Could you picture Maine West without custodians? The situation defies the imagination. The school would fall apart. The maintenance department may seem expendable at first; but when one sits down to think about it, he realizes how much a part of everything these men are.

Not only would the halls become impassible, the appearance of the school grounds would deteriorate. Maine certainly wouldn't look like the top‑ranked school it is.

The regular duties of the custodians include such things as grooming the grounds, sweeping the halls, and disposing of the refuse so easily accumulated during the school day.

Through their work during the summer, our return to school in September is made more bearable. The halls have been freshly painted and the floors newly waxed, waiting to catch a record number of flying freshmen. The chairs and desks have been cleaned of the annual accumulation of gum and ink.

That is their main task‑picking up after 3,000 busy teenagers. And there are only 20 of these stalwart men to do the job.

But there's more to their job ‑ it's the extras that make the atmosphere around Maine so congenial. Who but a custodian would take the time to fish a baton out from behind the lockers or go from A‑wing to the end of C‑wing to open a door he has just locked ‑ and so that the student won't receive a late grade? Or, if somehow or another a lock is fastened backwards, a custodian can be found who will take the time to unlock it ‑ or saw it off.

Even if one can't see the beauty in a wastebasket always kept from overflowing or clean floors, when it is his lock or late paper, the true value of the maintenance department becomes apparent.