On the Saturday morning of February 3rd, dozens of students went back to school to clean up classrooms, hallways, and school facilities. Together, they swept, scrubbed, and scraped C. K. McClatchy from the entrance to the field, leaving our campus the cleanest it had been in weeks. It’s important to keep our schools clean all the time, but especially after a deep clean, because we hardly have an excuse to litter our school again.
This is the second pickup I’ve been to, one last school year around the same time. Last time the groups were very disorganized, with many people bunched into one section of the school at the same time. We also didn’t have access to certain janitorial services or classrooms, since it was just before finals week, and apparently, some teachers were nervous about students cheating on tests while cleaning their classrooms. Last year was overall a bust; little work got done, and we were unproductive due to supply shortages, but this year the teams were much more prepared to take on the school.
The cleaning lasted from 10:00 til Noon, and there were eight groups total, each assigned to their specific section of the school. I was in the science and ROTC quads, and we had step-by-step instructions to sweep, scrub, and mop classrooms and the quads. We were very productive, with only some supply issues between other groups; I remember there being a lack of mops specifically. Other groups were just as productive, some even finishing a little early and joining other groups to help with unfinished work.
There were some issues with the chemicals used in cleaning, as we were supposed to dilute many of the chemicals used while scrubbing floors and desks, yet some groups didn’t realize and still used the concentrated cleaners straight. After they were cleaned, some parts of the school smelled awful, indicating there were way too many cleaning supplies used in the area. I’m sure it’s not all that harmful, but at the time it was exceedingly hard to breathe while standing in the same hallway for so long.
As far as I’m sure, this event was organized by senior Cara Taylor, who arranged groups and helped other leaders with instruction the day before. She is the reason this pickup was able to move so smoothly, as she regularly moved from group to group, helping other groups with the tasks at hand. It is thanks to her as well as all the teachers and students who attended that the cleanup was so thoroughly effective!
If you noticed that McClatchy seemed a little shinier this week, try to continue to keep our school clean by being mindful of litter and other waste. The cleanup was a great group effort, and hopefully, it will inspire new motivations to keep McClatchy in a better state than it was the day before.