Dull walls don’t just decorate our school, they define it. When students spend seven hours a day surrounded by monotonous, colorless spaces, it’s no surprise that creativity and motivation start to fade. 

Schools tend to have colorful logos or mascots, but the foundation is usually bland and makes it feels uninviting. Even though schools have pep rallies, fun activities, and sports games that get creative, colorful, and fun, it is not long-lasting and the school quickly returns to its normal blank slate. 

Neshaminy School District specifically has “America’s colors”,  red and blue, which makes our schools spirited and seems to be an uplifting and creative environment. 

The elementary schools and middle schools do a good job of decorating the school daily and creating a vibrant, inspiring environment.  

Unfortunately, Neshaminy High School (NHS) is blank compared to other schools in the district. As students walk through the halls of NHS, they get mostly beige and brown colors with hints of green, red, and blue for specific hallways. Even though there is color incorporated, the colors have turned old and dull, making a seemingly boring environment. 

In my personal experience, I remember how Pearl S. Buck Elementary had a huge mural in the cafeteria that created a bright and fun environment to be in, especially as younger age students are learning and developing. 

As I moved on through middle school and high school, the colors became less colorful and more dull, which affected how I felt, acted, and learned.

Mental Health & Mood

Mental health is already taking a toll on high school students as they have harder classes, busier schedules, and start thinking about their futures. As they do this, the bland colors of the schools do not help uplift their moods and mental health.

Research conducted by Insight Psychology states that colors play a role in therapeutic settings to promote health and well-being. Bright, warm colors can uplift mood, while cool tones can soothe anxiety, suggesting that using colors can help students manage mental stressors and boost mood. 

NHS student Teaghan Warner exemplifies the fact that NHS feels dull. “I’m already tired, and the neutral tones don’t do anything to encourage me to keep going,” Warner stated. 

NHS has warm and cool tones like blue, red, and green, which should improve mood and mental health. So why do some still struggle? Having a welcoming school environment also includes decorations and mood lighting, which helps students relax and focus on certain tasks, which NHS lacks. 

“The building feels incredibly bleak,” Warner exasperated. “The beige walls and neutral tiles make the school feel like a place I don’t feel ‘welcome’ in.” 

Work Ethic

With the decrease in encouragement and effect on mental health, dull colors and limited decorations also impact students’ work ethic.  Students do not feel inspired, and their minds are blank because the walls are not inspiring. 

Research by color psychologists indicates that under-stimulation and dull colors lead to a lack of focus and an increase in daydreaming as the brain searches for external stimuli. Since the brain is searching for stimuli, we are not focused on the tasks at hand and think creatively. 

“I struggle to do work with the lack of motivation, and being in a school that’s just bland is incredibly demotivating,” Warner commented. 

Solutions

While NHS is particularly not good at decorating or making the school colorful, other schools lack these elements as well. This might come as a shock to all, but Pennsbury High School is like NHS.

Both schools have spirited students when there are activities, like Mini-Thon and sports games. But when it comes to the actual school building, there is a lack of colorful and creative decorations and aesthetics.

Thankfully, this emptiness of the schools can be diminished by adding more creativity.

“Decorations like trophies, posters, plants, or even bulletin boards can make the building feel less stressful and more enjoyable for students, moving us away from that bland cycle of seeing the same bare walls every day and guarantee that students are ready to learn,” Danielle Kahler, a Pennsbury High School student, expressed.  

Luckily, students have opinions on how to make NHS better. 

“I think it would be cool if there was a space dedicated to each club where they could post updates about their goal, when they meet, who’s involved, and how people can join,” Molly Pritchard, an NHS student, mentioned. “Maybe there could be a ‘current events’ wall that features recent school-related events. I think this could boost school spirit.”

Incorporating club posters and information will help to make the clubs grow. Including NHS’s events will have a big impact on how the school runs and express what our school does and our spirit. 

Blank walls lead to blank minds. This, unfortunately, is the truth. Having dull, emotionless colors and nothing aesthetically pleasing decreases students’ moods and mental health because they have nothing to increase their happy hormone levels. 

Since students’ moods are decreasing, there is a lack of creativity. Students need to be inspired to do their work well and be engaged in activities, which blank walls and non-aesthetically pleasing elements do not do. Fortunately, students have spoken out about how we can incorporate ideas into our school to make it creative and encourage students to boost their mood and work ethic.