The Littering Problem

Over the last few years, littering has become more of a problem across not only the state, but the country. In Washington alone, close to 12 million pounds of garbage, paper, etc. is littered and thrown carelessly onto our highways and roads. Of those 12 millions pounds of litter, 40 percent is from unsecured trash flying off of moving vehicles, which then causes around 400 car crashes per year. Many people don’t even notice the litter scattered on their streets because they have adapted to the fact that there’s garbage lying almost anywhere you go, and they might not see it as a problem anymore, either. Not only that, but some people may even know the effects that littering has, but decide to do it anyways because they haven’t properly been taught the consequences they may go through, such as fines.

The first problem that arises is that some people might not know what to even consider litter. They could be innocently tossing a banana peel out the window, with the intent to feed hungry animals, but also not realizing that action is only making littering a bigger problem. Litter can be considered something as small as an unlit cigarette butt, to as big as a broken down vending machine rotting away. Although, technically speaking, littering is the act of purposely throwing any sort of litter on private or public property or waters without permission. Which leads us to our next question, what is so bad about littering? Why are there so many strict rules and fines regarding trash on the streets? There are many reasons why littering is illegal, including reasons that affect not only humans, but animals and the world as well. Any trash along the side of the road that gets washed into storm drains, and eventually leads out into bigger bodies of water and can no longer be used to drink or use. Along with that, trash floating along water could be a potential risk towards animals who may get tangled up in them. Another reason is because of the germs and potential diseases that may come along with it. If an animal mistakes the trash for food, it could easily be the reason a human comes in contact with a disease. The last big reason is because when all of our trash is on the streets instead of being recycled, it wastes our natural resources, resulting in more materials needing to be created from scratch.

The biggest reason people litter is because most of them don’t feel responsible for it, especially in public spaces that are already cluttered in garbage, such as parks and places outside their own neighborhood. In a public space like a park, people typically assume that someone like a maintenance worker is in charge of cleaning up after them. Or they figure that since it’s already trashed with garbage, a little more won’t do much damage. There have been many studies since the 1960’s that show that over the years, people have in fact gotten better about littering or recycling. In just 20 years from 1960 to 1980, there was already a significant improvement, and people were beginning to understand that it was improper to throw their trash around. Although, a psychologist from California State University, Wesley Schultz, noticed that even though there was a noteworthy amount of improvement, people were still just as quick to break that for ludicrous reasons, such as there not being a garbage can within walking distance. Schultz’s conclusion throughout his research is that a majority of people actually do care about the impact littering has, but they simply don’t care. Many people are quick to fall into new trends, so when they see others just tossing their garbage with no care in the world, it only sets that negative example for those around them.

Over time we have obviously seen how, even if it may be slow coming, we’re still making progress towards being litter-free. From the studies in the 1960’s and 1980’s, we’ve already seen a huge upturn in people understanding the negative effects that litter has on everything in the world. What could be responsible for that increase in a short amount of time is a nonprofit organization called Keep America Beautiful, as well as the Crying Indian public service announcements, which aired in the early 1970’s. Keep America Beautiful is an organization, founded in 1953 in Stamford, Connecticut. Their entire goal is to help people become educated on the subject, as well as end littering, improve how people recycle, and make America more beautiful. They even have a website including 10 easy tips to help reduce littering, with suggestions such as leaving a garbage bag in your car or reporting those who litter. It has even come to legal terms, and people could be fined up to $5,000 for something like a lit cigarette butt. Though if you have an unsecured load that may injure someone, you can be fined and spend a year in jail.

Since the 1960’s, we’ve made slow but important progress towards being litter-free. The first step towards this is bringing awareness and making sure people know what not to do when it comes to littering. This could be simple things such as talking to your friends about the laws regarding littering, or as big as cleaning garbage off of beaches so they don’t harm our nature and animals. The next thing to think about is why people litter, and what they get out of it. Found from studies, people typically do care about the effects of littering, but it’s that they’re too lazy and don’t care enough to actually clean up after themselves and keep the earth clean. Thanks to Keep America Beautiful and the Crying Indian public announcements, there was a significant improvement that might have even started to movement to end littering and improve how we recycle.
-Jordan Trussell

Life

Life might not be a place to play,  

but it will be fine as long as I pray,  

if I slow down all the grief will get in the way, 

focus on my goal and that's surviving today. 

Looking back convincing myself not to stay

forging my own path, 

making my on way, 

once I leave in the night, 

I will fallow the lights along the highway.

