On a sunny afternoon the week before homecoming, three friends at San Marcos found out there was a secret graffiti room somewhere on campus. Naturally, they had to immediately find this room where thousands of students from all decades had signed their names.
Prior to the search, all the girls had seen was a small picture of the chaotic room, but that was enough to send them on a mission. After interviewing staff members at San Marcos who remained secretive, the three took matters into their own hands. After visiting many places on campus that led to being hopeless, they eventually came across a locked door. The girls had no idea what was behind it, but knew it wasn’t just an average closet. Alast, due to being in a yearbook/journalism class where it is important to document, they were allowed into the room.
Immediately, their eyes were rushed with different colors and signatures splattered across every inch of every wall. One of the girls had lived in a cabin at sleepaway camp for a month that was covered in sharpie names and spray painted signatures but the girl said that this room was nothing like that. When another girl who had been there, Senior Hailey Jennell, was asked about her experience finding the graffiti room, she said with a smile, “This was such a fun side quest, looking for the room.”
Strangely enough, there was something peaceful about all the stories that had to be behind those signatures. The three girls had had such a fun time trying to figure out where this room was even located, that it made them curious about the stories of all the other students who had found and signed the graffiti room. There were even signatures dated back to the 1980’s.
The person who let them in eventually unlocked the door at the top of the staircase as well. While the room behind this new door had some graffiti scratched into its walls too, it was clear that its main purpose was being a storage closet. However, unlike most storage closets used for storing cleaning supplies and files, this one had much more interesting content. One girl discovered a basket filled with photos from San Marcos in the 80’s. There was everything from prom pictures to photos of friends enjoying their lunch on a bench. It was fascinating for the three friends to see photos of high schoolers not all that different from them, but 40 years ago.
Security guard Joe Garcia has been working at San Marcos for 28 years. Along with that, he also attended high school here in the 80’s. After interviewing him, he described the reputation of the graffiti room, and what it was like when he was in high school. “When I was a student here in ‘86, the graffiti room was already very well established. I was friends with a few seniors who did leadership so they had easy access to the room. That’s how I discovered it,” Joe explained.
“That’s how I discovered it. There used to be even more signatures than you see today, but back in 2012 a group of kids painted over some.”
The graffiti room is known to have an ‘if you know, you know’ feel to it and so, it was a great experience for the three of them. Exploring the intriguing Graffiti Room was a great opportunity.
