What would you do if you witnessed bullying here at Placer? If you have, how did you react to it? Although bullying is not a common thing at Placer, it still happens. So, the question is, would you just walk by if you saw bullying taking place, or would you stop and do something about it?

“I would try to interfere and get the person back, and if that didn’t work, I would get a teacher,” freshman Julia King said.

With that, Placer students show great Hillmen pride by portraying their concern for fellow classmates who experienced or are experiencing some bullying. There are still some who fear confronting the bully during the action. There are cases when you want to help, but fight the urge because of fear for yourself and what may happen for interrupting the “scene”.

“I would want to help, but I don’t know what they would do to me for intervening,” stated freshman Kaylee Pebelier.

Bullying isn’t always displayed through fights or pushing someone on the ground. It can come in simple forms such as mocking; drinking the rest of a friend’s soda without their permission, and even daily activities in the bathrooms like missing the toilet purposefully when one uses the bathroom or spitting tobacco all over the floor. Although they seem like silly gestures to the individual acting upon the “jokes”, the victims of these actions think otherwise. Students at Placer who have endured situations under these circumstances mostly agree, but they don’t know how to react for the fear of its outcome.

To a certain extent, bullying also occurs to the custodial crew. Ever wonder how the pee gets cleaned off of the toilet seats each day, or how the tobacco isn’t left smeared on the floor overnight? The janitors are there after school to pick up the messes that are left behind.

“I just wish boys knew how to aim better. It seems like none of them can pee straight into the toilet, although some of them don’t do it on accident, and it makes us all look immature,” senior Stone Sander said.

Whether students realize it or not, they are bullying custodial members and their time for simply not knowing how to use the restroom or spit outside rather than the locker room floor. Students take advantage of the effort staff goes through to clean up their messes. Furthermore, students still watch and don’t take any actions to prevent such deeds all because of fear of what may happen.

“Everyday there is chewed tobacco all over the floor, and it always smells bad,” sophomore Dominique Perez said.

So, what are students doing to make sure these actions stop? Are they sitting back and watching these actions take place, or are they standing up and doing something about it? Students need to realize the privileges they are provided and learn how to not take advantage of their freedom.

After all, Placer isn’t a school viewed to have bullying problems, and that reputation needs to be upheld.