BUENA PARK : Students Launch Anti-Graffiti Effort

Buena Park High School students see the writing on the walls--and they are not tolerating it anymore.

Because of their concerns about the school’s graffiti problem, about 40 students, dressed in old clothes, showed up at 7:30 a.m. Monday to paint over graffiti-covered walls.

“We’re doing this because we want to take a stand on this issue because it’s getting out of control,” said senior Adriana Flores, Associated Student Body president.

Flores said students are tired of returning to school on Mondays and seeing walls painted with graffiti.

“I want to make a statement to the people who do graffiti and tagging . . . that we don’t want people defacing our school,” said senior Cora Tu. “I want to take pride in the school and the community.”

Through their anti-graffiti campaign, the students said they hope to set an example to their peers and the rest of the community about the importance of keeping the campus free of graffiti.

Flores said the graffiti cleanup, coordinated by the School Communication Committee, a network of students and teachers that addresses issues and problems to improve relations on campus, will continue the next three Monday mornings.

Student clubs and community businesses such as Buena Park Lumber donated supplies for the effort.

Flores said that when the school is covered in graffiti, the school’s reputation suffers. She said the hope is that having students remove graffiti will discourage their classmates from taking part in graffiti vandalism.

“By seeing their peers working, maybe they’ll be kind of intimidated and they’ll see that someone does care about the school and wants it to look better--and then they might not do it,” she said.

Nancy Clement, assistant principal, praised the students’ efforts, saying the graffiti cleanup will create more awareness about the problem and instill pride among students.

“I think it means that students are willing to do hard work to make their school attractive--and it’s also a statement to the community that there are students who care and who are concerned,” she said.

Clement said the high school has adopted a hard stance on graffiti, painting over it as quickly as possible.

“We’ve done a tremendous amount of painting over the past couple of years to deal with the problem,” she said.

Students said it is rewarding to be involved in the campaign to make their campus a better place.

“After you’re done painting, you get a good feeling to look at your piece of art . . . ,” Flores said.