Hoodies. Water Bottles. Textbooks. Even Sports Equipment. Some have been sitting for only a day, some for more than a month. Once belonging to a Marksman, now sitting in the Lost and Found, waiting to be picked up.
Chairs Jessica Green and Natalie Miller are in charge of the Lost and Found. Their job is to maintain the space and ensure that it is organized and not overrun with items.
“They’ve worked so hard on making the Lost and Found such a pretty space, and it feels like a store when you go in there,” Parent’s Association President Cindy Hanson said. “It’s like a second student store.”
Yet despite the efforts of Green and Miller, many students on campus don’t utilize the Lost and Found.
“Every time I lose something, I kind of just give up,” junior Teddy Fleiss said. “I don’t know where it could be.”
After losing a belonging, Fleiss has never considered checking the Lost and Found.
“Where is the Lost and Found?” Fleiss asked.
Fleis isn’t the only one that doesn’t check the Lost and Found, which is located in the first floor hallway of the Green Library. Almost 50 percent of the items in there are unclaimed. After 30 days of not being picked up, items are separated into three categories: trash, Lion’s Closet and outside donation.
Items going to the Lion’s Closet generally consist of sweatshirts and uniforms that can be cleaned and sold again at a discount, while items being donated to outside organizations consist of non-St. Mark’s clothing, textbooks, shoes and equipment. Outside donations usually go to organizations like Family Place Thrift Store, Donate2Impact, Dallas ISD and Half Price Books.
In addition, the sheer amount of belongings in the Lost & Found reflects a deeper issue at the school: the culture of leaving items behind.
Freshman Nathan Tan, who went to a public school in Plano until eighth grade, has noticed a difference between the number of items lost at his old school and the number of items lost here.
“At my old school, there wasn’t that culture where you could trust other people not to take your stuff,” Tan said. “St. Mark’s is definitely a good place because people are comfortable with that. At the same time, I think fewer people keep track of their things.”
Middle School Librarian Elyse Chevallier sees items like pencil bags, binders and homework in the library left behind all the time. She believes that she has a solution to the issue of losing items at school.
“If there was a culture of people using lockers to stow things and to maybe only carry things around campus that you really needed for that day and for those classes, then maybe things wouldn’t get left behind,” Chevallier said.
Chevallier also recommends the simple act of labeling one’s belongings. Green and Miller say that less than a third of the items in the Lost & Found are labeled.
While it’s very easy to lose something, utilizing one’s locker and labeling one’s belongings can help lower the amount of things lost.
