When thinking of a classroom, what comes to mind? White walls, brown desks and a board with due dates? We spend roughly seven hours a day in classrooms, yet most of the time our surroundings unappealing to look at.

There are about seven main buildings with classes, and somehow they all look the same. Every building has a bathroom, classrooms and a blank hallway with random posters here and there. The thing that takes up most of the halls are lockers that I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone open. Getting rid of lockers would be expensive and unnecessary but we could make them look a little brighter by letting our plethora of art students paint a few in each hall. If not the lockers, we could paint the ceiling tiles, like they do in some elementary and middle schools. The paintings could be designed to incorporate the school name or have encouraging quotes passing students could read. Putting a mural on the walls could brighten up the place and make it a more happy and welcoming environment.

The way that teachers decorate their classrooms is completely up to them. From experience, when a teacher’s room is bright and has more than just on “no bullying” sign up, it makes looking at a wall not be as dreadful. In most of my classes, the teachers keep the blinds closed, causing the room to look dark and gloomy. Classrooms with the most daylight had a 20 percent year learning rate in math and 26 percent improved rate in reading compared to classrooms with little or no daylighting according to the US Department of Education. Poor lighting causes discomfort, which reduces learning and it is detrimental to the physical and mental health of students according to the US Department of Education. Opening one window can help students have an easier time concentrating. Since there is evidence daylight helps with test scores, the administration should encourage creativity, lighting and aesthetics.

With our outdoor campus, there are so many opportunities to help make it look and feel more welcoming. Planting a few flowers or putting art pieces outside in the open areas could make our campus look so much brighter and interesting. With the amount of kids at our school, there are never too many seating areas, putting a few more benches or tables on our campus could make it look more welcoming and comforting, and not as crowded.

I’m sure price is one of the main reasons no one even tries to do some of these ideas but most of these supplies and people’s time could be donated. There are so many clubs at our school that involve community service hours and this is the perfect opportunity. We have so much talent and ability at our school there is no reason not to use it.