Some students feel that paper towels in the bathrooms at Mead High School would be a better option than the current hand dryers. There is evidence that suggests paper towels are more efficient and clean. 

At Mead, there are two hand dryers in every bathroom. They blow air, but not enough to dry hands, leaving students with no option but to wipe them off on their pants or to vigorously shake them to get the remaining drops off.  

Hand dryers also pick up waste particles and blow them onto the hands of students. 

According to the Hillyard—a leading manufacturer of cleaning supplies, website, paper towels are more hygienic. Hillyard’s site explains, “This is because the friction created by rubbing the hands with the paper towel helps to physically remove bacteria and viruses, while hand dryers may spread them around due to the airflow. Hand dryers create cross-contamination. With hand dryers, there is always a risk of residual bacteria being blown onto your hands that are not completely dry.” 

Shea Chapman (‘26) said, “I prefer paper towels over hand dryers. The hand dryers have so many germs, and it’s super gross. Paper towels are individual and way more sanitary.”

Other students prefer hand dryers because it saves time.

Logan Knight (‘24) said, “I would prefer paper towels in our bathrooms over hand dryers because they are a lot faster to dry hands and make less noise. Paper towels are also much more sanitary and don’t spread germs onto your hands like hand dryers do.” 

Donovan Weese (‘24) said, “I would prefer paper towels because they don’t take as long to dry your hands. They are a lot easier and faster, especially if you’re trying to get to class on time.” 

However, paper towels in the bathrooms may be a lot of extra work for custodians—having to restock the paper towels and take out the trash. 

If this is something students want, they would need to take the responsibility of keeping bathrooms clean.