Spradling Elementary students paint bathrooms with messages of encouragement

Fourth and fifth grade students had the opportunity to paint murals in the girls' bathroom inside Spradling Elementary school on Monday, May 23.

The idea for the murals of encouragement came from the principal, Elizabeth Love. She saw the same concept at Christ the King Elementary and wanted to to the same at Spradling.

Love coordinated with the school's art teacher, Hilary Marshall, to pull it off.

"The more I thought about it, the more I was like, I want the girls involved," Love said. "Because they're the ones that are going to see it every day."

Love gave fourth and fifth graders a week to come up with ideas to paint on the bathroom walls and toilet stall doors.

Marshall and Love picked the murals they thought would fit best in the bathroom.

Love said the school strives to have messages of encouragement throughout the school. They have TVs set up with shout-outs in which students are recognized for doing good things as well as their "wall of giftedness" in which every student wrote their talents on a card to be recognized on the wall.

"For me it's just, we live in the age of social media and everything is coming at them and it can be so negative," Love said. "I want this to be a safe space for them where they feel encouraged."

Love also mentioned that she hopes the project will cut down graffiti temptation in bathroom stalls.

Marshall said she wants her students to have fun in her class, even if they don't particularly enjoy art.

"It's not just who can draw the best, but the process of it, some of them don't like coming to school, so I (want to) have a fun spot for them," she said.

This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Spradling Elementary students paint bathrooms with encouragement