Laminated and laid across many classroom walls is a school-issued photo, tinted and labeled with a personalized color. Science teachers Ben Sanderfoot, Nick Kvam, Anna Drews, and Paul Bell, social studies teachers Jenny Leahy, and Shelby Schultz, business teacher Lindsey Rost, and music teachers Abbe Lane and Ben Ruetten all have these custom decor pieces on display in their classrooms.
“I really only did it to make Mr. Bell mad, if we’re being honest. You know, I’m a new teacher, so I don’t want to ruffle any feathers, but this seemed like the perfect opportunity to have a little friendly inside joke,” Schultz, the leader of the whole ordeal, said.
Others seemed to agree with this sentiment.
“Pre-color system, we were still trying to get to know Ms. Schultz because she’s new to the district. She would engage in conversation with us during lunch, so it’s not that we didn’t talk to her or she didn’t talk to us, we just didn’t know a lot about her,” Drews said. “Post-color system, I just feel like we’ve interacted more and like we’ve gotten to know her a little bit better.”
Students float in and out of the classrooms, intrigued by the posters and what they mean. Schultz’s interpretation of each person contributes greatly to how they’re represented.
“So we were talking about the light spectrum, and I was pretty quiet at lunch at this point; I hadn’t really participated in the jokes. And I just looked at Mr. Bell and I said, ‘Yeah, you’re probably a yellow.’ And he just went, ‘What does that mean? What do you mean?’ And he could not handle not knowing what that meant. So I let it go on for a while, he had no idea what it meant. And honestly, I had no idea what it meant. I just kind of said it as a joke, but he took it very seriously,” Schultz said. “From that point on, I started slowly adding other people into the mix. It kind of spun from there.”
Though it may seem random, this specific selection of staff has formed their own posse of sorts over the years. With it being her first year both in the district and in the group, Schultz has certainly developed a big connection.
“I would say she was a little more reserved or quiet before this. I think like anyone who’s new to a group generally takes in more and says less. After sharing her ideas, I think she expresses her opinions more and shares more with us; she’s more open with us,” Kvam said.
From bubblegum pink to forest green, the colors seem to mean much more than empty descriptors.
“When I look at Mr. Bell, I just think yellow. It just makes sense to me. It was the same for the other teachers. It took a little bit to get the descriptors in there, because I didn’t want to be just boring and say blue. I had to add some descriptors. Truthfully, it was just going off of their personality and their vibes,” Schultz said.
The involved teachers were quick to judge, developing opinions on their designated colors.
“Ms. Schultz is the one who developed it, so it’s her view I guess. Some people’s colors are similar, and I don’t see those. In some ways, I understand the similarities in personality traits, but they’re also very different people. I guess I would have to know exactly what she was categorizing. Is it their personality? Their interests? You know?” Kvam said.
Opinions vary and correspond, with everyone taking sides and forming critiques.
“Mr. Bell does not give off dandelion yellow vibes, but I really enjoy Mr. Kvam’s blazing orange. He screams blazing orange to me,” Drews said. “I’m sky blue, and I’m still trying to figure out what sky blue means to me because I genuinely don’t know. If I had to give myself a color, I’d give myself purple. I don’t really know what sky blue gives off, I don’t really have anything that I think of when I hear sky blue.”
However, Schultz didn’t take criticism lightly.
“It’s the Schultz Spectrum for a reason, so it was what I assigned them. Things like, ‘Oh, that’s a very yellow thing to say,’ were said a lot, so they had to learn to accept it,” Schultz said.
There are reasonings behind each role, Schultz explains.
“The easiest one for me was Mr. Kvam, and he is Blazing Orange. He is a very vibrant and enthusiastic person, and he makes a lot of jokes. He’s not afraid to raise his voice or make himself look a little ridiculous. And if you look at a nice neon orange, it’s very in your face; that color is making a point, it’s making a statement. It is there, and you can’t ignore it. I feel like it’s kind of the same for Mr. Kvam. He is sometimes in your face, and he’s not ashamed of it. Bright orange is perfect,” Schultz said.
Despite the confusion, the entire crew took the colors more as peace treaties than anything to fret over.
“The more you get to know someone, the easier it is to kind of like mesh and interact. So yeah, I feel like it just was us getting to know her and her quirky side,” Drews said. “It’s just another inside joke to add to our list.”