-Jake Crystal

Thoughts on Crossroads

Crossroads High school is an alternative high school where they teach 236 wonderful young minds and help them grow and learn every single day. They offer a huge variety of different teaching styles and different ways to receive special support when you need it and not just for academic issues. The teachers at Crossroads are very friendly and will treat you like one of their own not just like a student. The kids here always do their best to be nice and treat everyone with respect. Since all of these amazing things happen it gives crossroads a specific feeling. The feeling is so welcoming and accepting of who you are and so full of support it is what truly makes it not just a school, but makes it a family.

 Crossroads is normally judged negatively because it is an alternative school and people see that as a bad thing, but I see it as a positive and here’s why. Kids are more engaged and willing to be at school because the atmosphere and energy at school is so much more pleasant than your traditional high school. Kid’s feel safer and love the feeling of the family aspect in the schools culture. They also enjoy having close relationships with friends and staff members throughout the school. We don’t have school on Fridays and school is an hour shorter witch makes kids more adapt to showing up and staying the whole time. Of Course I could go on and on about the things that make this school great, but the three words “It’s a family” sums it up really well.


Crossroads is a school unlike any other, the school has lots of features and principles that gives it an unfamiliar yet welcoming flavor. A good example of this is our bathrooms that have positive Murillo and sayings painted beautifully on the walls by students. Yet the only way to understand why little things like make such an impact on our students is too look deep inside our school, our culture, and most importantly our student body. No reporter could walk into our school and understand how or why these little things help, because to understand this school, you must be a part of it. Until you are, you will most likely look at Crossroads and its student body differently in a negative way, like most do. But once you a part of it you will see how truly special of a place it is.
I could go on and on about all of the amazing things about this school. The kids, the teachers, the energy, and even the environment that we are located in. But i'm not gonna go on and on because if a crossroads kid read this they would know what i'm talking about. By now if you don't know what I'm talking about then clearly you aren't a part of this crossroads family but we would love to have you.

-Jake Crystal

Though there are 1000’s of schools in the U.S., none compare to this little alternative school in the mountains of Western Washington. Crossroads takes pride in making sure its students are comfortable, with assemblies to bring the students together, some of the kindest staff in the state and all of the inspirational posters lining its halls, the campus has a loving atmosphere for all of its students no matter their background. Another thing that makes Crossroads a unique place is its small numbers yet wild diversity. Seems like every classroom is home to a large variety of students, making the place seem even more welcoming.

Crossroads has a reward system in place for their students as a way to have every student strive for excellence. Open campus lunch on Thursdays and no school on Fridays to those who have good grades are great incentives to inspire students to push themselves to work harder and really do their all. Staff at Crossroads are very clear that they care about their students and want them to live successful lives, having teachers be as loving as parents really makes students feel more comfortable and act like themselves. A very big problem in high school is students feeling like they have to act different at school and around teachers instead of being true to themselves, which Crossroads does a great job at eliminating this problem.

Having a truly safe space for students and have them be learning about real world things as well as state mandated things is a great combination that creates results. Crossroads has turned lives around for many. Crossroads is a sanctuary for students that couldn’t fit into the guidelines of public schools: teen moms, dropouts, troubled students, homeless students, victims of heavy bullying, and anyone else that feels that regular schools are not working out for them. Crossroads has something regular schools could never have: a family, staff and students united to show the district and the rest of the state that alternative schools does not only work. It works even better than anyone could ever imagine.

-Xavier Swanson

The people at Crossroads are like a family. Nobody is ever discriminated against or treated poorly. The students and staff in Crossroads really care about things other than GPA and tests. They care about your real life situations. They do things differently. This school was made for those kids who just didn’t fit right at a regular High School. The staff and students work hard and take pride in their work. Crossroads started with some pretty great people who wanted to make a difference in children's lives. They wanted to help and show that school isn’t just learning, so they took things into their own hands.

School starts at 8:10 am and goes until 1:50 pm. The first week of school is a critical week that starts off the year. How you look at it is on you. The first two days you go into small groups called check and connects that will be your first period for the year. You learn a lot about the other people in your group while doing a school beautification project. Each group does something to make the school a better learning environment. Then one day of the first week the school has a day dedicated to learning about others and knowing what it’s like to really be in another persons shoes. You learn a lot from people during that day.

Crossroads has some pretty amazing staff members. The staff are a vital part of every school and to learning, but the crossroads staff is different. They’re like parents to the students. They understand and take into consideration what problems and obstacles you may have. They make their work flexible so that everyone can get what they need done and graduate.

Crossroads also has some extraordinary students that attend. The students understand each other in a way many people wouldn’t. They all get that there are challenges and bumps that come along in life and they help each other through it. And that’s what makes Crossroads High School the place to be.

