You wake up Tuesday morning feeling a little stuffy, but think nothing of it and move on to getting ready for school. Your day goes normal and you sleep extra hard Tuesday night. Waking up on Wednesday morning, your throat begins to feel scratchy, and the stuffiness has turned into an aching headache. You shake it off, go to school, sit at your tables throughout the day, and go home like normal. Thursday morning, you wake up with “allergies” and have developed a cough and a runny nose. Entering school, you do the same: sit at your tables throughout the day and cover your nose when you cough and sneeze. By Friday, you have developed a fever, or an internal body temperature above 100.4 degrees, you have chills, and most importantly, you are contagious. What could you have done to prevent this? What has Conestoga High School done to avoid this from happening? Have you heard of a little day called Wipe-down Wednesday?

Wide-down Wednesday is an announcement that all students must have heard about. Once per week, classrooms are reminded about the germs in the most common spaces, and a friendly reminder is then shared to wipe down these spaces. It must be known that Wipe-down Wednesday restricts lots of germs and viruses, which can be found in diverse places, from spreading rapidly throughout the school. As an example, Tracy Anderson said, “staph is a common [bacterium] that we all have on our skin, but especially it likes to grow on [common] surfaces.”

Wipe-down Wednesday, which was created last fall, was “a way for students to help and bring awareness of the other things they can do to help their school community stay well,” states Anderson.

Students can do their part by "wiping down the surfaces and participating," as quoted by Anderson.

While teachers can "make sure they have wipes available for their students and make sure they have tissues available to their students, and have sanitizer in their classrooms. Additionally, they can wipe down frequently touched areas throughout the day. It is best to wipe them down twice a day. On other days of the week, at least wipe down surfaces once. It's better to do it twice."

Programs focused on sanitation and student health aim to reduce the transmission of illness in schools. Consistent cleaning of high-touch areas and improved hygiene habits are widely recognized as key prevention strategies. “I would say within our school it definitely slows down – our spread [of] influenza going around,” declared Anderson.

Anderson exclaims, “Wipe-down Wednesday rocks! Best day of the Week!”