A school-wide issue is present at Brunswick High School (BHS) and it is going unmentioned. The students at BHS are forgetting a small hygienic habit that could improve many issues: washing their hands before lunch. 

On a typical day, a student waits for the lunch bell to ring and rushes down the halls to the lunch line or to eat their packed lunch with friends. The line to the bathroom and sinks are left empty. The sanitization stations go hardly touched. Whether it is merely a forgotten task or a task avoided to get to lunch quicker, the school environment can benefit from healthier choices. 

Although noticing the majority of students not washing their hands shows everything needed to know, getting an exact number from real students reveals a truth to the practice. 

A survey provided to students was conducted within a span of two days and the statistics say it all. Only 19% of students surveyed claim to wash their hands before lunch during the school day. 

The other percentages of test takers add more shock to this study.

28.6% of students admit to at least sanitizing their hands.

The bigger percentage of students are the ones who make up the people not washing or sanitizing: 52.6% of survey takers are responsible for this majority. 

Student Observations:

During the lunch period, various students were asked if they noticed their friends or themselves seemed to skip washing their hands before lunch. The majority admitted to not noticing hand washing habits and seemed to have never thought deeply about it before.

Based on the conducted survey, only 23.8% of students actually thought about this concern on a deeper level.

Gabriel Whittenton, a sophomore at BHS, believes a very specific situation is causing people to avoid the bathroom.

“I think that in full honesty, people are avoiding the bathroom because there are so many people hanging out in there and taking up space during lunchtime. Doing things they shouldn’t be doing,” Whittenton said.

Kloey Donovan, a junior at BHS, shared what materials she touches throughout the school day. 

 “In class I especially touch my computer. I also touch my phone. Throughout the day I touch doorknobs. I also touch class materials such as pencils and other shared materials,” Donovan said.

Computers aren’t typically handled with a hygienic mindset. Most people touch their computer with hands that have previously touched other surfaces. Same goes for phones, except they tend to have a worse germ count. Scientists have found that the average phone contains more bacteria than the average toilet seat. Gross, right?

Students touch phones before and during their meals which is a major health concern. Doorknobs and class materials are commonly shared between students and it’s nearly impossible to track everything each student touches.

Health Impact:

Schools are one of the most common places for students to be likely to catch a virus. According to the CDC, two thirds of school-aged students do and will miss school due to catching an illness. 

This statistic is concerning. Students are missing vital time to gain their education and they’re bringing home a virus to give to their family. It might be connected to the hygiene habits of students that make this much more difficult to avoid. BHS students are one of the many students who are victims of school-wide illnesses. 

During winter and spring especially, there is a notable increase in missing students in classrooms and students coming to school with a cough or the sniffles. With this in mind, the environment for learning isn’t good for preventing illness either.

Students are placed in a close vicinity to one another every time they come to school. The air they breathe and especially the surfaces that are continuously touched by contaminated hands are regularly shared by the whole school. 

Health experts around the world stand by the practice of hand-washing to prevent the spread of germs. Based on statistics, scientists have found that young people who frequently wash their hands experience 24% less sick days and miss less school. Doesn’t this sound like something schools should address? 

What Can Be Done?

Even though students are the commonly impacted group of people who are affected by hand-washing or the lack thereof, schools can make an effort to encourage safe hygiene practices. In restaurants, stores, and other businesses there are commonly posters in the bathroom urging employees to wash their hands before returning to work. Schools could use similar ways to prevent illness.

Hissan Qureshi, a sophomore at BHS, believes just that schools can use signs just like other facilities.

“I never see signs anywhere that prompt hand-washing habits before eating. But it would probably be helpful. There should be signs in the bathroom that urge students to not be nasty. It’s healthier,” Qureshi said.

Although this is an easy and convenient way to push the responsibility of student hygiene, there are other methods that can be utilized too. Posters can be used in other ways as well. Practices are taken much more seriously when there is science presented behind it. There could be informative signs about the science behind hygiene in school.

Another method could be student based hygiene challenges organized by the student government. A challenge put on by the school that urges students to develop hygiene habits as a group which could be rewarding by homework classes or a pizza party.

It doesn’t just have to fall on the students to push hygiene habits, but staff can push it too. As students are dismissed by their teachers to their lunch period, teachers can give a verbal reminder for students to wash their hands before heading to the cafeteria or using sanitizer if there are people staying in the bathroom.

Like Whittenton said, some students aren’t going into the bathroom to wash their hands because it can get crowded by students hanging out. To avoid clutter, there could be a staff member regulating the flow of the bathroom as the lunch bell rings. No matter what choice is made to advocate for hygiene, the student body should become more health aware in their day-to-day hygiene.