The Unsung Heroes of CHS

The+Unsung+Heroes+of+CHS

Dhvani Patel, Writer

People who are heroes often go unsung. A good many of those unsung heroes don’t even think of themselves as heroes.

Cartersville High is surrounded by unsung, unsuspecting heroes: our janitors, lunch ladies, bus drivers, and administrators. 

The custodial team at CHS works together to ensure that all students have a clean and healthy environment and that they remain as safe as possible on campus. Maintaining a school that harbors over 1,000 students is no easy task, but the custodians handle all the problems that come their way (mostly our messes) with grace and efficiency.

Going above and beyond the call of duty, even when things don’t work out as planned, is an everyday occurrence for the custodians.  Steve, one of our most beloved, has dug through the lunchroom trash, not once —  but twice–  just to find a student’s lost items. In a typical work day, Steve helps maintain the entire building, from cafeteria to lobby, keeping tables, windows, floors, and restrooms clean, as well as locking and unlocking the  building. 

The CHS lunch ladies are no less heroic. They cook food for hundreds of students each day. They prepare and serve breakfast and lunch and never complain. They know almost every student’s name, what they like to eat, and even what they can’t because of allergies or medical conditions. 

The lunch ladies are on campus anywhere from 2-6 hours daily and begin meal prep the minute they walk in the door. Students are served breakfast from 8:00 a.m. until the bell rings. While breakfast is ongoing, the ladies are simultaneously working on lunch.

Their job is more than simply serving food. They make sure every item is accounted for, that the right amount of food is made, that all is cooked and kept at the right temperature. Their workload is monumental, but they work as a team and all runs smoothly. 

It is also important to recognize our school bus drivers. They are on the job, rain or shine. If not for buses, many students would be dropped off by parents hours before classes begin, or they would walk to school, arriving with backpack-sweat in fall and numb fingers and frozen face in winter.

Bus drivers undergo months of training before sitting behind the wheel with a bus-full of passengers. No amount of training could ever prepare most individuals to safely drive an 18-ton vehicle full of loud, sometimes-disrespectful, always-precious Cartersville children. Hats off to the bus-driving heroes of CHS.

Last but not the least, the high school administrators don’t nearly get the recognition they deserve. They face more challenges in a single day than most can dream of in a month of Mondays. The hours they dedicate to children not their own, the discipline issues they have to untangle and contend with, the dozens of decisions they make every hour of every day, the protection they provide, the things they do for students and staff that no one ever sees, the joy they experience watching students succeed, and the sorrow they feel losing students to bad decisions… they are far too underappreciated. CHS administration, thank you so much for the support and the safe learning environment here at Cartersville High School. 

The custodial staff, lunch ladies, bus drivers, and school administration work tirelessly every day, going the extra mile for the students at Cartersville High. They truly embody the CANES CODE and what it means to be a Purple Hurricane.

Whether anybody says it enough, please know,  Canes Nation APPRECIATES YOU. You provide a safety net and help us connect with people around us, We are grateful for your help, guidance, and leadership. Keep up the good work! 

You are strong. You are fearless. You are heroes.