After School, Fuller Students Paint To Uplift Their Classmates

FRAMINGHAM, MA — Inside the battered hallways of Fuller Middle School, something beautiful is taking shape.

Over the last few months, a group of 7th and 8th grade girls have been painting colorful murals in key spots around the building with slogans meant to uplift their classmates. The first spot the students hit was the girl's locker room, a sensitive place for young people transitioning from childhood to the teen years.

"Every girl is perfect," says one mural decorated with flowers.

"Body positive zone," another says in pastel blue and green.

Seventh grade social studies teacher Krista Haranas brought the students together to work on the murals early this school year. Haranas wanted the students to have something to do after school that would help them decompress. Plus, the murals beautify the school, and spread positive messages.

Fuller Middle School, built in the 1950s as Framingham South High School, will soon close. A new school is being built behind the existing building, but Fuller is in tough shape. There's mold, peeling paint, dark hallways, cracks in the cinder block walls. The school "no longer meets today’s building codes," as the school district says on a web page describing why a new middle school is being built.

On Wednesday, five students — painters Analayevka Jimenez, Roxana Perza, and Jorianny Cirino were absent — were finishing murals in the girl's locker room.

Painter Keyla Torres, 13, picked a mural with the slogan "Every girl is a super hero sometimes." She liked it because it's not something you see every day. The intricate painting features flowers in bright pink, blue, and orange. It's the first thing you see when you walk into the locker room.

"I just want to make a positive space for everyone," Torres said.

The students picked the mural designs off the internet and then used a projector to draw them on walls and cork boards. The Framingham Flyers After School Program donated paint and other supplies.

The team will soon move to the boy's locker room, where they plan to paint images of superheroes and messages like "Teamwork makes the dream work."

The new Fuller Middle School is set to open in fall 2021, so the mural-painters won't get to attend class in the new building. Some murals will be left behind when the school closes, but Haranas said some portable ones might move to the new Fuller.

It's important for the students to see body-positive messages in the girl's locker room, Haranas said. The middle school years can be particularly tough, and it helps when students can lift each other up, she said.

It's also just a fun bonding experience. At one point on Wednesday, the team put down their brushes to make a Tik Tok video of the "Renegade" dance as Haranas looked on.

"The goal is to have a space for them to regroup," she said.