Students file into Economics teacher Gabrielle Kashani’s class, stressed and panicked. They have to take a test in a couple of minutes. Suddenly, their pouts turn to surprise, then joy, when they see that the test dividers have beautiful art painted on them in the style of Bob Ross.
Kashani asked Art Jam to paint over her test dividers. Senior and Art Jam member Brooke Hendershott said that Kashani proposed the project to Art Jam during Back to School Night.
“We had a button and cookie sale that we were doing to celebrate the diversity mural, and we were giving out extra cookies to teachers,” Hendershott said. “[Kashani] pulled us into her room and asked us if we could do a project involving test dividers. We were all very busy with college apps, so we postponed the project until this semester when we had more time.”
Hendershott said that they wanted the dividers to last for a long time.
“We wanted [to paint] something that people wouldn’t want to graffiti over,” Hendershott said. “Each week, every member [of Art Jam] gets half of a test divider, and picks a Bob Ross tutorial and paints it on the test divider.”
Kashani said that she has been using the old test dividers in her classroom for five years.
“I got them from Mr. Mahoney and they came with some graffiti and the graffiti just got worse.”
Kashani said that swear words and obscene drawings were featured in the graffiti.
“I felt like putting those in front of a student potentially could make them feel uncomfortable” Kashani said. “I didn’t know what to do with it or how to remedy the situation.”
Kashani said that if she painted the dividers over with one color, students would just continue to graffiti over it. 
“This year I had the idea that if they were painted artfully, people wouldn’t graffiti on them and that would put an end to graffiti on them,” Kashani said. “I asked the Art Jam club to decorate them in a way that would deter graffiti.”
Kashani said that the Art Jam club has gone above and beyond the call of duty with the concept and design of the new dividers.
“100% credit to the Art Jam club, they came up with the idea to do the Bob Ross scenery, and they have made them into beautiful pieces of art that are way beyond anything I could have imagined or expected,” Kashani said.
Bob Ross has very many fans in the Art Jam club, according to senior and Art Jam member Saira Brown.
“Bob Ross is a great guy,” Brown said.
Brown said that the Bob Ross tutorials that the divider art are based on have as much of a calming effect on the artists as it does on the students viewing them.
“It’s relaxing to follow the tutorial. It’s mellow,” Brown said. “While people are taking tests, it’s something to help them relax right before they’re about to take a stressful exam.We just wanted to help our club members and the students in Ms. Kashani’s classroom.”
