Just weeks ago, unsuspecting students were sharing class with tiny invaders—crickets! The infestation was found in Andrea Pedroarias’ room, who teaches senior seminar, study skills, and college and career readiness.
This is just one example of bugs being spotted around campus. Students and staff have had their fair share of experiences with bugs. Although they are common, the increasing amount has led some to believe there is a bug problem at Mt. SAC Early College Academy.
Pedroarias said, “I did actually have an infestation of crickets in my cabinet, but [Joshua Del Real, the day custodian,] came and he took care of it and we took all the crickets outside. I was glad we were able to save them.”
Other students, such as freshman Odysseus Miller, have also been noticing an unusual amount of bugs.,
“I think they’re attracted to the food,” said Miller.”In student spaces in the classrooms, there are flies pretty often.”
While some students and teachers may not mind the bugs on campus, others find it hard to ignore that they’ve shown up in plenty of spaces, like tables at the quad or inside classrooms. Some staff members have raised concerns about how certain bugs could be a nuisance.
Night custodian Brian Alvarez, who experienced jumping fleas when walking into the storage rooms, said, “The ants don’t bother me, but I think more people would complain more about the spiders, fleas, and mosquitoes. There are a lot of spiders, but I feel like they don’t do anything to kill them.”
Some staff members have given their thoughts on solutions to not have as many bugs in student and staff spaces.
“Keeping doors closed may be part of the solution,” Pedroarias said. “I just make sure to clean up my space in my classroom as much as possible so that ants and bugs belong outside so that they’re not attracted to food or anything inside my classroom.”
“They don’t let us spray for bugs,” Alvarez said. “I think they should let us spray on Fridays after school or Saturday so that they could spray the whole school down.”
Meanwhile, some students have their own solutions to the arising issue.
“There’s nothing really you could do to stop bugs at a table, but at a classroom, you could stop eating there,” freshman Xavier Barrios said. “But I know it’s annoying to eat outside, so we could just put bug traps in the room, which could be easier.”
Instead of bug traps or bug spray, some students believe that, like Pedroarias, spaces should be cleaner.
“When there’s more food around, or they haven’t taken out the trash in a while, I’ve noticed more bugs,” said Miller.
