More Than Just Clean: The Helping Hands of Redwood

Redwood High School janitors keep our school clean day and night, so Rangers can come to school the next day. Despite all the hard days of cleaning, they still enjoy their job and building connections with the school.

By: Elena Vargas and Levi Montgomery

Here on Redwood High School’s campus, our janitorial staff includes groundsmen, custodians, night crew, and the main janitors. 

Redwood janitors keep our high school clean for every student on campus, including our classrooms, locker rooms, bathrooms, and stadium. They also sanitize everything to try to prevent a large number of students at Redwood from getting sick or infected.

According to ResearchGate, “Schools with better water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) facilities had significantly higher attendance—80% compared to 58% in schools lacking those improvements.”

Because of the hard work that janitors provide to the school, students are able to be welcomed into a cleaner environment.

This also prevents large numbers of kids from getting sick and being absent from attending classes, especially during the winter season.

Ryan Mathis is one of the multiple janitors here at Redwood High School.

Beyond the cleaning, janitors feel connected to their community. Mathis says, “My favorite part of my job is working with all the students here.”

Mathis says that he likes all the students, and that Redwood is a really good school.

While keeping Redwood’s campus clean, janitors do have their struggles.

Mathis says, “The hardest part of keeping the high school clean is that kids constantly throw litter everywhere, even though there are trash cans right in front of them.”

Unfortunately, janitors have to deal with the deglamorized parts of communities.

Mathis says, “The strangest thing I’ve cleaned was probably poop out of the urinal. It was the strangest thing.”

Mathis estimates that there are over 100 trash cans on campus, yet Redwood sometimes deals with litter.

“Something I wish I could change about a student’s habits is probably them littering and throwing trash everywhere,” says Mathis.

Virgil Madruga, a Redwood custodian, said that he cleans up after breakfast in the cafeteria and outside the cafeteria, and also dumps the trash after breakfast and lunch. 

Madruga shared that his favorite part of being a custodian at Redwood is being able to deal with the staff and students. 

He says, “Most of my interactions with students are positive, but occasionally I have a negative experience, but not very often.”

Not every day is the same; other days require more laborious work. Madruga says, “There are some days that are a little bit harder, like homecoming setup, and just certain days are a little more involved.”

Despite the hardest parts of working as a custodian, Madruga is grateful for how well his staff helps him, and how strong his connection with them is.

Redwood’s Principal, Dr. Gridiron, shared his responsibilities for keeping our high school clean.

Dr. Gridiron says, “My primary responsibility is just to make sure our school is presentable.”

Dr. Gridiron shares that Redwood is important to him and encourages students to always try to give a helping hand and carry themselves with integrity.

The Redwood cleaning crew helps day and night to provide a clean environment that students are able to learn and grow in. Without them, Redwood would be a much different place; make sure to say your thanks to a helping staff on campus.

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