Emily Edwards

Being a high school student sometimes feels like a luxury. Students are, for the most part, passed their days of being told what to do, having their hands held, and being given timeout.

Some of us are years away from college, while for others, it’s just a few months away. Regardless, we can all look at ourselves as young adults, or can we?

With the stressful times that come with school, we would expect our fellow classmates to be able to handle anything. However, even the easiest task of throwing away trash can’t be done.

We have all seen it before. Especially during long lunch, students love to leave their French fries and pizza all over the breezeway, even though they have many opportunities to dispose of it.

As a student, I understand not wanting to take care of your trash because you’re feeling lazy, but we don’t realize the effect trash has on the school.

Taking care of your trash is important because it helps from giving our school’s custodians extra work. Yes, they are custodians and yes, it is their job to clean, but they shouldn’t have to do more than what they are asked to do. That’s like having students outline five chapters for history when they only have to do one. It’s not fair. In that case, throwing away your trash shows that you have courtesy and respect for others.

Another negative littering has brought to the school is bees. Around the outside eating area of the cafeteria, many students cannot enjoy their peaceful time of eating and socializing with friends because they are too busy swatting away swarms of bees. Less trash would equal a lot less bees.

Though many students don’t look at littering as their problem, it could eventually take a toll on the privileges that students have, like long lunch. We all love long lunch, but with trash everywhere, we show that we are unappreciative.

Like I said before, we are high schoolers, just a few steps from walking into the real world. If we can’t even pick up trash, what can we do? There is not much to be asked of students other than to be responsible.

Along with being responsible for having homework on time, you also have to be responsible for picking up after yourself. What one person does can reflect the whole school. We don’t want to look disrespectful and show others that we don’t care.

Students could make even the smallest change by just picking up one thing. Pick up your trash and encourage your friends and classmates to do the same. Teachers and administrators should also become involved to enforce the rules.