Dusted shelves, vacuumed floors and clean bathrooms is what Tompkins students, staff and administration come to find every day at school. Tompkins High School custodians are the reason that its students can learn in a clean and sanitary environment every day. NHS president, Vincent Bruce and NHS sponsor, Ashley Park realized this and wanted to appreciate the people that silently make Tompkins a great place to be a Falcon.
“Not only do the custodians work so hard, but they always do it with a smiling face and kind attitude. We want them to know how much we appreciate their hard work,” said Park.
Tompkins High School has 20 custodians who work hard during the day and at night to make sure that the school is clean for students. However, that is not the only way that custodians help. They are one of the Falcons’ greatest proponents and love to attend sporting events, competitions and shows that the students participate in.
“All of the custodians work super hard to keep our facilities clean and ready for use, and some stay into the late hours of the night to accomplish this,” said Bruce.
During the last junior and senior meetings, NHS had its members write down an appreciation message to the custodians on a sticky note. They then placed their note on a banner that said “NHS Loves our Custodians” which will be hung up in their hall. Bruce also notes that the money that remains from their Santa Cops project, will be used to purchase H-E-B meal packages that will be given to each of the custodians. However, Tompkins is not the only school to appreciate their custodians. In the past few months, many schools around the country have been taking to time to make sure that their custodians know that they are admired. A movement on social media has been rising and schools are beginning to recognize a major part in the success of their school.
“I wish that everyone in the school could recognize the hard work the custodians put in for us,” said Bruce. “They do way more than we realize, and we should be able to reciprocate by doing something great for them.”
Bruce wants to let Tompkins students know that it is very easy and cost-free to appreciate the people who silently and graciously work at the school. Students should make sure to recognize the custodians and go out of their way to at least say hello when they walk past each other in the hallway.
“A lot of times, students just walk by our custodians without much thought. Instead, a simple smile and thank you can work wonders in showing our school’s appreciation toward them,” said Bruce.
Not only can the students help out, but the staff can as well. Park says that the teachers and administration at Tompkins usually come together to get something for the custodians, but they are also encouraged to join the NHS appreciation next year. Park thinks that this event will be an annual thing and that appreciating the custodians is long overdue. They do so much for the students and the school that Park wants to make sure they know how appreciated they are.
“The custodians have a thankless job in general, but especially in a building of this size. We have so many students who don’t think twice about the work that they are doing on a daily basis as they clean our classrooms, lunch rooms, and every little area of the school,” said Park.
