SAN FERNANDO : School Races Taggers to Cover Graffiti

It takes a dozen student volunteers every day to tackle a job that never seems to end at San Fernando High School.

With brushes and paint cans in hand, the students attack the worst of the school’s graffiti-splattered walls and surfaces. By morning, the painted-out surfaces are once again marred with graffiti.

Arturo Velasquez and Leonard Bocanegra, both 17, who organized the student-run program called “Tiger Pride” to keep the campus graffiti-free in April, remain undaunted.

“We’re trying to prove taggers aren’t stronger than the students. We make the school,” said Arturo, an 11th-grader.

The students are taking on an even bigger task this Saturday: a paint-a-thon from 1 to 5 p.m. to paint the entire school, inside and out. They expect at least 70 students, parents and community volunteers to join the effort. “We want to show taggers they won the battle, but they’re not going to win the war,” Leonard said.

The program, named after the school’s mascot, started after Leonard and Arturo surveyed students and found that 72% wanted to see the campus rid of the rampant graffiti scrawled on walls, benches and doors. “We figured that more than half of the students really care about the school,” Arturo said.

Since then, the students spend up to two hours a day painting hallways and classroom walls, often at the request of teachers who fill out forms. Arturo and Leonard receive donations of paint and money by appealing to community and service organizations.

Pointing to a wall repainted two weeks ago that remains clean of marks, Arturo said he is confident that graffiti vandals are noticing. “After awhile, they don’t want to bother wasting their paint or markers,” he said.