March 9th, 2020
“We lose ourselves in books; we find ourselves there too,” reads an inscription above the locker bookshelf created by the Paint a Book Club at Southwood Secondary School in Cambridge, offering a glimpse at the power of a good book. Kathryn McPherson is the assistant head of the English department at Southwood, and has been leading this effort to bring the bookshelf to the hallway.
Work on the painted locker bookshelf has been underway since the last school year, featuring both classic and contemporary works of literature that are painted based on requests from students themselves. The goal is to help stoke and inspire a love of reading and books for the students who walk by the lockers every day.
“Over the years I have created a learning environment that celebrates literature…so the locker project was a natural extension from that,” said McPherson. She has taught English and Math at Southwood for more than 20 years and her passion for inspiring her students is immediately clear.
The project caught the eye of CTV Kitchener journalist Randy Steinman, who featured the hard work of the students and McPherson on the nightly news. He marvelled at the work the Paint a Book Club had completed and spent time speaking with each of them to get their take on the impact the artwork was having on their school.
The students have been busy in the past year, completing the painting of the block of 30 lockers outside McPherson’s English classroom. They now plan to extend the bookshelf painting beyond the lockers, to the end of the hallway, to complete the visual effect. This includes a section of the wall dedicated to immortalizing the Harry Potter books, which McPherson explained came about as the result of a number of requests from students.
There’s no end in sight when it comes to the creativity of McPherson and her students, as they plan to extend the bookshelf around the corner into the Science department, featuring science-focused books. It’s clear to see that for McPherson, this is a passion project and she plans on keeping it going for years to come.
“It is a fun, creative project, and I’m happy to continue painting lockers until I retire in 2026,” said McPherson.
The locker bookshelf is having the desired effect, with students being inspired to pick up a new book and spark a love of reading. The lockers themselves have also become popular, as McPherson explained students have already started to request specific painted lockers for September.
Did you miss our original story?
Students Bring the Bookshelf to the Hallway at Southwood
Categories: Events