Paint a Distraction

If the walls of your school are totally plain, spice things up a bit (with permission from the principal, of course). See if you can paint a mural on a bare spot in the hallway or the cafeteria.  You could make it a school-wide competition between homerooms, clubs or teams, or keep it just among you ‘n’ your buds. Ask an art teacher to sign on to sponsor the project.

Love the Earth

If your school doesn’t have a recycling program set up, it’s time for you to bring them into the 21^st century. First, figure out what items should be recycled in your school and what items can be recycled in your area. Then contact some local recycling agencies to see if they would come pick up the recycling and if there would be any fees involved. Next, put someone in charge of ensuring that the recycling program is running smoothly, like a group of students or a teacher. Finally, place recycling bins around the school in key areas, and educate the student body about their use.

Start Off Right

Who reads the morning announcements at your school? Is it a principal, a teacher or a secretary? If so, you should ask if it can be, well, you. The students will appreciate hearing someone their own age reading through all that boring info, and maybe you can convince the principal to let you play some tunes before you start, too. Ask if you can play just 2 minutes of a song each day, so that kids get woken up for their time in the classroom. You can put on the music while everyone is moving around out in the halls and before the bell rings, so it won’t take any time from learning. Just remember to vary your song selections, Ms. DJ, or else you might end up pleasing some kids and making enemies of others.

Green Thumb

Every time your bus pulls up to your school in the morning, you think of how dreary and prison-like it looks. Well, stop grumping, and do something about it! Ask the principal if you can plant some flowers in front of the school to pretty it up. Make sure you use perennials so that they’ll keep comin’ back, and then your landscaping job can put smiles on kids faces every morning for years to come.

The Choice Is Yours

You and your buds always complain about the nasty food they’re servin’ in the cafeteria. Well, have you ever thought of talking to anyone about changing it? Of course, the servers can only do so much with their resources, but try asking them politely if there’s a way to have students suggest things for the lunch menu. Maybe you could start up a monthly survey to check up on which dishes kids like and which they don’t. If they can’t help ya make a change, find out who can and go for it, girl!

by Carrie Ruppert | 2/1/2016