-Laura Grissom

Crossroads High School is a place like no other. Hugs are given on our bad days freely. Support is always found somewhere. It is a place of safety and love, unlike any other high school. In most schools students are left in a jungle. They are the prey, the hunted. Classes swallow them like snakes swallowing an egg. Bullies tear into them like a panther's teeth. In Crossroads, students are the predators. They are Bengal tigers, rare and beautiful. There is nothing coming to hunt them here because they are finally done being the prey.
       Coming to this school can be heard. Students expect so little from the staff and students. They expect kids to be mean and outrageous, either pregnant or considered bad. Yet when they relax, Crossroads swaddles them with love. When life has been so hard and school seems meaningless, this school brings the meaning back. The kindness is spread thick like icing on a cupcake. Students gifting each other drinks from the coffee stand is a regular. Compliments are given freely.
      Relationships form in the best ways. Due to the school's small size, students often have the same teachers until the graduate. It makes connecting to people easier when there's opportunities to see them again, year after year. Familial connections with teachers form, when you’ve never had anyone care. Teachers get to really know you. They remember you when your gone and are happy to see you when you visit. Everyone has a little piece of you in their heart!
       When a new student comes here the first person they meet is usually Lori Hanson. She’s super kind and will help you get set up. She leaves you feeling welcomed. Our principle is Bridgette McVay. She’s sorta silly and wild, in a super great way. You can always talk to her. Jen is our counselor. She’ll be there for you and help you out whenever you need. She’s genuinely a very kind and giving person. Mrs. Roberts is our crazy fun teacher. She’s super silly. There are forks in her ceiling and her hair is usually a bit out of control. She cares for us and treats us like her family. She’s our version of Mrs. Frizzle. Miss Land is our history teacher. She’s everyone safe place. We’re able to just go and sit with her on our bad days because she cares. Mr. Rose is rad. He’s Jewish, so us as students get to actively learn about his experiences and religion. He tries so hard to connect with us and it shows.
       Mrs. Orr is everyone's mom, especially Miss Land's as that's her daughter. She’ll take you under her mommy bird wings and help you get stuff done. She teaches us things we’ve never done before. Mr. Nelson is new this year. He loves dad jokes and he’s pretty silly like us. We have this awesome class called theater makeup too, taught by our Mrs. Roughton. She’s a pretty righteous teacher, and with her experience we all could learn a thing or two. Mrs. Carlson is our art teacher. She’s a chill relaxed lady who wants you to express yourself. She rocks. Mrs. Munn is incredible. She always has snacks if you're hungry and will give you the warmest hugs! Our business teacher is Mrs. Stark and she’s really smart with making money. She teaches us some really cool things and helps us get ready for the real world. Plus she’s chill. Everyone’s father figure is Farley. He’ll bear hug you when your mad and help solve your problems. He’s super cool. Now, saving the best for last, our janitor Jim. He’s incredibly caring, and loves us all, no matter the work we make for him. He gives his all for this school and it means a lot to us.
   
  Crossroads is our safe place. Everyone really loves and cares for our students. When we have to traverse the jungle, we know someones got our back. Crossroads is our pack.

-Jude Jackson

My niece Sydnee

I remember going to the walk-in clinic because my sister had an awful sunburn and was sick only to find out that she was pregnant. We were so excited to tell everyone the big news. Watching a mother go through her pregnancy and birth is a beautiful thing. Women work so hard to bring new life into this world every day. I was lucky enough to witness that beauty myself. My sister Hannah went through nine hard months of pregnancy. From growing and being self conscious, to morning sickness and to being sore every day of her pregnancy. I was at school when my mom called to tell me she was coming to get me to go to the hospital cause my sister had gone into labor. She picked me up and we rushed to the hospital. We sat in the room for a while until they told us she wasn’t dilated enough and needed to start walking around. We walked around the hospital garden together while doing squats and taking deep breaths. I jokingly said it would be funny if she went back eight centimeters dilated instead of four. Sure enough we got back to the room and she was 7.4 centimeters. My mind was blown over how much walking helps with childbirth. Hannah went on going back and forth between the bed and the shower trying to get her water to break. Eventually they had to break it manually. She went almost her entire birthing experience with no epidural but unfortunately she had to get one or there would've been problems. After the epidural she took a break and then sure enough it was time. Sydnee was born on the night of February 25th 2019. A beautiful experience and one I will never forget.
-Laura Grissom

Brooklyn Bogart

Hi my name is Brooklynn Bogart. There’s not that much about me. I love doing things to make this world better than the day before, I try to pick up trash when I can, which is really hard considering how much trash there is on the sides of the roads. It hurts knowing that this is our world and our animals’ world and this is how people decide to treat it. I don’t want to be one of those people who complains about pollution or global warming, I'm going to be someone who changes it. I want to wake up every day, knowing that I have made the world a beautiful place for not only me and my future, but for the futures of all the species on this amazing planet. I would love to pursue a career in my near future on making plastic free packages. I'd preferably want hemp made products. I just hate plastic, it's just so convenient for today's society. My mom told me stories about how at grocery stores there used to be canisters where you could get your cereal or anything and put it in a mason jar back when there was little to no plastic. I would love to somehow make all stores go back to that, or somehow get them to end their carbon footprint.

