Minarets, as it enters its tenth year, is still known to be relatively small and newer school. When you have a new school with brand new buildings containing freshly painted walls, stain-free windows, clean carpets, etc. you should do your best to maintain that level of cleanliness as with time the school can start to deteriorate in quality.
That's what makes the custodial staff here at Minarets so special. They are the ones who not only clean up the big messes that occur but also do their part in maintaining the school once it is cleaned. With the privilege of being able to interview these people, I set out to find out exactly what it means to make and keep our campus clean. Cesar, Robin, Angela, and Rodney are the names of our custodial staff on campus and have collectively worked a total of five years. Their job comes off simple at surface level: to clean and maintain the campus and facilities, but the details to how it's done is easier said than done.
When asked do they enjoy what they do for the school and what makes working at Minarets enjoyable for them they replied with, "We all take pride and enjoy our job", and, "Working and interacting with the staff and students and being able to help everyone out". However, they expressed to me as well the most frustrating aspect of their job, "The most frustrating for all are when the restrooms are vandalized, trash left among the campus and classrooms", and when I asked if they feel their work is unnoticed or under appreciated they had this to answer with, "For the most part we don’t but there’s time where we feel under appreciated for some of the work we do". And while according to them their work isn't "necessarily hard", they commented along with that, "it takes a lot of work and time".
The issue Minarets faces as of now is students making messes and simply not caring enough to clean after themselves. Some even make messes for the fun of it and will throw their food, trash, etc. around and leave it for our custodial staff to manage afterwards. But to expect four crew members to take crew of the messes of 500+ people on campus, with not everyone willing to help take care of their own spills and messes, it can become more tedious and like they said more work and time. When asked if they themselves had any idea on how to improve the quality of cleanliness of our school they suggested, "We would like if students would help keeping gum, foods and drinks out of gym and if everyone would help clean after themselves". Ultimately it is up to the people on campus, and not just our custodial staff, to help keep our beloved high school in tip top shape. "We just ask if everyone could pitch in and help keep our campus beautiful and inviting. We're all thankful for our jobs".