auditorium. They have been taken to Awards Unlimited to be redone and will be hung by the sculpture in the Commons.

Marxhausen's title for the mural is "Investment." In his own words: "It begins with a line and a shape. They are both dark, the line... represents the past. the shape represents the seed,,, dark and shriveled. This also represents hope and trust or an investment. When you are a student in high school and have teachers, take courses and get involved in activities which at the time seem useless and even dumb... You are trusting, filling yourself up to the potential you will some day utilize. Imagine the early settlers in Nebraska, a desert land of grass, even after much hardship the farmers continued to plant the shriveled seeds. Waiting, trusting, hoping. Today he continues to hope... compared to the desert of the past, Nebraska is a garden. The tapered line on the right hand is green and it represents the present and the future. The mural has four large shapes which could represent the four seasons. The first is dark, the seed under the ground, the desert landscape. The second opens up, the seed germinates, the shape raises and turns. The third opens some more and the fourth is release, new seeds, harvest, joy, celebration, praise, affirmation, hope restored, freedom, open new horizons, dividends, fulfillment, trust renewed, the alumni who return and remember the dried seeds.

Trust and hope, it begins here at Southeast. Your school colors say it. It begins with black and ends with gold."

Investment

The progression of shapes, colors, textures
Evolve and change
Darkness is the unknown, untried, the future
Where fear can be the master
But darkness is also the color of hope and trust

Investment of seeds or knowledge are covered
With self or soil
And waiting begins
What good can come of misfits and
Misshapen lives
Like shriveled up pea seeds thrown into dirt
Who knows, now

With hope must be sweat and care
Swearing and tenderness
Tearing and shaping
Work
Turning
Changing

But our plans are not our plans
Interruptions, disaster, death
And all unexpected mysteries
Shape us also
And we live

Faith can give strength
And clean, and renew
And redirect
All preconceptions

With celebrations and fulfillment
Fling out new seeds to others
For new horizons to begin
In hope
And trust

R.P. Marxhausen, 1976