I’ve lived in a first-year residence hall for two years now. Once as a first-year, and now as a mentor. Coming into college, most students don’t know how to behave when living with others, and it shows.

You don’t realize how bad the general behavior is of the first-years until you’re not one anymore.

There are certain things that are just common sense. You don’t have to make your bed every day, or even do your laundry every day, but be mindful of the mess you’re making in a shared space.

That includes, not only dorms, but the residence halls as a whole.

If I could go a single day without seeing messes in the bathrooms, laundry rooms and hallways, I’d be happy. But students seem to be incapable of cleaning up after themselves.

Even if dorms have a cleaning crew, it’s disrespectful to treat them like that. They aren’t your personal cleaning team, so don’t leave your mess. They are there to clean and sanitize so that we don’t have to worry about build-up. Don’t take advantage of them.

Though the crew comes and cleans nearly every day, your mess doesn’t leave the area until then, so students will have to walk in on your pee on the toilet seats, hair in the drain and toilet paper all over the floor.

Immaturity is shown through the lack of respect you show cleaning staff, the building and your peers.

It’s not your personal space, it’s shared, so take care of it as if your parents or siblings were living with you instead of strangers.

I know that my parents would not let it slide if I left the kitchen, bathroom or even my room like some students do.

Would you act like you do if your mother was living here with you? If not, correct your behavior, and respect shared spaces.