Rock… Paper… Clean Up!

Cleaning up after lunch is a practice many students dislike, but 11th grade students at TCS created a game with the purpose of making this interesting.

Every Friday during lunch, approximately 25 11th grade students play a rock, paper, scissors game in which the loser has to take every player’s plate to where they’re cleaned. But there’s a twist, the loser has to walk around the whole cafeteria so all High School can see him.

“I think that is a good way to inspire students to take the plates because sometimes students leave their plates in the table… so at the end the cleaning ladies need to go and pick them up. I think that rock, paper, scissors is a cool way of inspiring people to take the plates to where they should be taken,” Miguel Hurtado, 11th grade students, said.

For that reason, Hurtado believes that High School students from other grades should develop a similar game or play the same as the 11th graders as this encourages students to clean up, creates a good environment, and students who play find it exciting.

“It’s a very good idea because only one person loses… the people who play get to win something as they don’t have to take their plates and the loser is humiliated,” Alejandro Yepes, 11th grade students, said.

On the other hand, Hurtado empathizes with the loser, as it’s funny to spectate but not fun to lose.

“When you see other people lose it’s very funny, but when you lose people are laughing at you and it’s very embarrassing,”  Miguel Hurtado, 11th grade students, said.

Additionally, Yepes believes that the humiliation has now become a part of the routine.

“Now it has become a very normal thing, and everyone in the cafeteria knows if you are clapping it’s because of the rock, paper, scissors game,” Alejandro Yepes, 11th grade students, said.

In addition, the game makes people who don’t want to play clean up as they feel pressure by those playing.

“At the beginning I felt it was funny, but when I was doing it I felt like I didn’t want to lose anymore, so now I only take my plate alone,” Miguel Hurtado, 11th grade students, said.