BRIGHTEN school walls and brighten students' prospects. It's all part of the same palette, according to a group that runs a program in which students in New York City's middle and high schools volunteer to paint the halls, cafeterias and other common areas of older schools in vibrant tones of yellow, green, blue, red and orange.

The nonprofit group, Publicolor, says that besides creating a more energizing learning environment than the institutional grays and tans that the brighter colors usually replace, the project gets many indifferent or misbehaving students engaged with their schools. And it says the project also introduces participants to the habits and discipline they will need in the world of work.

For those who advance in the program, the painting tasks are combined with academic tutoring and after-school workshops on career possibilities and, for those interested, on choosing and applying to colleges. Some have received scholarships from Publicolor. There can also be a financial reward, which is important because most of the boys and girls in the program are from poor or working-class families.

Participating schools are chosen from among those whose principals request inclusion, and from recommendations from others. A principal's agreement is required for work in a school, said Kelcey Kintner, a member of Publicolor's staff. "We look to choose schools that are failing academically, have big dropout rates and are depressing visually," she said.

Publicolor was founded in 1996 by Ruth Lande Shuman, an industrial designer who has studied the psychological effects of color. "I wanted to try to use my talent to help engage disaffected students in their education, so they would not drop out of school," she said recently.

More than 5,000 students have taken part in the 10-year-old program, most at their own schools, Ms. Kintner said, adding that each project takes several months to a year. About 450 students have moved to the advanced level, which involves painting schools other than their own and homeless shelters, police stations and other city buildings. Carmen Fariña, the city's deputy chancellor for teaching and learning, said she was a "big fan" of the program. "Any organization that encourages kids to stay in school till 6, 7 at night and brings them in on weekends," she said, "is instilling the values we desire."

Source: New York Times, April 5, 2006

Tasks:

1. Translate the white portion of the text on this page into Danish.
2. Using only the information on this web page and the front page of Publicolor's official page, write a letter in Danish to a journal for teaching professionals, introducing them to Publicolor's mission and ideas.