As Emma Rhine, senior, scraped gum off of the lunchroom tables, she wished students would be more clean by using gum wrappers to throw away their gum instead of sticking it under the tables.

“People just please stop putting gum on the table, just throw it in the trash can or like keep the little wrapper, put your gum in, and then throw it away, ” Rhine said.

Rhine said participating in the Spring Building Clean-Up benefits her in AFJROTC while also helping the school as a whole.

“I did it for ROTC Community Service because we have to get a certain amount,” Rhine said. “We get 100 points, which I think is reasonable because we’re spending a lot of time cleaning the school and helping our school community.”

Rhine said they split up into groups with a supervisor and cleaned for five hours.

“Some of us would clean the rooms, we’d wipe down the tables, clean the floor with a mop, sweeping before that,” Rhine said.

Rhine said she’s frustrated with the trash that is found around the school and thinks this day is important.

“I don’t know if it’s true anymore, but our staff at the school, the janitors, like, there aren’t a lot of them and they have to clean everything, and they get here really early in the morning too,” Rhine said.

Sophomore Principal Dr. Amy Sturges has been organizing the Spring Building Clean-Up for the past three years after Dr. Dan Ramsey, former principal, left MHS.

“Dr. Ramsey would take a group of kids to a location that may have had a natural disaster, and students would go and give back to the community by helping out around there,” Dr. Sturges said. “When Dr. Ramsey left, and the admin decided that because of inflation, the trip had gotten too expensive, and we had a lack of janitors, so students could volunteer at Marquette and help clean up.”

This year, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Wednesday, March 18 is the Spring Building Clean-Up. Students will receive task cards that list areas around the building that need cleaning.

“The first year we had over 100 kids sign up, and it was kind of messy, and so I’ve been trying every year to hone in on what we do,” Dr. Sturges said.

Eighty students are allowed to volunteer, and the list caps after the limit. Students are allowed to sign up until 12 p.m. Thursday, March 12.

Michelle O’Brien, counseling administrative assistant, said students willing to clean communal spaces is a great idea.

“It’s nice to have a group of students be able to come along and tidy up the rooms and do a little bit more deep cleaning than, you know, a lot of our custodians are able to do,” O’Brien said.

O’Brien supervised the Spring Building Clean-Up last year and noticed students were also doing extra cleaning.

“I think it’s great that students are willing to clean up and when everyone comes back from Spring Break, their communal space will stay fresh,” O’Brien said.

This story was originally published on Marquette Messenger on March 11, 2026.