I can’t believe I am graduating this year, finally and on time thanks to my amazing teachers if I didn't have them I would have failed all my classes and I'm nervous about this year but I know I will pass with flying colors and I will make myself proud. I'm in culinary this year which I'm really excited about. I love making food it is one of my favorite things to do. I'm thinking about maybe pursuing cooking as a career also. I'm honestly not sure what I want to do yet. I just know that there are things that I love doing but I don't know what I want to spend the rest of my life doing and being dependent on that for my income. I hope that by the time I graduate I'll have it figured out, I remember thinking that in middle school. How the time has flown by, it seems like just yesterday I was starting my freshman year anxious about how these four years were gonna go by to slow, and here I am, a senior.

Aiden McNeil

I absolutely love music. I’ve been playing the drums since I was about one or two but the farthest memory I have is me playing on a tin bucket with whatever I could find for drumsticks and play along with a live Green Day concert. I would play it over and over and just try to copy what the drummer was doing. I grew up on mainly hard rock and metal. As baby I remember listening to bands like Slipknot, Pantera, Avenged Sevenfold, etc. I don’t listen to any other genres besides anything metal or rock related. I still play the drums to this day and when I was about 12 I got into guitar and recently I just got into piano. I’m trying to work on vocals as well. 

One thing I do a lot second to music is gaming. I’m on the PlayStation side and I stick around FPS games. Other than that, I love to hike, explore new places, go to restaurants and coffee shops, working out and helping people. I am big into grooming and cosmetology. I’m considering being a barber after high school if I don’t do music and also start a grooming company that sells beard and hair products and eventually I’ll hopefully grow into products outside of grooming like candles, wood workings, etc. I want to take after companies like Cremo and Hawk + Hatchet but also just do my own thing. 

Another thing I would like to start is an organization that’s dedicated to help people mentally and physically. The idea would be to motivate and inspire the pursuit of happiness and becoming the best person you can be and learn about life together as a whole. I’m hoping this organization will really take off and there’s a lot I’d like to do with it down the road. I’m hoping the same for everything else too, I like to keep myself busy. Overall I’m pretty laid back and I typically enjoy having time for myself, I’m not very social. I’m contempt with playing music and games and work on anything else I need to.  Honestly, I’m just ready to get out of high school and start it all!

Jude Jackson

I’m Jude! A sixteen year old boy with massive dreams. My family is full of non graduates. None of my siblings made it through highschool, and my mom and dad were both drop outs. It feels like I’m expected to make a mistake and not make it too. But I believe in myself! My birthday is Nov. 16, so I’m turning 17 in a couple months. It’s pretty exciting because as I age, more opportunities open up to me, which makes the vast future in front of me a lot brighter. 

My mom and dad are in their late 50s and 60s, so it's hard for me to feel understood. Being a boy who wasn’t born correctly is hard, and it’s even harder when they don’t understand and aren’t very willing to try. The newer generations are more likely to understand but being myself is a struggle. That’s why I’m so glad to be at crossroads. They try harder than any other school I’ve been at! 

I have lots of siblings, but I’m the baby. Sisters all 25 and older, with one brother who is 30. I feel like the odd one out but they still care for me. It’s just hard when they're old enough to be my parents. I have two dogs! Oscar Myer Weiner, my dachshund, and Poncho, my chihuahua. They’re the sweetest dogs. I have one cat as well, even though I’m rather allergic. Her name is Say-Say Summer. She’s a tortoise shell kitty.

Hobby wise I really enjoy art! I draw a lot. My dad thinks I inherited it from him. He’s a painter. I think I made it my own. My art is... silly. It is happy drawings of boys in the sky or me at my first day of school. It is cartoon-y and not a thing like realism. It is mine. I also write, as you can tell. It’s something that I can get lost in, but I don’t have the skill to carry all my ideas yet. I hope to make something wonderful someday. 

At the moment I’m trying my best. It’s not always enough. Yet my best is what I’ll give, no matter what. We all have different situations going on. Different things we have to deal with. I have so much that I’d never tell someone what’s going on. Even though, Crossroads makes me want to try my best, even if my best isn’t always enough for anyone else. I hope to one day have a ‘best’ that’s very strong. That trying my best is better than today. That I can fight harder for others and I can bring more joy than I do now. Only time will tell, but I’m excited to grow into myself! Just watch me, maybe one day I’ll be larger than life.