Droopy eyes and tired minds fill the cars en route to North Atlanta each morning. Drivers’ main concerns should be making it to first period before the bell rings or finding a parking spot next to their friends, but once they turn into the parking deck, their driving skills are put to the test as they attempt to swerve empty Chick-fil-A cups on the ground and weave through piles of trash left behind by students. It is a school divided when it comes to the mitigation of this issue: the litterers senselessly drop their trash and those against it take it upon themselves to clean up the mess of their peers.
Among those who actively attempt to resolve this issue are the members of the National Honors Society. They embarked on a parking deck cleanup on Sept. 28, making a positive impact on the trash crisis. The main motivation, according to President Luke McCullough, was encouraging North Atlanta students to help better the environment of their school. The result was visible briefly following the initial cleanup, however, the deck began to take on its prior condition shortly after. To ensure the North Atlanta parking deck’s cleanliness is maintained, clubs and students hold the responsibility in their hands. “I think that North Atlanta’s clubs as well as North Atlanta as a whole could work to raise awareness about the state of the parking deck,” said McCullough. “This would help people keep it clean between our cleanup initiatives.”
Frustration has reached its peak among North Atlanta teachers as well. Educators arriving each morning are greeted by a disheartening sight of discarded candy wrappers, soda cans, and other debris strewn across the parking deck. IB TOK teacher Amy Shilling said, “I don’t think it reflects well on our school, and I definitely don’t think it’s healthy for the environment or us.” It is also an issue of unfairness to North Atlanta’s cleaning staff, as they are faced with cleaning mysterious sauces and squished liquids on the floors of the deck. “We need to try to encourage people to take care of their own trash as much as possible in order to help with maintaining it,” Shilling said.
The impacts of this are also felt among North Atlanta’s student body. The walk to cars has become an obstacle course for students as they navigate through the sea of trash. Reports of inadvertently stepping on food containers have filled the conversations between students, with many echoing the sentiment that it is high time to address this issue. Efforts are being called for to tackle this issue head-on. Junior Anna Kate O’Kelly has dealt with this issue firsthand. “There was one morning I stepped on a Chick-fil-A cup, and the drink spurted out onto my shoes. It dampened my whole mood,” she said. “I understand walking to the trash cans can seem daunting at times, but making the effort makes all the difference.”
The trash concern serves as a reminder of the importance of supporting a clean educational environment that both students and staff can take pride in. North Atlanta’s community can instill a collective sense of action among themselves and resolve this issue together. With stronger values and collaborative efforts, North Atlanta’s parking deck can begin to reflect the values it holds within its eleven stories and outside of them too.
