The girl’s bathrooms at Mead High School are occasionally sprinkled with graffiti composed of sweet messages and reminders. 

Whenever one thinks of graffiti in school bathrooms, silly drawings and profanity might immediately come to mind. I went to each bathroom and looked at the varying ink depictions in the stalls. Instead of witnessing vulgar language and inappropriate drawings like expected, I was met with positivity.

One of the messages I found in the stalls wrote, “Stay safe this summer girlys” followed with a heart. Most of the doodles I noticed in the bathrooms were hearts drawn everywhere or following a message, nothing harmful to the well-being of students.

Another graffiti reminder said, “good things are coming to you” along with a smiley face. Below, another person added, “yes they are loves”.

Throughout high school, I’ve noticed graffiti in bathroom stalls is often met by others expanding on it by adding their own responses. In turn, the collaborated drawings make it feel more like a community, something that unifies people who may never know each other, but still anonymously communicate with through cute drawings and uplifting phrases.  

Oftentimes, the graffiti on the bathroom stalls is cleaned off. It can be upsetting to see the old go, but with a new, fresh canvas, it’s a bit exciting to read new positive messages. The idea of having a sweet reminder sprinkled in your day is delightful. 

Disclaimer: This article was not written to encourage graffiti and other acts of vandalism at Mead High School, but rather bring attention to how graffiti is being used to spread positivity.