Butler teachers use graffiti to inspire students
BUTLER TWP — Even with about a month left of school, when students typically start to tune out, Butler Area School District is finding creative, unique ways to keep students engaged.
Butler’s art teachers are doing so through an unusual outlet: graffiti and mural art.
Art teachers at the senior high school, along with artists and representatives from the Light Education Initiative, a student empowerment group, spent several hours Thursday, April 30, teaching the students how to make murals with spray paint and how they can pursue hands-on activities as a potential career.
“We were trying to make an experience that was very innovative and connects students to our community. And what a great way to do that by bringing in an actual, semilocal artist,” art teacher Shawna Ferris said. “It’s one of those things that I love doing as a teacher, is bridging students to the community and celebrating our role and responsibility in the community.”
The classes, taught by Ferris and Erich Campbell, previously spent time brainstorming ideas with Scott Brozovich, an artist from Pittsburgh, on what should go into a Butler-themed “mural.” Once completed, the art, painted on large boards by the students and Brozovich, will be hung in the high school.
“This is a cool style of workshops that we’ve tried to do at different schools, where they work with the artist to think up what this mural design could look like,” Roman Benty, of the Light Education Initiative, said.
The Light Education Initiative, which has worked with Ferris in the past, is based in Pittsburgh and has a mission to “inspire, prepare and empower the next generation of humanitarians.” It is a nonprofit organization supported by the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh.
Benty said the group works with people like art, civics, English language arts and foreign language teachers, along with others across different disciplines who are interested in finding ways to teach the humanities through project-based learning.
“It’s important in so many ways. We love these mural projects, because it’s a really tangible way that students can see they can actually make positive change within their school and community,” Benty said. “They do a project like this and this will be up on the walls before the end of the year. It’s a great way to develop student agency and help them really express themselves.”
Butler’s last day of school is June 6. As students everywhere, particularly seniors, see the last day in sight, it may be hard to keep them immersed in the ongoing curriculum, teachers said. But something as outside the box as graffiti helps keep students’ brains stimulated.
“When you pick something up and do something that’s unique and different, it becomes really memorable,” Ferris said.
It’s also important, Brozovich said, to show the students you can have fun.
“For me, it’s very important. One, to show them a different medium that they probably haven’t been exposed to,” Brozovich said. “I’m fortunate enough to have made a profession out of my passion. Graffiti and mural arts, large-scale murals, that’s my passion. Even if this isn’t their thing, I think it’s important to see you can take your passion and turn it into a career.”
