Seniors Spruce Up Girls Restroom At WHS

Wellesley High School's first floor girl's restroom is bright and colorful, filled with upbeat murals and the occasional positive message.

It wasn't always so cheerful.

"This bathroom was really a problem," said Student Supervisor Chuck Bognanni.

"There was a lot of graffiti going on at the school," said Mackenzie Hagood, a senior at Wellesley High. This restroom wasn't the one where racist graffiti, including a swastika, was discovered, drawing media attention and inspiring a senior class stand against racism and marginalization, including several seniors who spoke against those attitudes before their English classes. That graffiti happened in a boys' restroom.

Still, the graffiti found in the girls restroom wasn't fun to look at, either. "There was a lot of girl-hate kind of thing going on," WHS senior Mackenzie Loff said.

"It makes you feel sad, because nothing was nice," said Hagood.

So the two decided to make brightening up the restroom their senior project. The janitors had just painted it gray, so they started with a coat of white paint, then did the backgrounds, then the murals, finishing off with the trim. They spent four hours a day on the work, though sometimes not consecutively, from April 1 through May 17.  They made about 10 trips to Home Depot for supplies, too. Their total cost on the project, which they paid for personally and split equally, was about $250.

"It seems really well received," said Bognanni. Loff and Hagood agree, noting that the graffiti hasn't returned since they made the room more inviting.

The first stall sports a quote from Edmund Burke, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

The back of each stall has a window painted on it, and each door has its own colorful design. The usual blank slate of featureless paint has been replaced with an engaging array of positive images and phrases.

"I think we were both surprised at how artistic we were," Loff said.

Bognanni said he thinks the effort will be repeated next year with other bathrooms in the school before the building is eventually torn down in favor of the new high school being built next door.