The littering epidemic is running rampant here on campus. Students are throwing trash wherever they can: tossing it out the windows of cars in the student parking lot, leaving it unattended at tables and simply throwing it on the ground. While not all students are littering, it’s enough to create a noticeable problem. After lunch, trash can be seen sprawled across the quad—everything from food wrappers and opened, unfinished milk cartons to smashed pizza. 

Someone picks this trash up, and it’s not students. Our janitors pick up the trash. Some may not know this, but it is not the janitor’s job to pick up litter. Our janitors have other and more important things to take care of on campus. Picking up litter is taking away from things like restocking soap and toilet paper in the bathroom and maintenance issues around the school. 

There are tons of trash cans on campus, not including in classrooms and bathrooms. That means the issue of littering at SRHS is due to a sense of entitlement and laziness. When asked what she would say to a litterer if given the chance, senior Parker Hoffmann said, “I would tell them they are a disappointment. I would tell them that they are not a bad person, but they are making bad choices, and it’s never too late to turn it around.” Some students may think throwing their trash on the ground is cool, but senior Kayla Gallagher said, “Littering is the most unattractive thing a person can do, and it’s a big deal-breaker to me.” Gallagher is not the only person who feels this way; senior Zemarah Suarez said, “Litterers make me feel aggravated, and quite frankly they piss me off, and they don’t care about the environment, and it makes me mad. We need to replenish our earth instead of destroying it.” If having a clean campus and showing respect to our custodians wasn’t reason enough to stop littering, hopefully that is. If you are a litterer, it’s not too late to change bad habits. Let’s exterminate the litter bugs at SRHS and do better, Panthers!