‘Tis the season for holiday decorations, Cozy December, and an abundant display of lost and found items. Every December and spring, the giant mountain of items from the lost and found is emptied onto tables on the ARC patio. 

When students lose their belongings, they usually end up in the lost and found bins that are located mainly in the lower half of campus. Twice a year, the bins are so full that they need to be emptied, and Lower and Middle School Coordinator Emma Ho’o works with Facilities staff to schedule an event. Ms. Ho’o organizes an announcement in the Westridge Weekly and carefully places the items in some discernible order. 

For two weeks, water bottles, sweatshirts, shoes, and the occasional AirPods case sit out on the tables waiting to be picked up. Items that are not picked up and are in good condition are donated. Items that cannot be donated are thrown out. 

Notably, Westridge uniforms or Westridge-branded clothing are a large part of the pile.  Unclaimed uniform clothing will go to the used uniform sale. Ms. Ho’o organizes all of the Westridge items and the uniform items in certain piles and notifies Advancement Coordinator Kellie Forrester when it’s time to collect the remaining uniforms for the uniform sale. For savings-savvy parents like Upper School Service Learning Coordinator Erica St. John, sorting through the items can yield treasures. Ms St. John said she did all her daughter’s uniform shopping at the lost and found. 

Some Westridge items cannot be donated. “Westridge sweaters. We have a ton of those, and I have a bag of those that sometimes donation places won’t really take because they’re just so specific to certain communities, so those are things that are also likely to go to the trash,” said Ms. Ho’o.

For Ms. St. John, the lost and found reflects a larger issue of privilege at Westridge. “I think that’s where the problem comes in, where people put less value on their stuff because they have so much of it, and it does seem to be reflective of a community that has little to no material needs,” she said.

Some of the items on the tables include Lululemon leggings, Alo sweatshirts, and A LOT of reusable waterbottles like Owalas and Hydroflasks. Ella K. ’28 said, “There is expensive stuff there, and people just don’t care. What do you mean you don’t care about something and you’re just okay with leaving it there?” 

While it’s tough to ignore the items on display–the tables are within sight of the State Street gate–the fact is that Westridge isn’t so much a product of consumerist culture as it is a reflection of it. “I think the problem is that consumerism is so normalized in our generation, and especially at Westridge,” said Larkin M. ’27, co-head of Green Guerillas, Westridge’s sustainability club. 

This generation is at the crosshairs of environmental awareness and digital access. As such, Gen Z is the perfect target for mass consumerism.

“Especially in privileged institutions like this, whether we come from privilege or not, when we’re in [these] spaces, and we get exposed to things and all this stuff, our items just seem so easily replaceable,” Ms. Ho’o said.

The tables are an eyesore during a season of decorative festivity, but perhaps it highlights a more important issue within and beyond the walls of Westridge. 

“This is a community, and in communities, you are accountable to each other. If this is really important to you, then you need to hold each other accountable,” said Ms. Ho’o.