A brownish liquid dripped timelessly off the side of one cafeteria table. Mashed potatoes lay squished to the floor underneath a seat. It was only period two, the school barely awake, and the cafeteria was already littered with mess. Ava, Chloe, and Jenna spent their free 42 minutes cleaning up the food, drink, and trash left behind by their classmates. As they worked, disgusted and tired, they thought of the Hall custodial staff. How many times had they mopped and scrubbed away messes similar to this one? The three girls decided then that they wanted to create something that could help every student at Hall work to be better. The Be Better Club was formed in the hopes of inspiring other students to take better care of the school and of each other.

Ava, Chloe, and Jenna, senior Titans at Hall High school, set out to tackle their goals. Their “Keep our cafeteria clean” posters, being one of their first efforts, could be found posted around the halls. The cafe seemed to be in a better state during the following weeks, but they didn’t want to stop there. “We wanted this to go beyond just trash,” Says Ava Morgan, “we wanted it to be a space where we could pitch ideas to make the school a better place and fix student created issues.” A new idea sprung to life for the Be Better Club, their “Thank you custodian” video. This effort to give thanks to the custodial staff did not go unnoticed. One security staff member remarked, the video was one of the only ways the custodians were shown appreciation by the school for custodian appreciation day. 

“When I saw the video I felt appreciated,” said Mr. Bernard, “so I shared it with the other custodians and they were very happy.” Mr. Bernard is one of the many vital members of hall staff that too often go on unnoticed. Bernard adds, “Anything the student body can help us with in terms of recycling or in terms of just putting your garbage not in the hallway but in the trash can, that would be a wonderful help,” They don’t ask for much. “Just help us to make the school a better place to be”. Unsurprisingly, The goals and ideas of the Be better club align with Mr. Bernard’s. 

Beyond the custodial staff and our wonderful Mr. Joe Bernard, the Be Better Club plans to inspire their positivity throughout different aspects of the school environment. They believe their power is found in their roles as students. “We’re hoping that, through a student voice, that we can accomplish things that maybe the staff wouldn’t be able to, that more students can hop on board with our policies, that overall we can make the school a safer environment, especially socially”(Chloe Polk).