Trojan pride has been kicked to the curb in the first months of the 2021-22 school year. Trash littered throughout the school and around the grounds has hurt the Trojan honor. Things like food bags, coffee cups, and wrappers are the most common in the parking lot. The amount of litter scattered in and around the bathrooms is excessive when there’s a trashcan two feet away. It’s simply disappointing.

We were taught from a young age to pick up trash we see and make sure any trash we have makes it into a trashcan. Yet this has not been shown in the hallways of AHS. Somehow we have forgotten all that we learned about simple respect for the place we spend so much time in. About 5,460 hours of our lives are spent in high school. This equals out to about 4 percent of our lives. Four percent of our entire lives are spent in one building: a building that we trash and then complain about.

Our four custodians and two groundskeepers already have numerous other jobs they are responsible for. There is no reason for us to make their job harder by leaving trash everywhere. When did we lose respect for those who care for our school? 

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It definitely makes me mad. When I see it I shake my head, it’s not that much work to throw away the trash.

— Dan Vargason

In addition to the trash inside the school building, McDonald’s bags and broken bottles are among the items collected in the parking lot. This behavior is truly disappointing and disrespectful. Many students, teachers, and other adults around the school have noticed it. Spanish teacher Daniel Vargason said, “It definitely makes me mad. When I see it I shake my head, it’s not that much work to throw away the trash.” Along with that, it causes them to have little hope in AHS students. “It proves that people don’t take responsibility for their actions,” he said.

From trash, the problem extends to vandalism. The decals on the bathroom stall doors were meant to spread positive messages. Students and counselors worked hard to put these up before the school year started. But these decals are now being peeled off. The school spirit club, AHS Fuel, puts time into making and taping the “Tinkle Times” each week to keep students informed and entertained. These postings are then consistently torn down and destroyed. 

A small change in the way students act can cause a big change in the school. Merely pick up after yourself. If everyone cleans after themselves, then you shouldn’t have to clean up after other people. Picking up trash takes only a few seconds. A few seconds out of 5,460 hours that we spend in the Atlantic High School Building. It’s that simple.