LIVONIA — Students at Livonia High School created a 16-foot-wide mural to push back against negative labels used to describe their school.

The students partnered with The Walls Project and had three days to complete the artwork. They used their own ideas, symbols and color palettes to design and paint the mural.

"Livonia is more than just what people say it is," said Kensley Jones, a junior at the school.

Students say they've heard people use words like ghetto, bad, trashy, stinky and aggressive to describe Livonia High. The mural now stands in the center of the school as a permanent reminder that the school is more than those labels.

Jones and other students spent three days working on the painting. The mural highlights the school's education and honors Livonia's agriculture, including a field of corn Jones painted.

"Right here is where I've worked on it the most," Jones said.

Jones says the project goes beyond art. It's meant to challenge how others see his school.

"I want this mural to show that Livonia is evolving, and is being great," he said.

Professional artist Mike Weary worked with the students but kept the focus on their vision. He says projects like this show how powerful art can be in a community.

"We always have to lean on in a community the importance of the art," Weary said.

For students like Jones, the message has already shifted how they see themselves and how they want others to see them.

"You know, something good, something great, something that shows that we are more than hooligans," Jones said.

School leaders hope projects like this influence more student-led art in the future.