Hi, this is my first post here. I couldn’t find a discussion area about community service, so I hope posting here is okay.
I am a rising junior. I am looking for community service opportunities. My high school has lots of gum under almost every desk, and I was always disgusted by it. I came up with the idea of volunteering to remove it for hours. However, after a quick Google search online, I found that it is a tedious process that sometimes uses a 3000 dollar machine, as well as other more tedious tricks such as applying oil or ice for 15 minutes.
Has anyone else ever done this? If so, how fast can you get it done? Would you recommend it as a plausible job to do?
@Bossballoon have you tried using a knife or sharp object to scrape the gum (being careful not to scratch the desks)?
Might be a bit weird to list “removing gum from desks” anywhere, but I consider it legitimate.
I think that is a very noble and thoughtful effort! It’s rather proactive and creative as well rather than relying on other people to provide you with the activity. Can’t speak to the act itself, but I imagine if you were to list it you could always say something like “started project to assist in the cleanup of defaced school desktops”
This is a vastly under-rated problem, imho. When my kids were younger (the oldest just 4 and the second not quite 3, the third an infant), we went to a very fancy restaurant. While I went to the bathroom to nurse the baby, my husband allowed the older two to play with the gum under the fancy table! I was disgusted and would have been very happy to have had someone interested in cleaning the gum off involved. As for its value as an EC or community service, perhaps you can make it part of an overall program to beautify the classrooms?
I guess it would be best to undergo some testing. I was thinking I would use a putty knife, a butter knife, some vegetable oil, and some soap and water. If none of these methods can clean a desk of gum in under 5 minutes, I guess I will give up.
You could start a “[insert school name here] beautification club”