As students, we spend the majority of our time right here at B-CC, about seven hours every day to be exact. There is no doubt that school should be a place in which we feel comfortable and welcome, but so often the opposite is more reflective of reality. The only way, however, for school to feel like a second home is for students to treat it like one. This requires students to not only respect the property but make intentional efforts to keep it clean.
Our complaints are just as visible as the trash we leave scattered in the hallways, from full lunch trays to empty bags of chips. At one point during the 2021-2022 school year, the trash left behind from lunch became such an issue that an additional message was added to the morning announcements, reminding students to clean up after themselves.
Among our students, there exists a privileged mindset that littered trash will eventually be cleaned up and thrown out, which is usually true, thanks to our amazing building services team. But the main job of building services is to do maintenance and routine cleaning, not to pick up the trash students leave behind.
Mr. Bishop, Building Service Manager VI, shared that he feels that many students treat the schools in a “very disrespectful,” manner.
“It’s not everybody,” he commented, “but it’s a good portion. They wouldn’t treat their house like this, so why would they treat their school like this? Tearing up the bathrooms, lighting things on fire in the bathrooms, trashing areas after lunch, and leaving their trash.”
Property damage became popular last school year when it started trending on TikTok. In September 2021, the “devious lick” trend had students stealing or damaging school property, taking a video of it, and then posting it online. B-CC was not immune to this trend, and although it died down about a year ago, the aftermath of participation in the trend is still apparent.
Don Smith, a senior at B-CC, commented, “entire doors in some bathrooms are missing.”
Over a year later, it may seem odd that these things haven’t been fixed, but how could we possibly expect them to be? After the occurrence of such a blatantly disrespectful trend, why should the school administration believe a similar trend will not arise again?
The girls’ bathrooms are not to be applauded either. Beyond the trash carelessly left on the floor or sometimes in the toilet, there is nothing that students occupying the girls’ bathroom love more than adding a little message to the wall in permanent marker.
Senior, Wambui Ngugi, notes that some of these writings have “been there since [she] was a freshman.”
This is not a new issue, it’s been happening for years, even before any current students at B-CC first entered the building. Though some things may not be our fault, like old writings on the wall, we have certainly made contributions. This needs to end. The student body as a whole needs to put forth the minimal effort it takes to stop damaging our school and set an example for the future classes of B-CC. We, as students, need to take charge and hold one another accountable for our actions. We must take proper care of our school, not only for the well-being and comfort of ourselves and our peers, but also for our building services, teachers, and other staff members. We cannot expect to have things miraculously taken care of, especially not until we prove that things such as stall doors or vandalized walls can be fixed, and will stay fixed, for more than a week.