Clubs are now encouraged to contribute to the cleaning effort

The excess amount of trash around campus has been an ongoing issue that the administration has constantly been trying to address. But in September, the school improvement team sent an email to all club leaders asking them to pick a day they want their club to clean the parking lot.

“This year we are adding a school service requirement for all clubs called Don’t Mess With Bowie. Each club will sign up for one week of after-school parking lot clean-up duty,” school improvement director Ruth Ann Widner said.

Supplies for trash pickup (gloves and trash bags) are available to students in room C102 and the shuttle is still available to students who volunteer to clean the West Oak Woods Baptist Church.

“We hope that this routine service activity will strengthen our relationship with Bethany and West Oak Woods who have understandably grown weary of the enormous amounts of trash left by our students,” Widner said. “We also hope this initiative will create some awareness among our students that the trashing of the parking lots is problematic.”

When the clubs started to clean the lots, those who had already been cleaning weekly were thrilled to find out others were helping out the school.

“I think that part of being club is doing community service, so I think it is important. Not only for the clubs but for everyone to do community service,” government and street law teacher Patricia Maney said.

Students who participate in clubs are encouraged to pick up trash four to six days per year.

“Sometimes in life we have to pick up where others left off. It’s good leadership and the kids I have cleaning like doing it,” Maney said. “They volunteer and like doing it, they have hearts of service.”

But they were not the only ones who felt the need to help. Students who participate in clubs also feel that the excess amount of litter was an issue that needed to be addressed.

“I mean I think it is fair because a lot of us forget about littering, we live in a society where we don’t think about it. I think we need to be more conservative about the earth. It’s not attractive looking to see a lot of trash,” senior Bailee Watson said.

The administration hope s that the initiative from club leaders will spread awareness for the ongoing issue of litter in all parking lots and on campus grounds.

“I think it will benefit [campus beautification]. I think as teens, we just leave stuff around and not pick it up. Hopefully, this will try to encourage others to try and be more aware,” Watson said.

Although many students participate in clubs every other week, all individuals that enter campus should be conscious of throwing their trash away, especially in the parking lots as Maney suggests.

“Any amount of trash that is not in a trash can is unnecessary,” Maney said. “I think if we have trash cans and recycling bins in the parking lot, then this problem might be prevented.”

In order to avoid conflict with other trash pickup programs, students and administration alike have been working to schedule times for clubs to volunteer.

“We were shown a schedule of clubs and what days they signed up,” Watson said. “It gives us a chance to bond with our members and be more active.”