The Impact Intentional Art Can Have in the School Bathrooms

Olive Ahlstrom

In most public high schools, the school bathrooms are often slightly messy and rundown. They are generally slobbish, but always bearable. Here at NSA, however, the student bathrooms are unsanitary, decrepit, and poorly taken care of. In all five of the bathrooms around the school, the doors are falling off the hinges, there is graffiti from floor to ceiling, the women’s sanitary disposal boxes are broken, paint is peeling off the walls, they are missing mirrors, and several toilets are broken, to name a few issues. The walls are an inch thicker than when they were first built due to all the layers of paint covering up years of relapsing graffiti. Students see a bathroom that is already chaotic and will add to it because they feel there is no consequence, which there often is not. This is why it has been proposed to install murals in the bathrooms.

At a school full of artists, it will never be easier to paint murals on the bathroom walls. Our school has the advantage of collaboration and limitless talent, and a mural for each bathroom could be planned and executed in absolutely no time. The purpose of the murals, other than further expression and school spirit, would be to turn the bathrooms from a lawless purgatory to a respected sector of the school, which it should be. Once the murals go up, people (artists themselves) will respect the art and will not graffiti over it or continue to litter the floors. Once the bathrooms have been continuously clean, funding and maintenance will be achieved to fix things such as the doors, mirrors, floors and vents. Once this happens, students will have a more positive attitude towards and a trust in their school and administration, and will have a better academic and social experience at NSA.

Although this train of events may be seen as wishful thinking, it will be shown that the artists at this school will respect another’s art and not deface it, especially if they also contributed to creating it. This subconscious respect will carry over to other facets of their student career as well. The resources and talent is exponential- put murals in the school bathrooms.