How Do You Make Kids Care?

A New Beginning for Our Bathrooms!

The bathrooms at Fairview Elementary got a face-lift during the 2005-06 school year, thanks to the Fairview Youth Council. Led by committed advisor Arlene Roberts, the Youth Council used its second year in existence to tackle some issues that were very serious to Fairview students: the cleanliness and appearance of their school bathrooms.

Last year, the Youth Council took on graffiti as their main school and community issue. They had such a positive CAPS experience, that they decided to use the process again to solve the bathroom issues at their school. The Youth Council members surveyed their peers to find out exactly what were the students’ concerns regarding the bathrooms. They narrowed the issue down to two main problems: cleanliness and safety appearance.

The Youth Council spent lots of time trying to figure out why their peers were not taking better care of the bathrooms. Ultimately, they decided that if the bathrooms didn’t start out looking nice, there wasn’t as strong an incentive to keep them looking nice. They also found that students needed more constant reminders of their personal accountability in keeping their bathrooms looking nice.

Some of the big ideas the students had, just weren’t realistic. Putting windows in the bathrooms might help with unpleasant smells, but that would be a big, expensive project. And having hot tubs and big screen TVs in the bathrooms might make students appreciate them more, but probably wouldn’t help kids stay focused on school!

The students had plenty of great ideas that were possible, though! With support from their principal, the students ordered inspirational posters to hang in the bathrooms, to boost the bathroom’s appearance and attractiveness – and hopefully improve students’ appreciation for having nicer bathrooms. The students also created clever signs reminding their peers of key ways to keep the bathroom space looking good: Always put your trash in the trash cans! Remember to flush! Don’t hang on the bathroom doors!

The students even painted the trash cans in the bathrooms. They felt that it would brighten up the space and draw more attention to the cans (reminding students to use them!).

The Fairview Youth Council wrapped up its second year creating some visible changes in their school, hoping to influence student behavior for the better. Great work!