Janitors are crucial due to their hard work in keeping schools and classrooms clean for students and teachers. Although the school has many afternoon janitors, there is only one daytime janitor, Brian Sullivan, who cleans until the school day ends and the other janitors arrive.

Sullivan starts his day at 5 a.m., where he cleans the entrances and mops the gym floors and hallways until lunch, when, according to Sullivan, the hardest part of his day begins.

“The biggest and hardest place is the lunch room,” Sullivan said. “Trying to cover everything is too much for one person. Just the trash alone, we fill one dumpster every day just off of trash in the kitchen or lunchroom.”

Being the only janitor in the morning means Sullivan has to take on a large daily workload.

“I very much get overwhelmed every day,” Sullivan said. “We just hired a new person, and training her while trying to get everything else done is very taxing.”

Before working at the school, Sullivan owned and operated his own bakery, which he sold right before COVID started. Despite his love of baking, Sullivan enjoys working as a janitor because it is less stressful.

“It was really long hours,” Sullivan said. “I would get there at four in the morning, and some of my days didn’t end until 10 at night. Compared to working as a janitor, you don’t have to worry about whether you’ve sold enough to get a paycheck at the end of the week and meet all the bills that come with owning a bakery.”

Because of all the cleaning they do, janitors are important in keeping schools running. Sophomore Madison Stanley is appreciative of the hard work they do every day.

“I honestly don’t think our school would function without janitors,” Stanley said. “If our classrooms are dirty, students are going to focus on that instead of learning.”