With the school year coming to an end, the campus life at Cal High has become as unique as the times we’re living in. 

While many students were stepping onto Cal High’s campus for the first time in the fall and appreciated the restart of normal high school events, there is still a lot to improve. 

For one we need to do something about vandalism and littering on campus. With incidents such as graffiti in bathrooms and items such as soap dispensers and stall doors being stolen or destroyed, we as the Grizzly community should aim to completely shift away from this behavior. 

While we can take many approaches, with punitive measures being non-ideal, the best way to solve this problem is to reshift our thinking toward our campus. 

After all, it is OUR campus. 

We need to realize that Cal is our home. The way we treat it will ultimately be a reflection of what we stand for and value as a community. We need to think more critically of what implications our actions might have.   

Campus life is not only represented through the quality of our campus, but also in the attitudes of students here.

Admin should help match clubs, other groups, and individuals that are working on similar efforts with each other so their work to improve campus can be amplified and more efficient, whether its picking up garbage or addressing campus culture.

It must be recognized that an effective way to ensure the right mindset for all students is to incorporate sessions and assemblies, required or voluntary.

Mental health problems are rampant in our hallways as the stress of school grows. Luckily, Cal has given us some resources to choose from, such as the Zen Den that gives us a space to take a break and recover from anything stressing us out. However, this isn’t enough.

The approach to mental health should be more policy-focused and requires addressing the root causes rather than applying bandages. One helpful policy would be for the district to limit the number of hours of homework that  AP classes can give. It is important that admin and the district cooperate to inform better district policy.

All of these actions would focus on students’ mental health. 

It’s no secret that Cal has flaws, but with time and recognition, we are on the right track to a better school climate than what we’re experiencing now.