Prairie Fleming, sophomore, marches down the second floor hallway, treading the same path of hundreds of students. She’s heading to the bathroom where she is confronted by a plethora of writing and drawings.
Fleming is looking at the MHS latrinalia, or as it is more commonly known, bathroom graffiti.
“I see a few words or drawings in the smaller stalls, it’s the bigger stalls where they really go ham,” Fleming said. “It ranges from doodles and drawings to words and phrases.”
Fleming said the graffiti is cool to look at and that she enjoys being able to observe a mural of different people’s expressions. Fleming said the graffiti is often positive including phrases encouraging people to be their best selves and assuring them that they will get through their personal plights.
Sometimes the messages are more shallow; popular phrases or jokes from social media appear quite often. Fleming cites a drawing depicting the animated character Bojack Horseman saying “rehab was supposed to be a fresh start,” which was a popular joke online for awhile.
Fleming said it’s sad when she sees the graffiti scratched over.
“It’s like seeing an accumulation of teen culture erased,” Fleming said.
She said she the graffiti doesn’t impact how sanitary the bathroom is.
“It’s just drawings and words on the wall, they have no effect on the actual cleanliness of the bathroom,” Fleming said.
Austin Grable transferred to MHS from Maricopa High School last school year and said the graffiti here is minor compared to his old school.
“The graffiti here is pretty diverse. You’ll have a question or statement written on the wall with a response or drawing next to it,” Grable said. “Oftentimes the graffiti is offensive in nature.”
He said the graffiti doesn’t negatively impact his view of the bathrooms. That being said, Grable said bathroom graffiti is unhygienic.
“It makes you feel like you’re in a gas station bathroom,” Grable stated. “Public bathrooms in general aren’t kept in the best conditions.”
In spite of this, he praises the janitorial staff for having the graffiti under control compared to his previous school.
“The graffiti could be a whole lot worse than it is,” Grable said.
Sophomore Principal Kyle Devine said he has received an abundance of reports regarding bathroom vandalism.
“This year alone we’ve had at least four of the boys bathrooms with mirrors scratched into,” Devine said.
Devine said many of the reports from the custodians are about written graffiti on the stalls. The repercussions for getting caught as a bathroom vandal depend.
“If you damage something enough and we can figure out a particular cost, you’ll be paying for it,” Devine said.
The threat of punishment doesn’t seem to deter students from scribbling their thoughts onto the stalls.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s a girls restroom or boys restroom, they’re writing stuff in the stalls,” Devine stated.
The administration has recently begun to keep the bathroom doors open. Devine said he hopes this will lessen the graffiti.
“Some bathrooms will be replaced in the next few years, but even after that those bathrooms will be around for a long time so people need to take care of them,” Devine said.
“I don’t understand the purpose of writing on the stalls,” Devine said. “You’re ruining something that’s used by the public who come here, the students that learn here, and the teachers that work here. Our custodians work hard and shouldn’t have to do extra to make up for someone’s bad behavior.”
