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SNN: Godwin Heights writing on walls

Godwin Heights bathroom art
School News Network

Godwin Heights students took beautifying their school into their own hands—and paintbrushes—creating wall art in the bathroom that is serving as a deterrent for graffiti and source of positivity.

Walk into a bathroom at Godwin Heights Middle School on any given school day, and you will likely find eighth-graders Shyla Beattie and Jimmie Floyd writing on the walls. It’s OK. Principal Bradley Tarrance and art teacher Kim Urbanski are 100 percent behind their handiwork.

A student-created wall art project began this year following a discussion on social justice. It’s part art education, part school beautification, part graffiti-deterrent. Most of all, it’s a passion project for students who want to spread positivity.

The project started after student leaders and Tarrance discussed similarities between schools and prison, from stark concrete block walls to metal detectors. They also recognized graffiti as a constant problem in the bathroom.

“The principal gave the green light and the art teacher let the students go to work. She showed them a video about an artist who transformed a public bathroom with mural and encouraged them to brainstorm their own ideas.”

Shyla says she feels proud to have her work displayed. She and her friends love coming up with new ideas for the walls. Jimmie said the art transformed the feel of the spaces. “Another plus – bathrooms are staying cleaner”

Bridie Bereza for School News Network.

For more on this story: https://www.schoolnewsnetwork.org/2019/02/08/the-writing-on-the-wall/

Patrick joined WGVU Public Media in December, 2008 after eight years of investigative reporting at Grand Rapids' WOOD-TV8 and three years at WYTV News Channel 33 in Youngstown, Ohio. As News and Public Affairs Director, Patrick manages our daily radio news operation and public interest television programming. An award-winning reporter, Patrick has won multiple Michigan Associated Press Best Reporter/Anchor awards and is a three-time Academy of Television Arts & Sciences EMMY Award winner with 14 nominations.