Brightening up a hallway

Madeline Taylor and Hailey Lechtenberg did the painting; Mason Mitchell did the graphic design.
And all three Nashua-Plainfield High School students laughed when asked about how the idea to spruce up the walls of a school hallway came to become a reality.
“Well, Mrs. Kalainoff came up with the idea,” Taylor said of the “painting” they created, “and we did the work.”
Mitchell, whose “H-u-s-k-i-e-s” graphic includes hundreds of pictures of everyday student life and sits across the hallway from the girls’ work, was asked the same question.
“Mrs. Kalainoff thought it would be kind of cool,” he said, “but she didn’t know how to do it so she asked us.”
Mrs. Kalainoff is Jenn Kalainoff, the grades 6-12 counselor and high school cross country coach.
“I come up with the ideas, but yeah, then I have no idea how to do it,” she said with a laugh, “so I pawn off the work on the kids.”
In all seriousness, though, the school counselor said that she realized Nashua-Plainfield has some talented students so why pay someone else to do it?
“You go to other schools and they have these creative walls,” she said, “and you find out they brought some company into do it. Why spend that money when we have the talent right here.”
Start with the “painting” that Taylor and Lechtenberg completed — often using the district’s professional development days; i.e., when they didn’t have to even be in school.
The paint job features a quote that celebrates all students.
Some kids are smarter than you. 
Some kids have cooler clothes than you. 
Some kids are better at sports than you.
It doesn’t matter!
You have your thing too!
Be the kid who can get along.
Be the kid who is generous.
Be the kid who is happy for other people.
Be the kid who does the right thing.
Be the nice kid.
With help and a little direction from art teacher Marie Glaser, the two girls went to work. They had a little assistance from fellow students, but by and large, this was their project.
They found a font and stenciled much of the quote and then freehanded some of the words and the “decorative” additions, including lines, paper airplanes and sun rays.
There were bumps in the road, for sure.
     --More on the story may be found in the March 11 Reporter.