Students use extension project to create improvements in Peet girls bathrooms

Recently, feminine hygiene dispensers were added to the girls bathrooms at Peet, after it was discovered that Holmes and the high school have already had these dispensers available, and all it took was a letter from a student at Peet to make the change.

Mia Dexter, a freshman, decided to use an extension project for her English class that has students use their argumentative skills and apply it to the real world, as a perfect way to make a change in the girl’s bathrooms at Peet Junior High. After writing a letter about getting the dispensers at Peet, Dexter and another female student, Emma Dewitt, took the letter to their guidance counselor, Rebecca Lins, to bring to the school board.

“I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to formally present the idea to the student counsel and Peet staff. This is something that every girl at Peet would need and benefit from in the future,” Dexter said.

The letter was approved, and it was announced that the girl’s bathrooms would be getting pads and tampons dispensers installed. “It’d be one thing if no other school had them, but since all of our other schools have them, I think it’s important we have them too,” Dewitt, a member of Peet’s student council, said.

Girls who forget and don’t want to ask their nurse for hygiene products will now have a new solution with the dispensers in the bathrooms.

“I strongly agree that our female students need the option of purchasing tampons and/or pads in the bathrooms here at school. Not everyone feels comfortable asking friends, a female teacher or stopping in the nurse’s office,” Lins said.

A con to getting the pads and tampons dispensers was the risk of vandalism. Peet Principal Bill Boevers said that before remodeling, Peet did have dispensers installed in the bathrooms before, but they were removed. “I was told that they frequently did not work, and at times they had damage done to them,” Boevers said.

But despite the possibility of damage, the dispensers are still going to be installed. “I don’t think a small risk of vandalism or not being used correctly is any reason to take it away from the girls who would use them and respect them,” Peet freshman Amanda Friis said.

“I think reminding students and having students remind each other that we need to respect the property will help,” Dewitt said. “It might take people awhile to get used to having them because it’s something new, but over time, I think people will adjust and be grateful for them.”

Dexter agreed. “It’s not something that should be overlooked just because it doesn’t happen to everyone or just because it happens to girls,” she said. “There will be a point in your life where it will sneak up on you, and you won’t be ready and have the supplies, so the dispensers could save you from the embarrassment and humiliation.”

Overall, the installation of the feminine hygiene dispensers is something that many girls at Peet are excited to have. “It’s not like we get to choose whether we have our period or not, so we might as well make it as convenient as possible.” Dewitt said.