What students would #Change about SSES?

Julien Freij, Contributing Writer

#Change
Julien Freij
Saint Stephen’s Campus

Saint Stephen’s Episcopal school announced a new slogan for the year of 2015-16, “#Change,” which has brought about some new perspectives to the school. This year’s alterations have made the school more organized and adaptable to the changing times. Despite this, after conducting a few interviews and surveys, it is clear that students are hopeful that they could contribute a few #Changes of their own.

Three years ago, the boys bathroom was infamously vandalized by the class of 2012 seniors, when all the toilets and urinals were clogged with paper towels, creating a disastrous plumbing problem that ended up costing the school money. The reasonable administrative response was to remove all the paper towels in boys’ restrooms across campus and install hand dryers instead.

However, the class men who committed the act have been gone for a while and the current male student body is hopeful for the bathroom to return to normal. Let’s face it, the current problem is that the hand dryers aren’t effective in drying the hands of the students at all.  One can spend five minutes holding their hands under the dryer and see little to no change at all, a fact that raises noticeable frustrations among the male student body.

When asked about the hand dryer situation, Senior Tony Matteo sarcastically said, “I really do love waiting two minutes for my hands to dry while the bell has already rung.”

Matteo wasn’t the only one to voice his concerns. Senior Neo Cho said, “I always just wipe my hands on my clothes instead.”

Really? Why do students have to resort to just wiping soap and water all over their clothes? On another note, have you ever seen the middle school bathrooms? The Xcellerator hand dryers installed there are very effective and would make better replacements for the high school. Five seconds under an Xcellerator and, your done. Perhaps a way to convince the school to do this would be in the form of a senior gift? Or if the students got the backing of the science department, to limit paper towel-use in the school to make a more environmentally friendly community?

Hand dryers aren’t the only thing on students’ minds. In the terms of lunch, Seniors have found it very difficult to use the “eat-out-of-school” privilege. Many don’t want to risk crossing Manatee Avenue with the short amount of time allowed to them to get food, which really defeats the privilege. On my fastest trip to Publix, I’ve managed to get back to lunch 10 minutes before the bell rang, and I had to scarf down the Ultimate Publix sub that I’d run across the street for. My biggest frustration is the crosswalk at the corner of 39th and Manatee. It takes forever to change cycles, which eats up most of my free time, especially when I have to cross it again.

Senior Matthew Israel stated, “I think it is a time restraint thing. I just see that seniors that go out to get food don’t normally have enough time to make it back and eat their food.” Israel suggested adding a few minutes to lunch time as a solution. I agree with the idea of allowing seniors a bit more time to eat and get to class on time.  The current junior class isn’t very thrilled about it, either, as there is virtually no way of getting back to school in time to eat.

Speaking of time constraints, a problem that’s relatively new is the period in between classes. Those with classes only within the main upper school buildings generally have no problem, but those who go to areas such as the middle school, Marine Science Building, or gym usually cut it close.

Senior Isadora Rosso, who has to run from journalism class situated in Mr. Hoonhout’s room in the middle school, to the English class on the second floor of the Turner Building, has a solution to the problem. “There needs to be more time to allow those kids who have to travel a distance to get to their class. The teachers should allow them a few more minutes.”

The idea of a few more minutes of extra time is not needed for all students, but the few who do need the extra time would benefit and be more prepared for class instead of rushing to next period.

When asked about the suggestions, Academic Dean Mrs. Chi Klein showed attentive support. “I really like the idea of the hand dryers, and hosting an environmental event held by the students and science department to limit paper towel use.”

However, Klein did point out that for the lunch issue, the stop light that is generally slow is owned by the city of Bradenton. “You may have to get a petition to make a change like that,” she said. “The school doesn’t have that kind of authority.”

These suggestions are ideas fit for conversation. Saint Stephen’s is a wonderful school, and although I won’t be here to see anymore #Changes, I’m anxious to see if the future student community will come forward with a few changes of their own.