There is pride to be had in maintaining a clean campus, but what does treating the campus like a landfill say about PVHS and its students? 

Following the return of the school year, there has been an increased demand for trash cans around campus, considering the newly added waste that surged accordingly with the influx of students. This led to a brief shortage of trash cans at PVHS, but this issue was addressed into the early weeks of the school year through the purchase of more trash cans. 

Although, this solution seems futile as the main problem falls on the student body and not the number of trash cans available. 

Assistant Principal Renee Spaggiari states, “The problem is we have to have our students put the trash in the trash cans because it is not that we do not have enough of them now, it’s just that we have to retrain our students, who haven’t been in school for almost two years, that when you are done with your trash put it in the trash can.”

With this being said, it is easy to point fingers at the new freshmen and, seeing as they have already gained a reputation for leaving their trash around, many have done so. 

However, Freshman Judith Garcia mentions, “It is all the grades, it’s a problem I’ve seen here.”

Supporting Garcia, Spaggiari reasons, “The freshmen, you can see because they are on campus, so you can see the trash they leave behind, but we also get reports from across the street where other kids go to. I wouldn’t say it’s specific to freshmen, it just seems that way because, after lunch, we do have a lot of trash on campus.” 

This campus-wide problem, not only affects the appearance of the school but also impacts the custodial staff. 

Janitors Joe Jonston and John Raymondo reported, “All the students are throwing a lot of stuff on the ground. A lot of masks, a lot of lunch trash, leaving stuff all over the bathroom, shoving things in the bathrooms. They just think ‘Oh, there is someone there to pick it up for us.’ It just makes our job harder because then we have to spend more time unclogging toilets, picking up the stuff that can very easily be put in the trash can, and sometimes we’ll see stuff out here where there is literally a garbage can nearby.

“I wish students would think more about where they put their masks,” they continued, “ It is easy to just take it off and just drop it wherever but it is considered hazardous waste. It should be treated like anything else that would have blood or bodily fluids because if I come along and see a mask on the ground and I don’t have a pair of gloves, I can’t pick it up.” 

Everyone should do their part and take responsibility for the litter they create. While the school does have an extraordinary janitorial staff, their job is not to pick up after the students here. 

There are enough garbage bins placed around campus for every one of the 1879 students here at PV to be able to locate one and dispose of their own trash. This is just one small step that helps create a school environment that is worth being proud of.