For Immediate Release

Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Contact: John Guilfoil
Phone: 617-993-0003
Email: john@jgpr.net

Winthrop Elementary School Bathroom Improvements Project Adds Empowering Messages of Kindness to the Usual Lavatory

MELROSE — Inspirational, motivational, artistic, empowering — words not commonly associated with a bathroom in an elementary school.

This weekend, a group of parents and student volunteers at Melrose’s Winthrop Elementary School set out to change that.

With the help of parent and student volunteers, the school’s main bathrooms were cleaned and painted with inspiring messages and artwork encouraging kindness and the school’s core values.

Parents worked for hours over the weekend sanding and giving the bathrooms a deep clean to prepare the canvases for artwork.

“We wanted to make the kids bathrooms a cleaner and nicer place to be, to make their school a little brighter,” said parent organizer Amy Drago.

A group of volunteers and members of the Winthrop Community Service Club, under the guidance of adviser and fifth grade teacher Jennifer O’Brien, decided that this would be a wonderful and unique way to give back o the school.

“It was really fun when we were working together to see what we could accomplish,” said fifth grade student Cate Kavanaugh a member of the Community Service Club. “Painting was a great experience. As fifth graders it was fun to leave a mark on the school.”

Each of the bathrooms feature encouraging quotes to remind all students that they are valuable and worthwhile. The entrances were adorned with phrases including” “Never give up” and “Kind is cool.”

“It’s important that people know that they make a difference, and that’s why we painted inspiring quotes on the doors,” said Jill Frawley another fifth grade member of the club who took part in the project. “I was happy that we could come together as a school and work on this great project.”

Inside the bathrooms, the stalls and wall continue with encouraging messages promoting the school’s core values. A reminder of the value of kindness appears throughout both bathrooms. All of the slogans and designs were submitted by students through a school-wide contest.

“What’s better than giving our kids the inspiration to be all they can be,” Drago said. “Now, instead of stark walls and institutional paint, they’ll be greeted with reminders of their potential.”

The students enjoyed the experience of giving their bathrooms a makeover and the rest of the school seems to enjoy the new designs.

“The students are so happy. They keep stopping me in the hall and asking ‘what else can we paint?” said parent organizer and volunteer Charisse Gallagher. “They have taken such pride in this project and we hope to carry it through to future plans.”

For O’Brien, who is also the Community Service Club adviser, this was certainly one of the most unique projects she has ever been a part of.

“I am so incredibly proud of the work this group of students did with this project, and all of their other Community Service Club initiatives this year,” she said. “They are an extremely motivated group of kids who look to make positive change in whatever they do.”

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