A normal day at school can turn into an aggravating day in just a few minutes for some girls at CCHS.
Females must deal with the annoyance of a monthly greeting from periods. Which, at times, can be unexpected. Female students are held to the responsibility to bring their own menstrual products to school because there are no pads or tampons in the restrooms of CCHS.
Some feel that this is a problem, but others think the female students should be obligated to bring their own items.
“I think girls should be somewhat responsible to bring their own,” sophomore Lily Milton said. “However, there are situations where that is hard to do; also when we are early, we don’t have anything.”
Like Milton said, periods can come early or late and some girls may not have any menstrual products with them, creating a problem for many students being forced to use toilet paper which is irritating and can be infectious.
Yet, if CCHS provided menstrual products for the female students, not only would this be helpful but it would bring relief to continue the school day.
Many students feel exceedingly strongly about this topic, such as sophomore Mia Fitchett.
“It really is aggravating the amount of times women have an emergency and don’t have the products that they need in the bathroom,” Fitchett said. “I would think we are in a society where women don’t have to be obligated to bring pads or tampons if they aren’t able to afford it. Apparently, I was wrong.”
Menstrual products have been getting more and more pricey as time goes on, therefore CCHS may have a valid reason for not having menstrual products in the restrooms.
“Menstrual products are expensive and sometimes you don’t really know what sizes of products to buy and you have to worry about refilling it,” freshman Nyssa Castillo said. “I think it takes more time away from the staff and more money away from the district which they’d rather use for computers or books.”
To help this problem, AP Psychology and world geography teacher Bradley Berke keeps tampons in the front of his classroom in a drawer. Why? Simply to help any students who don’t have menstrual products and are unprepared at school.
What pushed Berke into getting tampons was when two of his students in his study hall asked if he had any menstrual products for them to use. The students asked until Berke finally gave in and bought them, now keeping the menstrual products in the classroom for the use of any student.
“I keep it at the front of the room, labeled in a drawer so that everybody can see where it is if they need [it],” Berke said. “Nobody has to ask me or ask anyone else for one, if they do need [it], because I know that girls can be a little apprehensive in doing that [maybe feeling] a little uncomfortable.”
A multitude of students have appreciation for the effort Berke puts in to help his students. Berke understands and knows that females could use the help in the rough five to seven days of the revolting period.
The period is a natural occurrence that doesn’t go away. To provide menstrual products to the female students at CCHS should be something taken into consideration.
