By Sam Torrey: Private Investigator

Staff Writer

    When you lose something at R.J. Reynolds, you’ll likely never see it again. At least that’s the common consensus with students at Reynolds. After one too many kids came to yours truly, the amazing Staff Writer/P.I./Cadet Lieutenant Colonel/Super Cool Guy/Bussboy/Procrastinator/Investigative Journalist Samuel Torrey, about losing stuff and not being able to find it, I had to begin looking into but Reynold’s very own Lost and Found. 

    I started my initial hunt by gathering information from the general student population, trying to discover who has actually lost something and found it in the lost and found.   

    Eleven students shared that they had indeed found their stuff, while fifteen students did not get back their lost items. This revealed to me, P.I. Extraordinary, that students who do lose their stuff are more likely not to find their stuff again. This also brings up an interesting question: why is it that so many students don’t get their stuff back? This troubling “why” haunted me like all unanswered questions tend to do. So the investigative journalism continues.

    I tried to see how security for the lost and found was. I went to the main office, originally to ask some questions, but when I brought up the lost and found, I just got pointed to the closet where the school keeps missing items. Once there, at the closet that resembled more of a black hole of forgotten dreams than a lost and found, I decided to see if I could just take something. 

    I just grabbed a water bottle and walked out; no one questioned anything. Rest assured, after I completed my experiment, I returned the water bottle right back to its final resting place, in that tomb of wayward items, and left. I was utterly astonished by the lack of security. 

    Talking to some of my on-the-ground sources, I discovered a young woebegone freshman who had misplaced his jacket.  

    Naturally, I asked if he checked the lost and found, and to the shock and surprise of no one at this point, he said he hadn’t.

    “I didn’t even know we had a lost and found,” Freshman Dylan Juarez said. “They never told me about a lost and found. Where is it?”

    The fact that Juarez didn’t even know Reynolds had a lost and found left me at a loss for words. I pointed it out to him so he could look for his jacket. Unfortunately, I am sorry to report that the jacket, like so many other missing items, was never found. 

    The students certainly underutilize the lost and found, but interestingly enough, many teachers even question the effectiveness of our system for misplaced items.    

    “In my personal opinion, if I take something down there, I don’t know if they’ll ever get it back,” chemistry teacher Thomas Marino said. 

    Mr. Marino brings up a thought-provoking perspective: a teacher who works at this school would rather keep their students’ lost items in their classroom instead of bringing them to the office’s lost and found. He prefers to run his own makeshift lost and found from his classroom.

    “If someone leaves important stuff, I’ll put it in the filing cabinet; if not, I leave it on the desk,” Mr. Marino said. “They have to prove it’s theirs to me, such as describing the object or unlocking it in the case of a phone.”

    From my investigation, it seems that Mr. Marino has a better system to make sure things get back to students than what the office has going. But maybe I’m too harsh on our administration, so I decided to ask one of the newer administrators who came from Atkins High School to get her perspective.

    “Since I’ve been here, I’ve not seen students go looking unless they have lost something,” Malanie Langley said. ”Usually, there is an adult with them to keep them from shopping.” 

    Well, interesting, I’ve seen otherwise when I went into the lost and found, but maybe the office’s definition of having an “adult with them” and mine are different. 

    When asked about what happens with higher-end items that come to the office, Ms.Langley had this to say. 

    “They stay locked up,” Ms. Langley said. “We do everything we can to find out whose it is, then we keep those under lock and key; we don’t just leave it out for people to take.”

    Okay, well, at least they seem to be decent about keeping higher-end items, but if you lose a water bottle, backpack, or binder, you’re left to look in the closet of misfortune. 

    Even if you manage to find it, it’s not guaranteed that it will be in good condition.

    “Yeah, I found my water bottle in the lost and found,” said Freshman Natalia Lucero. “I got it back though, and there was some weird powder, and even after washing it, it still tasted nasty, and I had to trash it.”

    Wow, seems like that water bottle must’ve had a trip before getting back to its original owner. Makes you wonder what happens to your backpacks or books before you get them back, who’s been touching them, or what has happened to your items.

    Where does that leave the students who’ve lost their beloved belongings? Somewhere between a locked filing cabinet and in someone else’s grubby hands? It seems Reynolds’ lost and found isn’t as much a recovery center as it is a Bermuda Triangle of Reynolds. 

    While our admin is busy guarding the higher-end items, what happens to poor little freshman Timmy’s binder full of his work, or Emma’s lost hoodie being worn by someone else? What happens to kids like Juarez, who lose something and don’t even know we have a lost and found? 

    I don’t know, but my professional advice: hold onto your belongings like it’s a diamond, because if you misplace it, you’re not just losing it, you’re donating it to a mystery not even this amazing Staff Writer/P.I./Cadet Lieutenant Colonel/Super Cool Guy/Gumshoe/Bussboy/Procrastinator/ Investigative Journalist/Horrible Dancer/Host/Literal Genius can’t even solve.