**All media below is the opinion of an individual student and therefore does not represent or speak to the values of Vestavia Hills High School and Vestavia Hills City Schools**
It has barely been two months since the beginning of the 2022-23 school year, and the students and staff alike have been expressing their discontent with the current state of the school. Now that the class of 2023 is finally seeing their senior year after having been the freshmen class during the breakout of COVID-19, they have a lot of demands and complaints.
Annie Gilleland, a senior, voiced her concerns about the senior patio. In the past few weeks, the senior patio ground has been accumulating more trash. Many students sitting outside have not been properly disposing of their trash and leaving it out on the tables. This is only annoying until a breeze comes through and scatters the trash around. Robert Colvin, junior, spoke about the condition of the men's restrooms. He said, "I've seen stall doors torn off of the hinges, a desk in the D hall bathroom, overflowing toilets and sinks, and inappropriate writing on the walls including profanities and slurs." Colvin explains that although he feels it is the student's responsibility to take care of their resources, the administration must take action. Yes, many of the women's restrooms are in poor condition, but the men's are borderline on being destroyed.
Another senior, Shirley Huang, talked about hallway etiquette and expressed how annoying it is when people stand in the middle of the hallways during class changes. Huang said that she has been "late to class multiple times because of people stopped in the hallway" and that she "doesn't want to be rude and push by them but at a certain point [she] has to." Walking and talking is much more efficient than blocking a path and talking, especially when there are many great places around the school to talk with your friends! On the topic of hallways, Hannah Beth Smith is mad about the intersection of D hall and the main hall (library hall or the counselor's office hall). She explained that it is always hectic, and people stand there instead of trying to keep the foot traffic moving. It could even be called anxiety-inducing and has probably caused people to be late to their classes. Another topic many students expressed their anger with was the pep rallies or lack thereof. Jaxon Dunlevy, a senior, said he does not like how we have fewer pep rallies than last year. The COVID Freshmen are finally seeing a normal school year as seniors, and now they are losing privileges? Quite upsetting.
There are many things that students are mad about around the school, but many things that the students appreciate. Everyone needs to take better care of the building and themselves, and maybe things will seem better.
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