Throughout the past few weeks, Bear River has had significant vandalism problems in the restrooms from students, reacting by closing them, severely limiting the number of bathrooms open.

Principle Chris Roberts announced through email that because of the destruction done to more bathrooms, students will be limited to only one open restroom.

“There was more vandalism found in the G-Wing restrooms this past week,” Roberts wrote. “Absolutely ridiculous! Please stop trashing our school! We will be closing the G-Wing restrooms as a result. That means that the only restrooms that are now open are in the MPR. If you’d like to see the restrooms open back up, and possibly get a monetary reward, please let us know who is responsible. You will be kept confidential and the restrooms will reopen as a result. Please do the right thing!”

Sophomore Elaine Owyoung explained her thoughts on the motives behind the vandalism that most likely influenced students to wreck and steal from the bathrooms.

“In modern society, with popular social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat, many teenagers rise to popularity and fame through means of challenges and other damaging actions,” said Owyoung. “This causes waves of other people, greedy for popularity and fame, to follow in the steps of those who became famous for doing things such as vandalizing schools. Another motive could also be students giving up on school as it becomes very boring and [often] incredibly stressful and painful, mentally and physically. Many have become mentally deprived of fun and the feeling of happiness at times. [They] are [often] students who are not academically gifted people, [trying to get] a chance to stand out and even be popular and get revenge for the toxic system that they call ‘school.’”

Junior James Haworth acknowledged the inconveniences caused by the bathroom closures.

“The only way it has affected me is that it has prevented me from being able to utilize the public restrooms we have here on campus,” said Haworth. “It’s a real shame that people are doing this.”

Owyoung built on Haworth’s statement, stating that it can cause students to be tardy for class.

“It makes it really hard to go to the restroom during class because you must walk across campus to get the bathrooms and, if you decide to go during passing periods, the line is very long and you usually end up being late,” she said.

Haworth conveyed a punishment he felt was suitable for the defilement done to the restrooms.

“I think they should have some kind of school detention,” he said. “You could stop them from being able to use the bathroom but that seems kind of [like a] human rights violation. Some kind of school detention or suspension or something.”

Owyoung agreed, adding that they deserve to be charged for the damage.

“I believe the vandals should be either suspended and charged for their damages plus charged extra in compensation for the school’s stress and problems which they caused,” said Owyoung.

Junior Gwen DeVine admitted that it could be more difficult to report the vandals if they are people she knows, but nevertheless feels that they deserve to be turned in.

“It depends on if I know them or not,” said DeVine. “If I did personally I’d probably talk to them a bit and tell them to stop, and if it continued tell the office, however, if they were a random person I’d go report them.”

Junior Liam Marchi asserted that he would turn in the vandals in order to have the bathrooms open again.

“The first time [I noticed] they took the hand sanitizer, and now I can’t wash my hands because of them, so now it’s personal,” he said. “They’re making me walk across the entire campus. And before that, when the bathrooms were open, I couldn’t wash or dry my hands because of these kids. At a certain point it’s no longer snitching and I want my bathrooms back.”

DeVine expressed disappointment in her peers for this type of behavior.

“Honestly it’s pretty stupid having to cross the campus to be able to go to the bathroom,” DeVine said. “The idea that high schoolers aren’t mature enough to have common decency in a public place all because of a trend is ridiculous.”