The Paw Print

Subway surfing has taken over NYC. Inspired by the game Subway Surfers, it has claimed the lives of several adolescents, and the list seems to grow by the day. The MTA is planning to address this issue.

Jerry, the 111th Booth Coordinator, spoke about the tragedy that occurred on Oct. 28, 2024. Two girls, aged 12 and 13, fell between train cars at the 111th Street Station in Corona just before 11 p.m. One of the girls passed away, while the other was rushed to Elmhurst Hospital in critical condition.

“It’s truly devastating,” Jerry said. “It’s heartbreaking how just a couple of seconds can end a life or change it forever. What I don’t understand is why these two young girls were out at this hour—it’s far too late for them to be outside. Still, this is a real tragedy, and the entire community is determined to put an end to this subway surfing trend. My heart goes out to both families affected.”

In several cases, families have threatened to sue the MTA over the dangers associated with subway surfing. While the MTA has begun adding more cameras, MTA employees and police officers in stations, these efforts have not been enough to deter teenagers from climbing onto the tops of trains.

Police Officer Nicholas, stationed at 33rd Rawson Street, shared his frustration: “You know, I’ve seen a lot as a police officer, but this whole trend has really left me frustrated. Even after seeing many kids get injured or lose their lives, some still decide to climb aboard. My coworkers and I will be taking extreme measures to ensure kids’ safety and issuing punishments to those caught, so hopefully, this never happens again.”

Officer Nicholas and other officers are regularly stationed near two large high schools, working to ensure teens are behaving responsibly and staying out of harm’s way.

However, there is still a missing perspective: that of the riders themselves. One surfer decided to remain anonymous but had this to say :

“Yeah, I’ve seen the reports and cases, and while it’s sad, personally, I won’t stop doing it. I get an adrenaline rush, and I view it as part of the teen experience. I even manage to take pictures for my photography class. So far, I haven’t been caught and don’t plan to anytime soon. No one really knows, and, well, if my folks found out, I’d never hear the end of it. My advice? Be smart. If you’re not experienced, definitely don’t do it. It’s a stupid idea that could risk your life. I’ve been doing it since I was 13, and now that these cases have come to light, I take a lot of precautions.”

This story was written by Hailey Kan

Murray Hill Academy students do not enjoy their school meals .

“I feel like [the foods] lack nutritional value. Some of the food doesn’t, it doesn’t look edible. And I don’t think many kids would really be excited for lunch when it’s time to eat, because then the food really just ends up thrown away,” senior Jesus said.

And it’s not just in Murray Hill Academy. Hunger Solutions New York, a report by the Food Research & Action Center, “reveals a decline in participation relative to the previous school year; 12.4 percent fewer students ate school breakfast and 4.3 percent fewer ate school lunch. Nearly 793,000 children in New York participated in school breakfast and just over 1.5 million participated in school lunch on an average day during the 2022–2023 school year.”

“Most of the kids really just want to buy food outside and actually enjoy something so that they could be able to go through the day with a full stomach,” Jesus said.

According to Funding Our Schools by the Department of Education, only 12% of the $4.9 billion School Operations Budget goes to food, serving 880,000 meals daily with free breakfast and lunch available to all students.

While this may seem to be a lot, according to Chalkbeat New York, Mayor Eric Adams cut $60 million of the city’s school food budget in November 2023. This forced the Education Department to “thin out” the school cafeteria menu by removing “pricier items.” This included cheese burritos, chicken dumplings, cookies, and more. However, these options were favorites for students, and were eventually restored to the menu.

In the School Meals Report by the New York City Council, the total cost per breakfast is $3.95, while the total cost per lunch is $6.00. So the lack of funding, and food options has led to fewer students eating and more waste. According to Food Service Director, “As the nation’s largest school district, NYC Public Schools generate more than 80 million pounds of trash per year.”

Some people have their own solution for how lunch should be handled.

“I think the problem is twofold. One, the quality of food is bad, and it’s because of the lack of funding and the lack of incentive for people to get good tasting food. In order to fix that, they need to make school lunches paid and only give free vouchers to kids who can’t afford it. And then the people who can pay for it can opt out and instead pay for things like outside lunch. And I think that will improve the quality of food for people who want to eat school lunch whilst not wasting food, because only people who can afford the lunch or people who buy the lunch will get it, so it also reduces the waste,” senior Kiroto said. 

However, other people do not see a problem.

