You notice a wide variety of quirks at our school while walking around the hallways. Maybe it’s peeling drywall in classrooms, creaky floors, or even a loose railing by the gyms.

The new building isn’t without these oddities either, those knee-level doggy windows sure are fun to peer through, but I still haven’t figured out a valid reason for their presence beyond being visually appealing.

Regardless of how decrepit or questionable these parts of our school are, they certainly give it a unique feel. We might jokingly call it prison, but it is without a doubt a blessing to attend the school we do without having to worry about basic needs like food, water, or shelter.

There is one other blatant, frustrating quirk that cannot be avoided though: the trash problem.

I don’t go a single day without seeing a half-eaten burrito or soda can sitting in the corner of the new building. It should go without saying that leaving trash around is nasty and you shouldn’t do it. And probably anyone would agree if you asked them in person.

But we wouldn’t have a trash problem if everyone was on the same page.

One of my track coaches recently told us something that stuck with me: “At the end of every action is a person.” I get that we can make mistakes once or twice and leave something behind once absent-mindedly. If you repeatedly and deliberately leave something behind, then you are disrespecting the staff that have to clean up after you.

PPS,  pivotal members of our staff, shouldn’t have to act like your parents and pick up after you. They deserve better.

Not only should we be cutting down on the trash we leave, but we also should strive to be more conservative. And no, I don’t mean politically.

It’s always irked me when I’m with friends or family and they have a full plate, only to eat half and throw out the rest. If someone feels sick or truly cannot eat anymore, of course I understand, but when we have the pleasure of not only having food on the table, but being able to choose what we want to eat, and then throwing away a large amount of that meal, it’s just sickening to me that there’s a fundamental lack of appreciation.

Don’t put more on your plate than you can eat. It shouldn’t be as complicated as it seems.

Millions around the world that live in poverty would love to have our first-world problems of too much food or too many options to choose from.

Beyond the scope of our little bubble, our country is the number one consumer market. Unsurprisingly, we are also one of the most wasteful nations in the world. The Environmental Protection Agency reported in 2013 that Americans produced around 254 million tons of trash.

Before I moved to Wilmette in third grade, I was an extremely picky eater. I only wanted to eat apples, Mexican food and rarely anything my mom or dad told me to.

My dad knew most of the school staff in Elmwood Park and told them to make sure I didn’t waste anything, so if I got up to throw out any food that I didn’t want to finish, the custodians made me sit back down and keep eating. I was mad at the time, but I’m incredibly thankful for what my dad and those custodians did.

I know this isn’t something that’s super engaging or easy to talk about. Heck, I bet the majority that even glanced at this piece just saw it as ‘another pointless lecture’ by their adviser and moved on. It seems like a minor issue that doesn’t really matter.

We can dismiss any and all problems this way if we say that there’s very little that actually matters. Maybe nobody cares in an immediate situation, but to a custodian who has to deal with a terrible culture of waste and negligence, it’s just another annoyance in an already tough job.

It’s so easy to be too lazy and not walk over to the trash, but we don’t realize how disrespectful this is PPS and other staff members. This ignorance with just a little bit of effort from all of us.

I’m not trying to send anyone on a guilt trip for ever littering in their life or not finishing a meal. This isn’t about playing the blame game, and it rarely is. It’s about challenging the status quo, challenging the expectation that there will always be trash covering the school.

Quite frankly, I’m surprised that we haven’t seen much effort by other facets of the school like Student Alliance or the administration. I wouldn’t expect any top-down effort to make an impact anyway.

It’s ultimately up to us as individuals to regulate ourselves and each other. We’re at the age where we should be responsible for ourselves. I know it’s hard, but please, call someone out if they’re leaving something behind.

It’s annoying to be seen as the goody-two shoes, but it’s better to deal with that temporary shame than to know that you’re leaving more work behind for someone else to clean up.

That’s a wrap.