October 2nd is a day to honor some heroes of our school–our custodial staff; it’s National Custodian Day!
National Custodian Day is a day set aside to show appreciation those who clean up after us, who keep the building appearing beautifully, and who keep the germs away through endless sanitation. There are over 23 billion custodians in the United States. We have at least 12 of those to thank today.
We as students don’t always appreciate custodians as much as we should. We would like to show appreciation to all our staff, and one of those is the iconic, Miss Vickie.
At Cherokee High School, we all know Miss Vickie as the hero around here.
Miss Vickie, an alumni of CHS, has been a custodian here at Cherokee since 1990. She is a familiar sight to all students and beloved for her humor, optimism and kindness. Her attention to detail is phenomenal.
We wanted to know a little more about this legacy.
Why did you stay at CHS after you graduated?
“I love it here my two children graduated here and my oldest granddaughter,” said Miss Vickie.
When can we find you here to say “hello”?
“I am here by myself from 5:30 in the morning ’til 2:30,” said Miss. Vickie.
What advice would you give to everyone?
“Pay attention. Do you and don’t be acting a fool. This is a school not a social club, the more you can learn you won’t have to have a job like I have, get a better job.”
How do you stay so happy?
“I love my job and I love everybody here, even some of the kids.”
Cleaning a campus split between two sub-campuses is no easy feat. According to Mr. Howell, the main campus is 235,724 square feet and Cherokee North is 124,267 square feet for a total of 359,991 square feet. To put it in perspective, it takes me two hours to clean my 300 square foot room. It can’t be easy to clean up after at least 2,534 students and 159 staff here at Cherokee.
They take out trash, vacuum, sweep, mop, clean up trash at lunch, sanitize surfaces, wipe down walls, clean up and sanitize, wipe down walls, clean up and sanitize after accidents, clean bathrooms, clean the stairways, dust, and handle countless chemicals. They keep us healthy by keeping away the germs and make our school beautiful.
Between our six buildings here at Cherokee there are only around 12 custodians, so we definitely owe them our gratitude for taking on a school this size.
Here are some fun facts about custodians and why we should show our appreciation today and everyday.
Fun facts about custodians:
In Japan, some schools don’t believe in custodians cleaning up after students. So at the end of the day the students have to clean up after themselves.
A war refugee became a custodian at Columbia University. He used Columbia’s tuition remission for employees to earn a bachelor’s degree in classics. It took him twelve years to do this.
Custodians have never ending jobs, there is always trash in the hallways, classrooms, bathrooms & mainly the lunchrooms. So they are always on their feet.
Most of the time people forget custodians are here until something happens.
So today thank a custodian.
Here’s some ideas on how to honor our custodial staff on National Custodian Day:
- Stop and thank them in the halls
- Bring a gift card and drop it off at the front office for them to give out or give them one randomly
- Write a thank you letter
- Clean up after yourself and make sure everyone else does, too.
The Warrior Word would like to thank our custodial staff for all they do, our school wouldn’t be the same without you!
THE WARRIOR WORD 