Before lunch, the tables in front of Manzanita look clean and spotless. Yet after both lunch periods, students find the tables covered in dirty napkins, used plates, and greasy utensils which are left for ASB president Sarah Bean (12), Arjun Ashok (12), and the kitchen staff to clean up.

Sarah raised awareness for the trash situation on Nov. 3 during school meeting. She says she cannot understand the reason for the problem and thinks that students should know to pick up their trash.

“I definitely wanted to have an impact on the school and do something that would teach the students to recognize that their actions have consequences and clean up after themselves,” she said.

This situation has occurred every year and has always been an obstacle for the Student Council. The council has come up with many different ways to educate students and to try and solve this issue, though they have not found a permanent solution yet.

“We think that if we really teach them in this learning phase, it can have a long term impact,” Sarah said.

One week later after the issue was first addressed, kitchen employee Gustavo Cordova came to the meeting to his thought with the students, from there, the situation gradually improved.

“I think [the situation] did improve after the meeting. Obviously there still are problems with it, but…people are actually making an effort to throw their trash away,” he said. “There is an increasing number of students who are taking responsibility for their own effort.”

Sarah says that Student Council has created a plan in hopes of putting an end to this problem before winter break, although she understands that it will not be easy.

The Council plans to use the time between now and then to discipline the students and teach them the value of throwing their own trash away so that by second semester, the campus will be immaculate.