“I feel like you [students] may get better food just because I know over the years they would constantly change the menu. Kids right now might say the opposite, but if you were growing up when I was here, you would definitely say the food is better,” Justin Moore, former school dean of Murray Hill Academy, said. According to the school’s official website, he graduated from Murray Hill Academy in 2016.

When asked about his past experience with the school lunch quality in Murray Hill Academy, Justin said, “It wasn’t the worst because at the end of the day, if you’re hungry, you’re going to eat. So I wouldn’t say it’s the worst thing, but some days I wasn’t really a big school lunch eater. So yeah, I usually do my own things … but that’s what the kids do now. But if they’re hungry, they’ll eat.”

“I lived in Brooklyn for a while and then I moved to Manhattan. I’ve been here since. So the food is okay to me, so it hasn’t changed anything,” Jason Alicea, supervising school aide, said. He graduated from Norman Thomas High School, which preceded Murray Hill Academy, in 1993 and worked at that school in 2001 before it split into four smaller schools. He was a founding member of Murray Hill Academy according to the school’s website.

When asked about his perspective on how others feel about school lunch, he said, “Everybody has their own prerogative on how, you know, eating wise, some kids will want it, some kids don’t want it. So I guess it goes based on who wants it and who doesn’t want it.”

To encourage students to eat school meals, the mayor should increase the school lunch budgets to allocate more money into the quality and quantity of food options that students can have in order for there to be less food waste.

“They’re everywhere, and there is no doubt they are doing a tremendous damage,” said Governor Cuomo in a meeting at Long Island University on Earth Day 2019.

New York State will finally ban plastic bags, beginning March 2020. This law was passed by Governor Cuomo with the goal of reducing pollution and waste, as well as protecting wildlife. 

Stores will no longer be able to give plastic bags to consumers. Instead, there are various options, such as bringing your own reusable bags when shopping and paper bags offered in stores.

Most New Yorkers are content with this new law due to the fact that big changes are being made to help the Earth. 

18 year old, Midtown Manhattan resident Hari Murugesan says, “Our generation has to be the one to take preventative measures to ensure the safety and well being of the Earth before we hit the point of no return.” Hari comes from a traditional Indian family where plastic bags are “a gift that keeps on giving” due to the fact that they have many uses when they are recycled. Although he already recycles plastic, he is looking forward to the new law because he wants more people to help prevent more damage to the environment.

There has also been a surprising number of New Yorkers that are already making changes of their own regarding plastic bags. In Queens, residents are glad to finally have the government support recycling plastic bags, since many of them already do this.

For 41-year-old Alma Jimenez, who lives in Corona, Queens, the ban of plastic bags is nothing new. The Mexican native shops a minimum of 5 times per week and recycles every single plastic bag and keeps them in a cabinet under the sink to use for other things. She says most Hispanics in the neighborhood do the same. 

“I think nowadays people waste tons and tons of unnecessary plastic, and there needs to be changes done, so this law will definitely help the environment that we are responsible for,” she states.

College student Andrea Pineda, who also lives in this neighborhood, has very strong favorable opinions on this new law. “I used to live in Paris where plastic bags were banned, and I found out this so much more comfortable and convenient because you could bring your own bag everywhere; and now most Americans think that everything should be given to them on hand and fast such as plastic bags, so when they see the difference that this new law will make, it will not only be beneficial for the environment, but for our individual self,” she says. The 21-year-old also states the fact that the USA makes 30% of the worlds waste so New York is a great place to begin, since it is very populated and will cause a great change.

These New Yorkers interviewed stated that when March comes, they will take their reusable from home to go shopping. They are satisfied with the new law because it is finally making a difference to help our planet.

While some New Yorkers are content with this law being passed, others are not.

Fetpak, a big supply company that specializes in plastic bags is not happy. While they do offer paper bags, it will not be as much as the sales lost on plastic bags. “The increase in paper Bag sales does not make up for the decrease in plastic bags sales, especially in cases where there is a fee to the consumer,” says CEO from Fetpack, Wayne Fetta in an email. The law can therefore hurt businesses greatly and in the future put them out of business.

Other residents are simply annoyed that they won’t have plastic bags to use. 17-year-old Sebastian Gomez says, “I use plastic bags for many things in my house, what am I supposed to use now when they are gone?”

Although there are many alternative options for plastic bags, this won’t be enough to make up for all the plastic we use now. This new law will benefit most people, but the rest are annoyed that they might not find a better option to use. 

 “We got used to the standard of living of killing our environment, and this law is a step towards changing that,” says Andrea Pineda.