This Pink Shirt Day Peter Skene Ogden Secondary School’s students and faculty have come together to create a kindness and inclusion mural.
Throughout the last two weeks the school, led by PSO’s Gay Straight Alliance Club, have contributed their artistic skills to the mural. It’s all a way to promote kindness while taking a stand against bullying, according to Nicki Jackson, PSO secretary and GSA staff sponsor.
“We wanted to do something that was visual in the school and we thought a mural would be the best place where they could bring their ideas about kindness and speaking up when you see bullying. Kindness counts and it doesn’t cost much to show them that kindness” Jackson explained. “You don’t need to be rude or pick out the negative. We’re really trying to change that climate here because it’s been a rough year with negativity.”
The GSA Club laid out the foundation of the mural from Feb. 20-23 with the rest of the school contributing their own ideas from Feb. 26 to 28. On Pink Shirt Day itself, the mural was hung up in the school’s entranceway.
GSA members Lilly-Anne Henderson, Grade 11, and Johanna Springmann, Grade 8, were two of the artists who first put pen to paper for the Pink Shirt Day Mural. They said their goal was to write affirmations and draw nice things that would make people feel welcome.
“Bullying does really suck and for some reason, it’s still a thing, which it really shouldn’t be,” Springmann said. “(The mural) is about being nice to one another and spreading awareness that bullying is still a thing and can happen to anyone.”
Both said that the club’s approach to the mural was to figure it out as they went. While they knew they wanted to incorporate elements like rainbows and pink shirts otherwise each student was free to add their own ideas, so long as they were school-appropriate and kind. Springmann said they chose to add a silly cat to the mural because silly cats make them happy.
“We want it to be an enjoyable time and not something people are forced to do,” Henderson said.
Jackson said that while PSO has had a GSA Club in the past, it had faded away in the last few years. Following some of the protests in the community against Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, she was concerned that some students didn’t have a safe place to go, which is why she helped reform the club as its new staff sponsor.
“We started with a small group, maybe five students, and it’s grown since then to about 15 or so. We just provide a safe place for students to feel welcomed in the school, respected, appreciated and heard,” Jackson said. “I wanted to protect them from the negativity that can happen in this town.”
Henderson said she joined the GSA in Grade 8 as a way to support one of her friends after they came out as gay. After making several friends at the club she’s stayed involved with the community ever since.
“It’s a safe place because there’s a lot of places that aren’t welcoming for certain people. We also help out the community and try to make the rest of the school a safer space for LGBTQ people,” Henderson remarked.
Springmann meanwhile joined thanks to one of their friends who encouraged them to join despite their social anxiety. Like Henderson, they’ve found the group to be a supportive and welcoming one.
While initially, Jackson said there was some skepticism amongst the school about the club, after the GSA took part in the Christmas Craft Fair the student body started to accept and welcome them. She’s done her best to find fun activities for the students to do that allow them to feel safe in who they are.
In June, Jackson said the GSA plans to run a few Pride events for the school and even paint a permanent mural on the school’s wall. Springmann and Henderson are both in favour of this idea, noting it would be a way for the school to show consistent support for LGBTQ+ students at PSO year-round.
“I really hope the kids feel empowered moving forward that, wherever they go they can feel they have a home somewhere,” Jackson said. “I want the best for them and I’m hoping they can lead by example and spread a little positivity around here.”
