By Suzane Jlelati, Staff Writer
Every year the Associated Student Body (ASB) creates hundreds of posters for Bell Week in order to boost school spirit, but at what cost? Several Fountain Valley teachers have voiced concern that these posters waste paper.
During last year’s Bell Week, Japanese teacher Saori Tanaka suggested ASB stop using paper and look for alternatives to celebrate school spirit. Other teachers such as Lehua Werdel and Todd Yarton have also joined in on the matter, wanting an end or at least an alternative to the posters.
“Last year was horrible, [ASB] put the posters on the floor and when I came to school, my heart was aching,” said Tanaka.“They get trashed because the students are walking all over it.”
Tanaka consulted with other department heads and all agreed that they would like to see to less paper or at least an alternative. They even took the matter to members of administration.
“We met with those teachers and listened to their ideas and alternatives and suggested we could reduce the volume of paper by using gesso and canvas,” said Principal Morgan Smith.
Although ASB got rid of the Rainbow Road this year, they still put the posters on the floor around the Bowl area.
Teachers Lisa Battig and Mike Eich have suggested using sidewalk chalk, which is non-toxic and washable, and large canvases, which would be hooked onto the walls and both sides of the canvas could be painted on and reused every year. These alternatives would be weather resistant and ecologically more friendly.
“It’s a great thing to celebrate school spirit, but we can do it differently,” said Tanaka.
Although the alternatives suggested are more expensive, administration is looking for ways the community can donate to the cause and suggested that clubs could be assigned spots on campus to manage. It would reduce time to create each canvas and every club would be able to contribute to Bell Week spirit.
“This year’s ASB group would like to move in [an ecologically more friendly] direction but the process will take time as culture, tradition and expectation evolve,” said Smith.
Hey I got an idea. Why not use your teaching skills and teach about what happens when you utilize recyclable paper, and teach how recycling used products helps the environment. That way the students can still take part in school spirt (give me a break, this happens only once a year!!) and learn what happens when you recycle, all at the same time. I wonder how much “excessive” paper is being utilized in Japanese teacher Saori Tanaka’s classroom. Since she is holier than thou and decides the students are using too much paper, who checks on how much paper she utilizes in her classroom and decides if it is excessive or not. If the teaching staff really believe in the elimination of paper equals in the reduction of needless waste of energy and natural resources, than they should really be leaders in saving our planet and environment by leaving their gas guzzling private vehicles at home and instead take public transportation to work, or at the very least car pool with their liberal teaching friends. But nooooo, because that would be so “horrible.” More “horrible” than seeing all this paper “wasted” once a year. If I was a betting person, I would bet Japanese teacher Saori Tanaka did not attend the Bell game nor is she fond of “Spirt Week.”