As I approach my friends near the lockers, all of us excited to gobble up some of Pine Crest’s finest “crispitos,” I drop my bag and my laptop on the ground, not a second thought as to whether they will be stolen. When I come back from the cafeteria, my backpack is right where I left it, as it always is, in the same spot against the lockers.

Walking through the crowded halls of the Pine Crest Upper School, you might notice the backpacks sprawled upon the floors, the laptops stacked against the walls, and the sports bags lined up by the lockers. At most schools, students don’t feel safe leaving their belongings somewhere without the fear of them being stolen. So why is it that Pine Crest students are comfortable leaving their possessions in different places around the school? This is not to say that students don’t often lose things, because we all know from email reminders that Mr. Kranstover has a collection of iPhones, bracelets, and car keys that are looking for their rightful owner.
Has this sense of trust been instilled into our minds? Or maybe, Pine Crest students feel that our school is a safe enough environment that we have the ability to leave things lying around. I was of course curious about what allows us to feel that our belongings are secure, so I asked a few students how they felt.

“Honestly, I feel that everyone has what they need, therefore they don’t feel the impulse to take someone else’s things,” sophomore Liz said.

“I think that we have certain morals and we understand the consequences,” said sophomore Sara. “No one would want their things stolen, therefore people don’t steal.”

“If I find a lost item, I immediately think of taking it to the office or finding who it belongs to,” sophomore Alexandra stated. “The thought of taking the item just doesn’t cross my mind.”

I sat down with the renowned “emailer” himself, Mr. Kranstover, for his take on the situation. “I can categorically say that most of the emails have been sent out for people looking for lost items,” he reported. “Interestingly, I don’t remember more than 2 or 3 times throughout the year that the student hadn’t found their item….usually because it was misplaced or they dropped it accidentally in a classroom or hallway. Often times, students will bring items to me or the front office knowing that we can get the word out pretty quickly. That says a lot about our students.”

It is of course unrealistic to say that stealing is completely nonexistent at our school. Many students take pencils or pens from other friends or find them on the ground and keep them. Oftentimes calculators disappear, and sometimes, are never found. Yet, as Mr. Kranstover stated, it is rare that an important possession will go missing without some sort of action taken to try to locate the item. This displays our strong morals as a community of students.

If you misplace something, make sure to check your email as well as the office because there is a good chance that someone has found it and turned it in. Just remember this: “Education is not the filling of a bucket, but the lighting of a fire.”