On Dec. 1, students at BVH who use the girls bathrooms quickly noticed a change: The mirrors in the girls 300s bathroom had been removed, meaning that now there are no mirrors available in any of the student bathrooms on campus. This recent development took many students off guard, including senior Mia Cardoso. 

“I noticed when I was in there. I felt like something was off but did not think too much of it until I overheard some girls talking about the mirrors being gone. I felt confused and once I got out of the stall and looked. Sure enough, they were gone,” Cardoso said. “I felt angry [because] I do not like the feeling of being controlled and that is kind of what it felt like. It is also very upsetting when they do things like this, expecting it to solve problems, which it does not, or it solves tiny issues that are not as important as the bigger ones.” 

Cardoso finds themself unsatisfied with the way the issues in the bathrooms have been handled, as this year especially there have been several complaints about bathrooms being inaccessible. With that problem continuing, implementing this mirror policy can seem like a waste of time. Cardoso expresses a hope that the school instead spends efforts on improving the bathrooms in other ways. BVH campus assistant Karla Valdez explained how she personally feels about the removal. 

“[From] my position, I think it is good, because it is [about] safety, but I understand the other side, with the girls needing the mirrors. But, we need to [prioritize] following the rules and protocols,” Valdez said. “Sometimes the girls can get hurt on accident, since they play [around] in the bathroom. Most of the girls do. So, I think [prevention] was the intention.”

Although the mirrors are convenient for those who use the bathroom, safety is the priority when it comes to students’ well-being. Through this change, Valdez expresses that she understands potential student frustrations, but that alternatives like compact mirrors or phone cameras are available. On the other side of things, junior Joi Brown puts an emphasis on the importance of the mirrors from the students’ perspective.

“As a person in this generation I feel like it is a way to ease those who are self conscious. It really is an important thing for the self conscious girls,” Brown said. “It really does give us some anxiety not knowing what’s wrong on our face, because some people don’t have the courage to let you know, ‘hey there’s something in your mouth’ or, ‘hey there’s something on your face’.”