The odor of half-eaten burgers pervades the hallways. Suspicious sticky, colorful liquids are spilled on the floor. Used ketchup packets lay scattered across the ground. Students and teachers alike said they agree the school’s ongoing trash problem is too messy to ignore.

“It’s ridiculous that I see kids at lunch who leave their trash and wrappers on the ground after lunch, even though there’s a trash can right next to them,” junior Jovana Ivezic said.

Assistant principal Kathy McHale announced on Dec. 21 that students aren’t allowed to eat lunch in the hallway between the nurse’s office and gymnasium, to guarantee a decrease in the amount of trash students leave behind.

“It’s time to increase the consequences and the monitoring and babysitting at lunchtime,” she said. “These are intelligent and nice kids at our school, but garbage is nevertheless an ongoing problem.”

The increasing trash problem causes building services to spend extra time cleaning up trash, taking away time they’d usually spend cleaning the rest of the school, building service worker Gloria Claure said.

“I hate the ‘Cup of Noodles’ because they’re the worst to clean up,” she said.  “People leave yogurt and soup all over the floors. I not only have to pick up food, but also mop the floor.”

Administrators shouldn’t have to tell high school students to pick up their own trash, science teacher Kelly Garton said. Rather, it’s something they should do automatically.

“What’s odd is that more people are recycling, but fewer people are concerned with picking up their own trash,” he said. “Kids just aren’t being thoughtful. More are worried about their academics than about the physical aspects of their school.”

English teacher Matthew Bruneel said the solution relies on an attitude adjustment within the student body.

“Students don’t feel any accountability and act like they’re always going to be picked up after at school,” he said. “What we need to do is make students feel responsible for their mess and take the initiative to start making it cool to keep the school clean.”

The school should offer SSL hours for students who pick up their garbage and clean their messes, senior Ross Peterson said.

“It’s the kids’ responsibility and duty to pick up after themselves in school,” he said. “It’s just plain sense.”